Ascension Protocol

The Architect of Forgotten Code

Chapter 4: The Architect of Forgotten Code

The body of the Seeker lay motionless in the alley, its armor slowly disintegrating into shimmering data dust. Samuel stepped back, watching as the weaponized corpse unraveled like threads in a forgotten tapestry. What disturbed him most wasn’t the death, but how natural it had begun to feel how his body had moved with precision he hadn't trained for, like the system had been waiting inside him all along.

But something about the Seeker nagged at him. It wasn’t just a machine. There was blood in the dust.

System Log Update: Red Shadow Protocol - Tier B Hazard.

Status: ACTIVE

Global Presence: Fragmented

Known Operatives: Multiple

Origin: UNKNOWN

Threat Assessment: Escalating

“Warning: Ascension Candidates are now being monitored.”

Ascension Candidates. That phrase had returned.

Before Samuel could think more about it, a sharp tone rang in his head. Not the system’s clinical chime this was different. Older. Broken, almost like static.

Override Signal Detected.

His HUD distorted, briefly flashing blue and white spirals. The world around him warped. The air bent sideways, as if someone had twisted reality.

And then she appeared.

A woman in a long white coat stood just past the alley mouth. Tall, graceful, and completely out of place. Her hair was pale silver, glowing faintly under the haze of the city’s neon glow. Her eyes were not human gleaming rings of data loops and soft cyan light. She didn’t walk. She phased, one second at the alley’s edge, the next, directly before him.

Samuel raised the pipe instinctively.

“Relax,” she said, her voice smooth as silk coded in zeros and ones. “If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have seen me coming.”

He didn’t lower the pipe. “Who are you?”

She gave him a thin, ironic smile. “Someone who hates what you’re becoming but knows we’ll need you.”

The world behind her seemed muted. Cars moved in slow motion. People in the distance looked frozen, suspended between breaths. The system HUD blinked uncertainly, as if confused by her presence.

“I’m called Ayla,” she said. “I’m part of a faction you won’t find on your little interface.”

Samuel narrowed his eyes. “A faction?”

She nodded. “We call ourselves the Forgotten Code. Once, we were architects of the Ascension Protocol. Now, we’re its exiles.”

He blinked. “Architects?”

Ayla raised her hand, and the surrounding space distorted further. Lines of glowing script danced in mid-air hieroglyphs of data, both ancient and futuristic.

“The system you now house,” she said, “was never meant to awaken again. It’s older than this world, older than your species. The Ascension Protocol was buried after the Collapse of Cycle Seven. You were chosen only because the system saw something... broken, yet unyielding.”

“Wait, what the hell are you talking about?” Samuel’s grip tightened. “Cycle Seven? Buried tech? Chosen by what?”

She studied him. “You haven’t unlocked enough yet. That’s fine. But know this Red Shadow isn’t your only enemy. They’re just the first wave. The real threat... is the Sovereign Recompiler.”

System Suppression Protocol Triggered. Warning: External narrative classified. Auto-scrubbing in progress...

Ayla winced, eyes flaring. “Damn it. They’re already patching the memory. I don’t have long.”

She stepped forward and reached out. Samuel flinched—but instead of attacking, she pressed a strange metallic shard to his forehead. Cold, sharp, and vibrating with quiet power.

Item Acquired: Oracle Shard

Description: Forbidden fragment from the original root system.

Access: Level 5+ Required

Status: Dormant

“You’ll understand later,” Ayla said. “When the Protocol begins rewriting the world, you’ll need allies that remember how the code used to work. When that time comes find us in the Lost Grid. Look for the Echo Gates beneath District Twelve.”

She stepped back. The alley began to blur, sounds resuming, time accelerating.

“Wait!” Samuel called, “Why me? Why now?”

Ayla’s eyes softened. “Because you’re not just an Ascension Candidate anymore, Samuel. You’re the anchor.”

Then, in a blink, she was gone.

The system HUD sputtered and flickered.

System Correction: Unauthorized influence removed. Memory integration stabilized.

Samuel stared at the empty alley, heart racing.

His apartment felt a lifetime away when he finally returned. He locked the door, bolted it, even stacked a broken chair against it. But sleep didn’t come.

He sat on the floor, eyes fixed on the Oracle Shard that now glowed faintly in his inventory.

Time Remaining: 13:20:57

The trial was still ongoing.

And the world… had just gotten far, far bigger.