Heir Rejected: Bound by the Legacy System

Chapter 8: Children of the Broken Code

Silence had never sounded so loud.

The aftermath of battle always came with noise—moans of the wounded, whirring repairs, systems rebooting. But this… this was different.

Kieran sat on the edge of the Emberpoint command deck, a cracked energy blade across his knees, watching the child they’d found sleep under heavy sedation. A medical node pulsed quietly nearby, running vitals, though even it struggled to interpret the readings.

Skye stood at his side, arms crossed.

“She’s… not normal.”

“That Wraith didn’t even touch her,” Kieran murmured. “It hesitated. Then crumbled.”

Skye nodded slowly. “I’ve seen Override protocols adapt mid-fight. I’ve seen them devour minds and recompile memories. But fear?” She gestured toward the child. “This is the first time I’ve seen the system scared.”

Lyra moved through the ruins of the war chamber, assisting tech-recovery drones and checking on structural integrity.

Most of the heavy damage was confined to the lower corridors. They’d already salvaged three functioning auto-turrets, one energy barrier generator, and a Blackwell tactical archive from the western vault.

System Update: Emberpoint Stronghold Status – Active

Defense Level: 1 (Upgradable)

Resources Unlocked: Tactical Archive – 42% integrity

Available Systems:

– Legacy Uplink (limited range)

– Resistance Roster Management

– Echo Signal Tracer

Kieran's panel lit with a fresh ping.

Echo Detected: Classification — NULL

The file was broken. Unreadable. Corrupted code tangled across the description like webbing. The system couldn’t even generate a profile picture.

He looked at the sleeping girl. She wasn’t wounded. She wasn’t breathing either—not in the normal way. Her vitals were there, but distorted, like they belonged to three different bodies.

“Has she said anything?” Lyra asked as she joined them.

Kieran shook his head. “Not a word. Just... ‘help.’ Then silence.”

“Override didn’t try to delete her,” Lyra said. “That Wraith froze. That’s protocol failure. Hardcoded fear.”

“Which means,” Skye said, “she’s something worse than an Echo.”

That night, after the internal shields reset, Kieran initiated a low-power scan through Emberpoint’s underground archive. The Blackwell systems were only partially functional, but some files bypassed legacy locks due to his bloodline.

One string of corrupted documents was tagged:

CHILDREN OF THE BROKEN CODE

Classification: [REDACTED]

Status: Terminated

Summary: [Fragment] “Subjects A-H exhibit irregular sync pulses. Their code fractures Rewrite Protocols. They do not follow inherited logic. They follow emotion...”

Kieran leaned closer, heart pounding.

“All Broken Code subjects display unpredictable anomaly rates. Known traits: Fragment-Speech, Echo Nullification, and Memory Projection. Immediate purge orders issued. Containment failed.”

Then, the final line flickered:

Only three survived. One escaped.

Project aborted. Memory wiped. Override protocols redirected to other threats.

“Three,” Kieran whispered. “There are more.”

Behind him, the child stirred.

***

Morning came with stale air and a growing sense of unease.

Kieran entered the med-chamber alone. Skye and Lyra watched from the command node, monitoring systems while pretending not to worry.

The girl—now sitting upright, eyes too large for her face—watched him with quiet focus.

“You’re awake,” Kieran said softly, offering a flask of purified water.

She blinked. Her mouth barely moved when she spoke.

“Mira.”

“That your name?”

She nodded once.

“What are you, Mira?”

Silence.

He sat across from her on the floor. No throne. No weapons. Just closeness.

“You saved us.”

Her head tilted.

“You didn’t save me,” she whispered. “I heard them. So loud. Screaming. Not their mouths. Their code. Their fear.”

Kieran swallowed hard. “You heard Override units screaming?”

“In the weave,” Mira said. “Where they live. Where you dream. They thought I was the fire. I’m not. I’m...”

She stopped.

He leaned forward. “What?”

“I’m just the echo of it.”

Lyra reviewed the archive Kieran shared, jaw clenched.

“These kids weren’t born. They were compiled. Blackwell tech used unstable DNA overlays. Memory grafting. Forced trauma loops to simulate legacy evolution. It was outlawed even before the Collapse.”

Skye paled. “They weaponized childhood.”

Lyra exhaled. “More than that. They broke code to see if the system would adapt—or implode. Looks like it imploded.”

“And Override covered it up,” Kieran muttered.

Mira sat in the background, humming to herself, rocking slowly.

“She’s the leak in their network,” Lyra said. “A ghost. They didn’t purge her. They buried her.”

“And now she’s awake,” Skye added.

Kieran stared at the girl.

“No. She’s calling the others.”

Hours later, Skye picked up a low-band frequency echo—distorted, rhythmic, almost musical. A binary pattern.

It matched Mira’s hum.

“What is that?” Lyra asked.

“It’s not ours,” Skye said. “Not Override either. It's—”

“Coming from beneath us,” Kieran finished.

Echo Detection: Unknown Pulse – Origin Below Emberpoint. Distance: 2.4 km

Class: Unknown – Signal shows Null Resistance and Anti-Override Signature

“They’re underground,” Kieran realized. “The others. Or at least one of them.”

Mira looked up.

“They buried us,” she said. “Not deep enough.”

The team gathered in Emberpoint’s central chamber, eyes on the pulsing signal.

Lyra folded her arms. “This isn’t a rescue. It’s a descent into forgotten hell.”

Skye nodded. “If there’s even one more like her down there… we need them.”

Kieran looked between them. Then at Mira.

“She’s not a weapon,” he said. “She’s the memory of everything the system tried to erase.”

He stood.

“I’m going. We bring whoever’s down there back.”

New Mission Unlocked: Descent Protocol – Echo Depths

Objective: Locate Subject B – Class Null

Estimated Threat: High

Warning: Override depth suppression expected. Legacy interference probable.

Mira rose too, silently. As if she'd known this moment was coming.

As they prepared to descend, Kieran’s HUD flickered again.

A private message. Unknown source. No origin trace.

“If you reach them, you break everything. They were meant to stay buried.”

– Override Central Core

Kieran read it twice.

“They’re scared,” he said aloud.

And Mira smiled.