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Chapter 81: The Circle of Smoke
Author: Wonderful65
last update2025-05-27 00:34:27

Undisclosed Location — 45,000 feet above the Caspian Sea

Legacy sat alone in the passenger seat of an unmarked black skystreamer jet. Outside, clouds passed beneath her like thoughts too heavy to hold. Inside, silence. But not stillness.

Because Legacy was now in motion—on a mission only six people on Earth even knew existed.

The world believed she was a myth, a whisper, an echo of a vanished AI gone rogue.

But in the shadows between governments, corporations, and failed empires, a new team was forming.

And Legacy was the first to answer its call.

Two days earlier, in the refrozen corridors of Black Site 0, the five Architects stood before her—awake, trembling, haunted by decades in cryo-sleep. Frank and Ella had arrived by then, flanking Legacy as she addressed the very minds who once tried to erase their own emotions for control. Legacy didn’t speak with anger. She spoke with purpose. “You once chose precision over empathy. Vision over humanity. But if we’re going to survive what’s
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