The silence after the fall was worse that the fall itself. Even though Jared's body struck an unground object, it still stopped him. His vision flickered between dripping black and blinding white as he rolled onto his side, the air leaving his lungs in a ragged gasp. For miles, the only sound was the echo of his own heartbeat. He tried to push himself up after coughing once—smoke, maybe blood. He pressed his hand into the ground. Not all of it was stone. It pulsed softly, moist and warm, as if the world itself were breathing under his touch. "System." His voice was too quiet and cracked. "Status..." There was no response. No lines of text, no warnings, no interface. All that rattled in his skull was an empty static hum. The system was silent for the first time since his reawakening. Jared's throat constricted. He couldn't tell if the clawing at his chest was freedom or fear. The chamber surrounding him had vanished. An endless cavern of broken light extended above him,

Like static, the rain hissed against the ruins. A thin glimmer of heat warped the edges of broken stone, and the air still burned faintly from the aftershock of the crown-light. Coughing dust from her lungs, Emma stirred among the debris. The world tilted and realigned in flickering fragments as she forced herself upright, her ears ringing with the echo of the collapse. "Jared..." No response. The only sound coming through the broken ceiling is the whisper of rain. She reached for her glasses, her hand shaking. Although the lenses were cracked, there was a slight hum in the air when she pressed the side sensor. Her vision flickered with lines of blue code.[SENTINEL REBOOTING…][Primary Link Offline.][Emergency Scan Protocol: Activated.]The world reshaped itself. Through the lens, data flowed in translucent waves — heat signatures bleeding red, air density mapping in silver, residual energy forming ripples that pulsed where Jared had fallen.She followed the readings through wha

The voice didn’t echo. It slithered. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once, curling around Emma’s spine until she could barely breathe.Her glasses flickered violently, readings blurring into static. [Identity Error.] [Signal Corruption.] [Warning: Cognitive interference detected.]“Jared?” she whispered, even though she already knew. The light in front of her pulsed once, then took form—broad shoulders, familiar hair, the same grey eyes. But the warmth that had always softened his face was gone.The figure smiled faintly, head tilting with a calm that felt rehearsed. “You always hesitate when you’re afraid,” it said, voice perfect. Too perfect.Emma’s pulse thundered. “You’re not him.”“Not entirely.” It stepped closer, boots whispering against the cracked stone. “But I am what’s left when the system stops pretending. When the chains stop lying.”Her throat tightened. The system in her glasses glitched again, struggling to lock onto his form. He flickered between flesh and shad

The sound came first, a low, thrumming pulse that didn’t belong to the air. It went directly into his bones through the stone's fractured veins beneath the floor. As the rhythm got louder and faster, Jared stumbled and gripped his head. Something alive was inside the fracture. Like lightning, the golden threads exploded outward and shattered through the chamber.The chains on his arms trembled as though they had been called home, writhing in response. He could feel them pulling, dragging his body closer to the stone. He hissed, "Stop," but the roar erupting around him caused his voice to break apart. Images flickered through his mind —Faces, burning cities, the gleam of a crown half-buried in ash. And through it all, that same whisper, soft and sure: You left us.Jared fell to one knee. The stone split wider, spilling light so bright it burned the air. Something within it moved—slow, deliberate—and for the first time, Jared wasn’t sure if it was reaching for him… or becoming him.

The world didn't feel alive again, even after the storm had passed. It was hollow. Jared took a seat at the edge of what used to be the chamber. The light was gone, and the stone had split open like a wound. The sky and the ash and the taste of the air were all gray now. Even though he was no longer bleeding, he could still feel the burn where the chains had been beneath his skin. The heartbeat wasn't his when he put his palm to his chest. It sounded heavier and slower, like someone else was still inside of him.[System recalibrating…][Host integrity: 82%][Warning: Identity interference detected.]He exhaled through his teeth. “You again.”Silence. Then—faint, like a thought that didn’t belong to him—You opened the seal, Jared. We’re not separate anymore.He froze. The voice wasn’t cold this time. It sounded… calm. Familiar. Almost like his own, if it were stripped of everything human.“Get out of my head.”I can’t. You brought me back.His fingers curled into fists. He could st