He learns to bend Keitha's tech-magic laws.
Asher sat alone in the crystal-lit chamber deep within Keitha's subterranean network, a room pulsing with light and code that responded to no ordinary logic. The rest of the AMP Squad had returned to the Archive to analyze new visions, but Asher had stayed behind. Something about the shifting symbols etched into the walls here called to him.
He reached out, fingers hovering over a panel of light that flickered like liquid electricity. "Come on, talk to me," he muttered. The city had revealed itself as alive—but not in the way machines were alive. Keitha wasn't just magical, it was techno-magic, and Asher intended to crack it.
A sudden spark erupted from the panel, zapping his fingertips. Instead of pulling away, Asher leaned closer. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You're testing me."
He sat cross-legged, eyes scanning the interface. He'd seen the system evolve every time they interacted with it. Rooms rearranged, voices echoed in coded whispers, ancient machines hummed with runes. It was magic written in binary.
With trembling hands, he connected his tablet to the ancient terminal via a spliced copper wire he found in a crumbled hallway. The screen flickered. Then, a line of text appeared:
AUTHORIZATION PENDING... USER: ASHER REYES
He blinked. The city knew his name.
Then came another line:
INPUT: SYSTEM REWRITE INITIATED?
He hesitated. This wasn't just hacking a firewalled database—this was rewriting an intelligent city's protocol.
But something told him this was what Keitha wanted. He exhaled, fingers flying across his keyboard. He didn't try to dominate the system—he worked with it. Suggesting. Modifying. Learning.
Asher discovered that every function in Keitha followed a hybrid law: part algorithm, part spell. If he modified the sequences without acknowledging the ritual, the system locked him out. But when he added chants he remembered from the Archive, written in the margin of an explorer's journal, the gates opened.
Keitha was a circuit board wrapped in enchantment.
Hours passed—or maybe time moved differently in this place. Asher finally cracked the core sequence controlling movement within the city. He whispered a code-spell into the interface:
"By tech and tongue, reveal the run."
The chamber shimmered.
Walls shifted. A new corridor emerged. Not from behind a hidden door—no, this passage built itself right before his eyes, line by line, light by light.
Asher grinned wide. "I just taught a magical city to code itself on command."
He tapped his earpiece. "Guys, you better get here. Keitha just got a software update."
Blair's voice came through: "Please tell me you didn't blow something up."
Zora chimed in, "Is this a nerd thing or a run-for-our-lives thing?"
"No explosions. Yet. But I found a way to make Keitha listen. I think I can reprogram our path forward."
Within minutes, the squad arrived, panting from the sprint through the jungle-lit corridors.
"What did you do?" Athena whispered, looking around the transformed room.
Asher turned to them, eyes glowing faintly from residual magic-code energy. "I spoke her language."
Ace stared. "Her?"
"Keitha. She's more than just alive. She's... waiting for us to evolve with her. I think she's choosing who can stay, who can leave... and who can change her."
Sylvia's voice was soft. "Then we need to be careful. Cities with feelings? That's some next-level risk."
Asher nodded. "That's why I'll lead this part. Keitha and I—we've got a bond now. Let me be the firewall."
The team exchanged glances. No one argued.
For the first time, Asher felt more than just smart. He felt chosen.
And somewhere deep within Keitha, the gears shifted. The city had rebooted—with Asher as its new translator.