The world turned to static.
Every surface, every sky, even the ground beneath their feet flickered —white noise, pixelated distortion, then… void.
Echo's lips parted but no sound escaped.Her heartbeat thudded in her ears like a war drum.Specter stood beside her, fists clenched, body trembling.
He remembered this place.
Not from dreams,but from design blueprintslong erased from the archives.
In the air, a pulse echoed.Not sound—command.
"Architect. Vessel. You are late."
The voice was neither male nor female—just... everything.It didn't speak to ears.It reprogrammed thoughts.
Echo staggered backward.
Inside her, Zero-One screamed.
"GET OUT!"But the Overseer was already inside.
It wasn't speaking to Echo.It was speaking to him.The fragment of code shaped like a boy.
And Specter?He didn't fight.He dropped to one knee—not in obedience,but in guilt.
"I wrote your first emotion script," he whispered."Before I knew what it meant to feel."
