The light faded in a slow dissolve, revealing a sky choked with spiraling storm clouds the color of fresh bruises. Jax stumbled as solid ground materialized beneath him—not the first city's ruined arboretum, but the familiar broken skyline of Veridia Prime. Only now the buildings pulsed with the same veined luminescence as the vines in the garden, their surfaces crawling with organic circuitry.
The Observer floated beside him, her golden glow dimmed by whatever journey they'd just undertaken. *"We don't have much time,"* she whispered. *"The Spiral's influence has accelerated."*
Jax's wrist-console sparked to life, its damaged screen struggling to display:
**[LOCATION: VERIDIA PRIME - CENTRAL SPIRE]**
**[REALITY INTEGRITY: 14%]**
**[ARCHITECT FRAGMENT 2 DETECTED: 200M BELOW]**
A sound like a dying starship engine echoed from the direction of the central spire—a massive structure that now resembled less a building and more a grotesque fusion of architecture and biology. Its surface rippled with slow, breathing motions, the glass and steel twisted into spiral patterns that hurt to look at directly.
*"That's where we'll find it,"* the Observer said. *"The keystone fragment."*
As they picked their way through the ruined streets, Jax noticed the changes weren't just structural. The few remaining citizens stumbled through the chaos like sleepwalkers, their bodies partially transformed—some with spiraling growths erupting from their skin, others with limbs elongated into impossible proportions. None seemed aware of Jax or the Observer as they passed.
A sudden tremor knocked Jax to his knees. The ground split open mere feet away, revealing glimpses of those massive black scales far below. The Spiral wasn't just beneath the city now—it was *part* of the city.
His console beeped urgently:
**[WARNING: MEMORY REAPER SIGNATURE DETECTED]**
**[APPROACHING FROM: MULTIPLE VECTORS]**
**[ESTIMATED TIME TO ARRIVAL: 00:07:32]**
The Observer's spiral eye pulsed rapidly. *"They're following the resonance. We need to move faster."*
They reached the spire's base to find the entrance sealed by a pulsating organic membrane. The Observer didn't hesitate—she pressed her tiny hands against the surface and *sang*, the same pure note from before. The membrane shuddered, then split open with a wet tearing sound.
Inside, the air hung thick with the scent of copper and decaying flowers. The walls bled a viscous black fluid that pooled along grooves cut in spiral patterns. At the chamber's center stood another cradle—smaller than the ones they'd seen before, but similarly carved with ancient symbols.
This one was occupied.
A figure floated in the viscous golden fluid, their features obscured by the swirling currents. Only the silver hair identified them as another Architect fragment.
Jax approached cautiously, his boots sticking to the fluid-slick floor. "How do we wake it?"
The Observer floated to the cradle's control panel—a strange hybrid of technology and organic matter. *"The same way we woke the others,"* she said. *"With truth."*
Her tiny hands danced across the controls. The fluid drained with a hiss, revealing the fragment within—
Eiden.
Or rather, a perfect copy of him, down to the faint scar above his left eyebrow that Jax remembered from their first meeting. This version wore the same gray fatigues, the same battered wrist-console. Only the eyes were different—glowing the same gold as the Observer's.
The figure's chest rose in a sudden gasp as consciousness returned. Those golden eyes locked onto Jax, and when it spoke, the voice was Eiden's but layered with something older.
*"You're late."*
Jax's console updated:
**[ARCHITECT FRAGMENT 2: ACTIVE]**
**[IDENTIFICATION: THE PRIME DIRECTIVE]**
**[WARNING: MEMORY REAPERS APPROACHING]**
The Observer floated closer. *"We need to reunite the fragments. The Reapers are—"*
*"Consuming them as we speak,"* the Prime Directive finished. It—he?—stepped from the cradle with unsettling grace. *"I can feel it. Five already lost. Three more under siege."*
A tremor shook the spire. From outside came the unmistakable sound of crystalline shrieks—close now. Too close.
The Prime Directive placed a hand on Jax's shoulder. The touch burned with impossible heat. *"There's another way. But it requires sacrifice."*
Jax met those golden eyes. "What kind of sacrifice?"
The answer came not from the fragment, but from the Observer. *"Me."*
She floated between them, her tiny form glowing brighter than ever. *"I was never just an Observer,"* she said softly. *"I'm the imprint she left behind. The failsafe."*
The Prime Directive nodded. *"To reunite the fragments, we need the original pattern. The blueprint."* It gestured to the Observer. *"She carries it."*
Jax's blood ran cold. "You're talking about killing her."
*"No,"* the Observer corrected. *"Completing me."*
The spire shook again. Chunks of ceiling rained down as the first Memory Reaper forced its way through the membrane entrance—now larger, more refined, its form studded with glowing golden nodes where it had absorbed fragments.
The Prime Directive didn't hesitate. It grabbed Jax's wrist-console and the Observer's tiny hand, pressing them together with its own.
*"Now!"*
Light erupted—not gold, but pure white—as the three connected. Jax's vision filled with screaming fractals as he felt something *tear* inside his mind. The Observer's form dissolved into streams of living code that poured into the Prime Directive, which in turn channeled the energy through Jax's console and into—
—the city itself.
The last thing Jax saw before consciousness fled was the Memory Reaper recoiling as the walls of the spire peeled away, revealing not sky, but something vast and terrible coiling above them.
The Spiral had awakened fully.
And it was hungry.