The Spine pulsed again, a deep, territorial thrum rolling through the stone and into Rina’s bones.Maya backed away from the glowing veins crawling across the wall. “This isn’t just resonance… it’s claiming him.”Caleb swallowed hard. “Rina, whatever the Spine is doing, it’s integrating Malik into its structure. Like he’s… part of it.”Viktor stepped forward. “We can’t stay here. We need distance. We need a plan.”But Rina didn’t hear them. Not really. All she heard was Malik, the silence where his voice should be,the absence that felt like a wound in her chest.Her hands curled into fists. “I’m not letting it keep him.”Caleb blinked. “Rina”“No.”Her voice was sharp, cold, certain. “I am done running. I’m done reacting. I’m done letting this place decide what I lose.”The Spine pulsed again, stronger, as if daring her to try. Rina stepped toward the glowing wall, jaw tight. “Malik is mine to fight for. And I’m going in after him.”Maya grabbed her arm. “Rina, you can’t break into t

The shadow lunged. Malik dove sideways, slamming shoulder-first into jagged stone. A shock of pain ripped through him, but he forced himself upright.The thing wasn’t solid, but it wasn’t smoke either. It moved like memory, like a sound made visible, flickering and bending as if gravity meant nothing.“RETURNED ONE…”Its voice scraped like something dragged across metal. “…YOU TRESPASS WHERE THE SPINE CANNOT FOLLOW.”Malik’s pulse hammered. “Good,” he rasped. “Means it can’t drag me back.”The shadow twisted, its center brightening with a sickly violet glow. “THIS PLACE HUNTS ALL WHO ENTER.”Malik swallowed hard. “And what does it hunt with?”The shadow smiled. He didn’t know how, it didn’t have a face, but he felt the smile slide across his skin like a cold finger. “WITH WHAT IT HAS ECHOED.”The darkness behind it rippled, and Malik saw dozens of warped shapes flickering at the edge of the cavern, like human silhouettes bent at impossible angles.Echoes. Fragments of others the Spine

They burst out of the chute in a rain of dust and broken light. Malik hit first, shoulder slamming into fractured stone,then Rina, rolling hard and coming up on one knee, breath ripping out of her chest.The ground beneath them wasn’t the smooth, resonant architecture of the Spine. It was ruined. Collapsed pylons jutted at broken angles.Old conduits hung like exposed veins. The ceiling above had partially caved, opening the sector to a sickly glow filtering down from higher levels. An upper sector.A place the Spine had abandoned long ago. Malik pushed himself upright, swaying. “We’re… out.”Rina grabbed his arm, steadying him. Her hands were shaking now that the running had stopped. “You’re real,” she said, almost to herself. “You’re actually here.”Before Malik could answer, the city reacted. A deep, rolling tremor passed through the ruins, not a collapse, not an attack. Something closer to recognition.Lights flickered on across the sector. Old systems awakened. Dormant panels pul

The city did not surge again. It listened.The ruined sector settled into an uneasy stillness, lights flickering, conduits humming softly, fractured structures holding themselves in place as if waiting for instruction they no longer trusted.Malik stood at the center of it, chest heaving, hands trembling at his sides. For the first time since the Break, nothing was trying to pull him apart.Rina stayed close, her hand still wrapped around his arm, grounding him. “You okay?” she asked quietly.“I don’t know,” Malik admitted. “But I’m still me.”Across the sector, the Wardens regrouped. The trapped unit struggled against the resonant floor, armor grinding as it tried and failed, to free itself.Others adjusted formation, no longer advancing, weapons still raised but uncertain now. The lead Warden stepped forward alone.His voice had changed. The certainty was gone, replaced by calculation. “You are exceeding acceptable variance,” he said. “The city’s response is… adaptive.”Malik met hi

The woman who had spoken first, leader by gravity more than title, lifted her chin. “We’re not here to take him.”The lead Warden answered instantly. “Everyone here is here because of him.”Malik felt the truth of it like pressure behind his eyes. The city tugged again, light, plural, threads connecting to places he couldn’t see. Not commands. Questions. Requests. Doubt.He raised his hands slightly. “If you’re here to claim something,” he said, voice steady, “you won’t find it.”A murmur passed through the newcomers. Some looked disappointed. Others relieved. The woman studied him. “You opened the city,” she said.“That makes you dangerous, to those who benefited from silence.”The Warden cut in. “He destabilized governance.”Malik turned to him. “No. I exposed it.”The city pulsed once, soft, affirming. Caleb’s voice came through the comm, lower now, edged with urgency.“Multiple vectors lighting up across upper districts. This isn’t just locals. External interests are waking up.”R