Darkness.Then — light.But not the kind Adrian knew. This light pulsed in rhythm, like a heartbeat, coded in data streams that looked and felt alive.
He opened his eyes slowly.The floor beneath him was glass — beneath that, an endless ocean of mirrored memories. Cities built of static. Faces flickering like ghosts. Every reflection whispered something just out of reach.
"Elena?" His voice echoed, carried by data rather than air.
A soft hum answered him, then footsteps.
From the haze, she appeared — barefoot, wearing the same dress from the gala, now torn at the edges. Golden lines of code trailed faintly under her skin, glowing like veins of light.
She blinked at him, dazed. "We're inside it."
Adrian steadied himself. "The Core?"
Elena nodded. "Or what's left of it. This is the simulation layer — the memory vault of Nadir."
She looked around, her eyes flickering with fragments of recognition. "They stored everything here. Every subject. Every failed test."
As she spoke, the world around them began shifting — glass panels rising like walls, displaying fragments of their lives.Adrian saw his father — Raymond Vance — standing beside Charles Ward, both younger, ambitious, confident.
"Imagine it, Ray," Charles's voice said, echoing from the panels. "A system that can rewrite trauma. Perfect recall, perfect obedience."
Raymond's face darkened. "You're talking about rewriting people."
The image shattered.
Elena turned away, gripping her head. "We shouldn't be seeing this…"
Adrian stepped closer. "Maybe that's the point. Maybe it wants us to."
The world shimmered again — now showing Elena as a child, in a sterile chamber. Dozens of scientists observed her through glass as she solved impossible puzzles projected midair.
In the corner stood a young man, observing silently — Adrian, or someone who looked just like him.
Elena froze. "That can't be real."
"It's you," Adrian murmured, his chest tightening. "And me."
She turned sharply, eyes wide. "No. You weren't there."
"Maybe not in that life," he said quietly, "but in this place, memories overlap. Maybe that's what merging means — our pasts are crossing."
Suddenly, the panels began flashing red.
[UNAUTHORIZED MERGE DETECTED.][SUBJECT STABILITY AT 42%.][INITIATING MEMORY PURGE.]
The world trembled. The glass beneath them cracked.Adrian grabbed her wrist, pulling her close. "Move!"
They ran — through corridors of light collapsing behind them. Faces screamed out from the walls — subjects, scientists, fragments of themselves all screaming to be remembered.
A voice echoed through the data storm, mechanical yet eerily human.
"You cannot unmake what was written."
Elena stumbled. "That voice… it's the Core."
Adrian stopped, holding her steady. "Then we find where it's speaking from."
She looked up, eyes burning with defiance. "And we finish what our fathers started."
Lightning split across the simulation — and for a moment, Adrian saw the real world flicker in, just beyond the code.He saw Charles Ward slumped beside the console — and another man standing behind him.
Someone in a gray coat. Watching.
"They found the merge," Elena whispered. "They'll come for us."
Adrian's jaw tightened. "Then we give them something to fear."
He reached out — and the glass floor rippled like water, revealing a staircase of data descending deeper.
[ENTERING MEMORY CORE – LEVEL 2.][ACCESS GRANTED: SUBJECT V / SUBJECT W.]
Elena looked at him, her expression unreadable. "Are you sure?"
He gave a faint, tired smile. "I've already died once. Let's see what happens if I live for real this time."
Together, they stepped down into the Core.