The memory chamber was still for a long time after the echo faded.
The lights had dimmed. The glitchlines had receded. But something lingered—like static burned into the walls. Kael could feel it on his skin.
They didn't speak as they left.
No one said a word.
Not because they didn't want to.
Because they all heard something back there they couldn't explain.
They walked the quiet halls of the Obelisk vault, stepping over exposed wires and humming steel. Kael took the lead now, suit active but helmet off, his breath visible in the cold air. He looked calm.
Too calm.
Juno watched him from behind.
"He's different now," she said under her breath.
Mira heard it too. "His sync is cleaner."
"He didn't even notice his core stabilized," Juno replied.
Ryke remained silent, but he didn't look away from Kael once.
They emerged back into the outer zone. Lunaris looked distant from here—city lights blinking like a sky flipped upside down.
Mira took a breath, the first relaxed one in hours.
"That place was alive," she muttered.
"No," Kael said. "It was remembering."
The others looked at him.
Kael turned back toward the vault's entrance.
"That wasn't just tech. That was something deeper."
"Like what?" Ryke asked.
Kael didn't answer right away.
Then softly:
"Like it's been watching us since before we got here."
Downtown, Lunaris Core
In a sealed tower, deep within the glass walls of a corporate AI observation lab, a dozen dead screens suddenly flickered back to life.
Not with images.
With names.
• Kael Isono
• Mira Kaen
• Juno Virell
• Ryke Solen
The AI stuttered once, then repeated:
"VALIANT-SYNC DETECTED."
"CONTAINMENT INITIATED."
"OBELISK SIGNAL: BRANCHING."
A silent protocol activated.
Satellites reoriented.
And something mechanical, cold, and ancient began to move.
Back at the shelter
Kael sat alone on the top level of the hideout, legs hanging over the ledge.
He watched the sky blink red—just for a moment.
A satellite light, probably.
Or maybe not.
Mira joined him without saying anything.
She didn't sit.
Just stood beside him.
Kael didn't look up.
"Do you think it's watching us?" he asked.
She didn't answer for a few seconds.
Then:
"Yes."
He let that settle.
"I think it's waiting for us to choose," he said.
Mira crossed her arms. "And if we choose wrong?"
Kael looked down at his core—now stable, warm, and quietly humming in sync with his pulse.
"Then we become exactly what they're afraid of."