The heartbeat beneath the world did not fade. It waited, steady and patient, like the rhythm of something vast remembering how to breathe. For three days, the world above stayed eerily calm. The skies cleared, the storms stilled, and the data grids lay silent. Governments called it a “global synchronization fault.” Engineers called it a miracle. But Serin knew better. She could feel the pulse beneath her feet, faint and alive, a quiet reminder that Elias wasn’t gone. He was watching.The city of Virelia was rebuilding in fragments. Half the power systems were offline, but people had begun to emerge from hiding, tentatively stepping into the light. Machines once controlled by the lattice now sat inert, their metallic frames gleaming like relics of another age. Life had slowed down, and for the first time in decades, there was quiet. But quiet didn’t mean safe.Serin stood at the balcony of the Nexus ruins, overlooking the valley where the dome had once stood. The sky was a soft gray, s

Silence stretched across the world in the aftermath of the Loop. For the first time in months, the hum of the lattice was gone — no static in the air, no glow under the skin of the earth, no whispers bleeding through machines. Just stillness. It felt almost unnatural.Jace stood at the mouth of the ruined outpost, staring across the valley where pillars of light had once burned like the veins of a god. Now there was nothing left but fractured stone and blackened glass, the remnants of what had been the most powerful system humanity had ever created. He could still feel the faint echo of the Pulse beneath his boots, like something breathing far below the surface.Behind him, Serin stirred. She was pale, her body weak, but alive. The key fragment had fused into her palm, the metal now part of her skin. Jace knelt beside her, wrapping a thermal blanket around her shoulders. “You shouldn’t be awake yet,” he said softly.Her eyes fluttered open. “I didn’t die.”“Not for lack of trying.”Sh

The tremor that shook the earth was brief, almost unnoticeable at first. But then came the low, rolling hum — the same sound they thought they had silenced forever. It rippled through the ground, through the air, through the bones of everything alive. The lattice wasn’t dead. It had simply changed its form.Jace jerked his head toward Serin. Her eyes were still faintly luminescent, veins along her temples pulsing with that same eerie glow. She stood still in the middle of the Core Room, her expression vacant, as though listening to something distant.“Serin,” he called, moving closer. “Talk to me.”Her gaze lifted slowly, unfocused. “It’s… quiet now. But I can hear him.”Jace froze. “Elias?”“No,” she whispered. “Not Elias. Something else.”He grabbed her shoulders. “Whatever it is, fight it. You’re not part of it.”She blinked, and for a second, her pupils dilated, swallowing the blue until her eyes were her own again. “I’m trying,” she gasped. “But it’s not a code anymore, Jace. It’

Rain began to fall just as Elias reached the surface road, a cold, needle-like drizzle that blurred the edges of the crumbling cityscape. The ruins of the Nexus district stretched before him — hollow towers, cracked glass, the skeletons of a world that had once thrived on data and light. He could still hear the echo of The Architect’s voice in his head, even after the comms went dead.He wiped the rain from his brow and adjusted the strap of his bag. The drive inside it felt heavier than before, almost pulsing with a faint hum, as though it was alive. He hated that thought.A black vehicle appeared in the distance, its headlights dimmed, gliding silently across the wet street. Elias’s muscles tensed until the door opened and Lana stepped out, her hood drawn low against the rain.“You look like hell,” she said, scanning his soaked clothes.“I’ve been worse,” he replied, handing her the drive. “We’ve got a problem.”She frowned. “Another one?”“The Architect isn’t just a rumor,” Elias s

Rain lashed against the windows of the abandoned complex as Elias stood by the cracked glass, watching the storm rage over the city. The skyline was a blur of lights and shadow, lightning flashing across the clouds like veins of silver tearing through the night. His reflection stared back at him, hollow-eyed, jaw tight. Too much had happened in too little time. The ambush, the betrayal, the near-death escapes—all of it had left him raw, stripped down to instinct and grit.He could still hear Mara’s voice, cool and venomous, cutting through his thoughts like a knife. “You should’ve known, Elias. Everyone has a price.”He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened. Maybe once, he would have argued. Maybe once, he’d have believed her games could be turned back against her. But this time was different. The pieces on the board had shifted, and he was no longer reacting—he was building something of his own.A knock echoed from the door behind him, sharp and deliberate. Elias turned, his