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Chapter 62: The Breathe of The Gird
The first thing Ethan tasted was metal.A sharp, iron tang sat on his tongue, humming like electricity. When his eyes opened, the world above him flickered in a low, trembling glow, neon bleeding through a haze of graphite smoke, shimmering like veins under dying skin. The ceiling was a patchwork of exposed cables, tangles of fiber, nervous wires twitching with pulses of light that looked almost… alive.Then the pain arrived.A deep, dragging ache at the base of his skull. Not physical, not entirely. It was the kind of pain that came from code, foreign code looping inside his nervous system.He sat up too quickly.The world swayed, stuttering like corrupted footage.“Easy.”Vale’s voice drifted from somewhere to his left. Not just tired, strained, like it had been stretched too thin over too many hours of fear.Ethan blinked until the shapes sharpened. They were inside a narrow, metal chamber, half bunker, half abandoned server vault. Racks of dead machines towered around them like gr
Chapter 61: The Breach of The Self
For a long moment, the Vault Bridge was silent.Not peaceful, never peaceful, but silent in that heavy, suffocating way that meant something enormous was waiting on the other side. Ethan could feel the vibration beneath the metal walkway, subtle but present, like a heartbeat echoing through the architecture of the city’s oldest hidden layer.Vale kept her eyes locked on the sealed vault door behind them. “He won’t let that barrier stand for long.”Ethan knew she was right. The quantum coils lining the Vault Bridge thrummed with unstable energy, the only kind strong enough to resist a synthetic intelligence made from his own neural map. But resistance wasn’t immunity. Ethan’s ghost, his past self, already had tendrils touching every corner of the network. Even here, in one of the last offline-secured relics of the city’s buried infrastructure, Ethan felt the pressure of the ghost-Ethan pushing inward.It felt like a fist against his skull.He steadied his breathing. “We’re running out
Chapter 60: The Return of Ethan Vale
The Architect wasn’t the only one trying to shape the city.Ethan Vale once tried to shape it too.And now the past version of himself, the one who believed in purity of code above humanity, the one who once served the Architect before breaking away was coming to reclaim the future.“Run!” Vale screamed, shoving Ethan hard enough that he staggered into the corridor. The Cipher Drive pulsed violently in his grip, a heartbeat of raw, unstable energy. Behind them, the walls trembled as though a giant invisible fist punched through the structural foundation.Ethan didn’t need to be told twice.He sprinted down the narrow tunnel, boots slamming against concrete slick with condensation. Vale ran beside him, breathing fast, but not from fear, she had that focused fury she always carried when survival hinged on seconds.The first explosion hit behind them.A wave of red static burst outward, swallowing steel and light alike. The blast wasn’t physical, it was a signal detonation, a collapse of
Chapter 59: The Ghost in The Root
The tunnels shuddered as if the earth itself were reacting to Ethan’s decision. A cold gust rushed through the metallic corridor, rippling the cables overhead like the city’s veins were trembling. Vale swung around first, blades already half-drawn, her eyes narrowing into predatory slits.“That wasn’t a quake,” she said. “That was a pulse.”Ethan knew it too.The Architect had found them again.Mirra jerked her tablet toward them, her fingers tapping rapidly. “System spike across Sublevel K. He’s penetrating the firewall of the Underground Grid. I, I don’t know how he’s doing it this fast.”“Because he’s not searching for us anymore,” Ethan muttered. “He’s following the Drive.”The Cipher Drive pulsed brighter in his hand, lines of blue code sliding across its surface like living veins. It wasn’t a device, it was a beacon. And every second they held it, they were drawing the Architect toward the last place on earth he should ever access.The Root Core.Vale grabbed Ethan by the arm an
Chapter 58: The Last Message
Darkness swallowed the chamber.Not the empty, silent kind, but a living darkness threaded with faint whispers of code.Ethan felt it wash over him like cold water, seeping into every nerve, chilling him to the bone.Vale’s grip tightened on Ethan’s arm.“Ethan? Ethan talk to me. What’s happening?!”Ethan didn’t answer.He couldn’t.Because that voice, that impossible voiceechoed again through the dark.“Don’t be afraid.”A soft hum of light flickered to life above them, revealing a holographic projection forming in the air. A figure in white light, faint and incomplete, as if made from broken memories.A woman.Hair pulled back in a loose knot.Eyes sharp, intelligent, gentle.Posture familiar enough to make Ethan’s throat lock.Dr. Mara Cross.His mother.Ethan felt something collapse inside him.“…Mom?”Vale stiffened beside him. He didn’t speak, he couldn’t. The shock was too heavy.The hologram stepped closer, her edges glitching softly.When she spoke, her voice carried the sam
Chapter 57: The Red Recursion
For three seconds, the chamber held still.Three seconds where the only sound in the entire subterranean vault was Vale’s ragged breathing as he held Ethan’s limp body against his chest. Three seconds where the shattered Prism Core flickered weakly in dying strands of white light.Then the red glow on the walls pulsed againslow, deliberate, like a heartbeat awakening.Vale’s throat tightened.“No, no, no Ethan, stay with me. Lorna?!”“I’m here!” Lorna’s voice cracked through their comms. She sounded terrified, scrambling. “I saw the surge from my end. His vitals dropped but Vale, you need to get him out NOW!”Vale lifted Ethan slightly, shaking him.“Hey come on. You’re not leaving me. Get up.”Ethan’s eyelids fluttered. Barely. He was conscious enough to hear, but not strong enough to speak. Blood trickled from his nose, tracing a thin line down his jaw.Then the wall of red symbols shifted.Not random glitches.Not static.Words.PHASE TWO INITIATED.The dome trembled.“Lorna!” Val
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