The cuffs bit into Luna Eryndale's wrists with every bump in the road.
She sat quietly in the back of the enforcer transport, flanked by two officers. Neither spoke, and Luna didn't break the silence. It had been years since silence unsettled her.
Outside, Mistport slid past like a machine breathing in low, humming pulses. Sector Five loomed ahead—where tech failed more often, where power blinked like a nervous eye. It was where they took people like her. People who knew too much.
The van passed through a scanner gate. Cold washed over her as data probes scraped her digital record.
[Subject: Luna Eryndale]
[Scan Result: Unregistered | Code Status: Inconclusive]
Same as always. Her blood never read clean. Never dirty enough to detain long-term either. Just enough to make her a permanent anomaly in a city obsessed with order.
"You're too calm," one enforcer muttered. "Most couriers beg."
Luna didn't look at him. "Begging wastes breath. I prefer silence."
He snorted but said no more.
The van stopped. Doors opened. Luna stepped out without resistance, boots crunching against grated flooring. A female officer with a datapad stood waiting, lips pursed.
"Luna Eryndale?" she asked.
"That's what they tell me," Luna replied.
"Transport log shows NuMist in your cargo. Do you deny knowing what you were carrying?"
"I knew it didn't tick. That's all I needed."
The woman frowned, noting something on her pad. "Put her in Iso-Holding. No mirror surfaces."
Luna let them escort her without resistance.
---
The holding room was steel and silence. One cot, a dim overhead light, and a pulse panel on the far wall blinking slow white. No cameras, no reflection. They'd learned from last time.
She sat on the edge of the cot and let the silence settle. Her wrists ached from the cuffs, but she didn't rub them. It wasn't pain she was focused on—it was the quiet between the lights. The air tasted wrong.
A faint shimmer flickered across the wall panel. Luna turned.
A soft digital pulse buzzed through her spine.
[System Link Detected]
[Subject Recognition: Luna Eryndale]
[Candidate Status: Declined]
She exhaled slowly.
Still rejected.
After all this time, the System remembered her—and still said no. Which meant it was alive again. Somewhere beneath Mistport, the code had awakened. And if it recognized her, it likely recognized others too.
A door hissed open behind her.
She turned.
Nathan Fielding entered, long coat dusted with city ash. His presence still filled a room, though his face bore more weight than it used to.
"You're not supposed to be here," he said.
"You say that every time we meet," Luna replied.
"You smuggled NuMist."
"I delivered sealed cargo. You taught me the difference."
He didn't reply.
Luna rose to her feet. They stood facing one another—two ghosts from a war no one remembered.
"I saw the surveillance feed," Nathan said. "You let them catch you."
"No. I didn't run. Not the same thing."
"Why?"
"Because I needed to see you. And because the System is active."
Nathan's jaw tightened. "I know."
She nodded, slowly. "Your son?"
Nathan froze. "You've been watching us?"
"No. The System has. I just listened."
He turned away, pacing. "It started weeks ago. Lights flickering. Mirrors shifting. Then Raine began… hearing things."
Luna's voice softened. "He's not like other children, is he?"
Nathan's silence confirmed it.
"The System is scanning him," Luna said. "It's testing his code signature. If he responds…"
"I won't let it take him."
"You may not have a choice."
Nathan faced her again. "What do you know?"
Luna crossed her arms. "More than I want to. The capsule I carried wasn't just NuMist. It was legacy code—fragments from the original Source Seed. The kind that shouldn't exist."
"Where did it come from?"
"Does it matter? If it's out there, then someone's rebuilding. Maybe even trying to force the System's hand."
Nathan ran a hand over his face. "Why now?"
"Because Raine's alive. Because the System likes patterns. Because something unfinished is trying to complete itself."
He studied her. "And you? What do you want?"
"To stop running. To keep him safe."
Nathan looked away.
"I made peace with my choices a long time ago," Luna said. "But I won't watch the next generation suffer for our mistakes."
He stepped forward slowly, voice low. "You think he'll be chosen?"
"I think he already has been. The question is what he'll become."
They stood in silence again.
Then Nathan turned to the door.
"You're not under arrest. But stay close. If this escalates…"
"It already has."
He left without another word.
Luna sat back down.
Above her, the lights flickered once—then steadied.
But the System's voice whispered softly through the walls:
[Candidate: Raine Fielding]
[Scan: 62% Complete]
[Awakening Protocol… Pending]