[FLOOR 3 – LOADING COMPLETE]
[ENVIRONMENT: THE SPINAL CORE – SYSTEM NERVE LATTICE]
[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: LOCATE CORE ACCESS NODE]
[WARNING: BIO-CODED TERRAINS – COGNITIVE REALITY DISTORTION ACTIVE]
Jin landed on hard steel that pulsed beneath his boots like a heartbeat.
The ground wasn't made of metal—it was alive.
Tubes thick as tree trunks ran along the walls, carrying fluid that shimmered like blood mixed with data.
Each pulse echoed up through the floor, vibrating into his spine.
"This place is disgusting," Kael muttered behind him, limping from the last fight.
"Feels like we're walking through a vein."
"Not a vein," Eli corrected, flickering into visibility. "A nerve. This entire floor is the Tower's sensory array."
"You mean it's watching us?" Jin asked.
"It's feeling us."
They moved forward through a corridor that curved like a spinal column, its walls twitching slightly with every step.
Neural conduits dripped data-fluid from exposed ducts, and strange whispers flickered just at the edge of hearing.
"Voices," Kael muttered. "Do you hear them?"
"They're not real," Eli said. "The distortion on this floor is high. It scans your thoughts—feeds illusions back through bio-feedback nodes."
"So… our nightmares become real?"
"No. Your guilt does."
Jin's jaw clenched.
They passed beneath an arch made of bone-mech vertebrae, entering a massive chamber lined with mirrors.
Except the reflections weren't theirs.
The mirrors showed versions of them—broken, distorted, bleeding memories.
Jin saw himself standing over a burning city, holding a weapon made of screaming code.
Kael's reflection knelt before a machine altar, wings severed, praying to something that looked like a dead child.
Eli's image—fractured, unreadable—replayed the moment she died.
Except this time, Jin was the one who pulled the trigger.
"Shut it down," he growled.
Eli tried.
A shockwave burst from the floor, throwing them apart.
Jin crashed into a wall—metal tendrils wrapped around his arms.
System message flashed:
[ENGAGING DEFENSE PROTOCOL: MEMORY RECONSTRUCTION – PHASE 1]
[SUBJECT: JIN AETHER]
[LOADING TRAUMA FILE – CODE: VIOLET TRUTH]
"No—!"
The room around him vanished.
He stood on a street.
Rain fell—but it glitched midair, like broken particles.
He was twelve.
Beside him, a girl—young, laughing, holding his hand.
Her face still blurred, but her voice clear now.
"You promised," she said. "You said you wouldn't forget me."
"I didn't," Jin whispered.
"You will."
The scene exploded into static.
Jin dropped to his knees.
Then… a hand.
Kael pulled him back.
"You good?"
He nodded, slowly.
Eli pulsed brighter.
"The Core Node's near. I can feel the signal."
They pressed forward.
The walls became narrower, the bio-tech more erratic.
Screams echoed inside the conduits.
Finally, they reached a gate.
The words etched on it weren't in any language Jin recognized.
But he understood it:
REMEMBER TO UNLOCK
"Only way forward is through your own locked memories," Eli said softly.
"Problem is, unlocking them lets the Tower rewrite you."
"I'll take that risk," Jin said.
He stepped forward.
The gate split open, revealing a chamber that pulsed like a heart.
Inside waited a single being.
Not a Lawkeeper.
Not a Scribe.
Something else.
It looked human.
But its skin was transparent—veins full of running code.
Eyes like spinning disks.
It bowed.
"I am the Neurocleric," it said. "Keeper of the Tower's past. And guardian of your pain."
"Step aside," Kael said.
"You are not the one I guard."
It raised a hand.
Jin froze—images poured into his head.
His mother.
Crying as she handed him to a machine.
A voice whispering, "He can't be allowed to remember."
A blade of light erupted in the Neurocleric's hand.
Jin drew his code.
// FLOOR.ENV.GRAVITY_ZONE=SHIFTED_AXIS
// NEUROCLERIC.VISION_MODE=FALSE_INPUT
EXECUTE.
The floor tilted.
The Neurocleric stumbled, momentarily blinded.
Kael charged—firing plasma bolts.
Eli dove through the air, spiking his system.
Jin struck.
The Neurocleric bled static.
But as it fell, it whispered—
"You remember now. But it's only the beginning."
Jin walked past it.
In the center of the chamber stood a console.
[CORE NODE ACCESS POINT – ACTIVE]
[INPUT: MEMORY KEY]
Jin placed his hand on the console.
A code echoed into the air:
"VIOLET TRUTH"
The system accepted.
Light flooded the chamber.
A memory surged into Jin's mind.
The girl.
Her name: Lyra.
Her voice: "We were supposed to save it together…"
Jin staggered.
Eli caught him.
"You found her."
"She's still alive," he said. "Somewhere in this Tower."
Kael watched in silence.
Then the Core Node spoke.
[ACCESS GRANTED – FLOOR 4 UNLOCKED]
[UPLOADING MEMORY RESTORATION FILE – PARTIAL SYNC]
Jin stood.
His memories were returning.
And with them… purpose.
"Next floor," he said. "No more running."
Eli smiled faintly.
Kael nodded.
They turned toward the exit gate.
The Tower pulsed.
And above… a voice laughed.
Not digital.
Not synthetic.
Human.
"We're being watched," Kael whispered.
"Let them," Jin said.
"They should know I'm coming."
[TO BE CONTINUED – Chapter 7