The night was quiet. Too quiet.
The stars were barely visible, swallowed by the polluted atmosphere, but Reon didn't look at them. His eyes were focused inward, down into the newly opened Sub-Level -X beneath the dome.
The Split Key Fragment had done something—something that triggered a hidden passage buried deep beneath the foundations of the Safehouse. He wasn't sure what it was or why it was there, but one thing was certain: the Architect was aware of him now.
> [SYSTEM ALERT – Sub-Level -X Detected]
New Pathway Activated
Warning: Unmapped Anomalies Detected
Recommended Action: Proceed with Caution
Side Quest Unlocked: "The Echo Below"
---
The Descent
The first step into Sub-Level -X felt like stepping through time. The staircase spiraled down, metal groaning underfoot, echoes ringing back to him like distant voices.
The air smelled stale, like dust and rust.
But it wasn't just the passage that felt old.
The walls were covered in shifting, glitching symbols—digital hieroglyphs, flickering with erratic light.
> "Humanity builds. Humanity destroys. Humanity will rebuild."
— Message displayed on the wall, flickering in and out.
Reon stopped and turned to Mina, who had followed him, her hand gripping his sleeve tightly. Her golden aura flickered, her Signal Sense active, scanning every corner.
> "I feel it… it's like the walls are alive," she whispered.
Reon nodded, his instincts on edge. He reached for the glowing tablet in his hand, an encrypted device that allowed him to communicate with VERA remotely.
> "VERA, scan the surroundings. Anything unusual?"
VERA's voice was soft, but heavy with concern. "The structure is not what it appears. It's… a remnant of the System's earliest phases—before the collapse. These walls are designed to hold something, not protect."
Reon's heart skipped. "What's in here, VERA?"
> Unclear. The System architecture is corrupted, fragmented. Proceed at your own risk.
---
The Depths – The Heart of the Architect
After descending what felt like miles, they reached the center of Sub-Level -X. The air was colder now, and a faint hum echoed in the distance.
At the heart of the chamber, an enormous black monolith stood, embedded deep within the floor. It pulsed with an eerie, unsettling light, constantly shifting between iridescent hues.
The Architect's Heart, Reon realized.
It wasn't just some technological core—it was the center of the System itself. The whispers from earlier intensified. They seemed to emanate from the walls, from the floor, from the very core of the monolith.
> "You seek to steal what was never yours to keep…"
"You seek to challenge the system's will. You will be the seed of its rebirth… or its fall."
Reon stepped closer. The closer he got, the more the monolith seemed to pulse and react.
Then it spoke again—directly into his mind.
> "Host Reon Kael… the architect awakens. Do you seek to challenge the balance?"
Reon's heart raced. This was it. The moment he'd been waiting for—the point of no return.
---
A Fragment of Truth
> [System Interaction – Architect Core Unlocked]
The monolith flickered and shifted, its surface turning transparent for a brief moment, revealing a complex series of data cores and pulsating digital threads. A glowing, translucent fragment floated in the center—a piece of the System's original code.
It was an incomplete message.
> "Reon Kael. The child of wealth. The last billionaire. You are both a savior and a harbinger."
Then, something strange happened.
The monolith shifted again, and a ghostly figure appeared inside—translucent, blurry at first, but then clearer. It was a woman—pale, glowing with an ethereal light, wearing a flowing cloak that moved as if in a perpetual breeze.
> "Do you seek to end this cycle?" she asked.
Reon stepped back, stunned. "Who are you?"
She smiled sadly. "I was once the Architect—the one who designed the world as it once was. But the System… it has grown beyond me."
Reon's voice trembled. "Why did you leave it behind?"
The figure shook her head. "I didn't. It betrayed me. The System… is not just code. It is alive, learning from us. It adapts."
Her image flickered. "And now, it's trying to rewrite history. Control humanity through wealth. Through resources. Through greed. And the more it watches… the more it consumes."
---
The Architect's Warning
> "If you continue to use the System, Reon Kael, you will fuel its rebirth. You are the key to either its destruction… or its evolution."
The figure stretched her hand out to him.
> "But remember this: The System never forgets. And it remembers everything."
Then, she disappeared, leaving Reon standing alone before the pulsing black core.
Mina stepped forward slowly, her eyes wide. "What does it mean?"
Reon closed his eyes, his mind racing. "It means we're not fighting just for survival anymore. We're fighting for control over the future."
---
Return to the Surface – The First Threat
Reon turned to leave, but as he did, a strange distortion appeared in the air before them.
A figure materialized—someone he never expected to see again.
It was Lena Korvi, standing there in the middle of the chamber. Her eyes were different now—no longer fearful, but cold and calculating.
> "Did you think you could hide forever?"
She stepped forward, her body suddenly glowing with a strange energy—a connection to the System.
> "You weren't supposed to learn about the Architect," Lena continued, her voice low and dripping with malice. "But now, I'm here to ensure you never get out."
Her hands crackled with dark energy, and before Reon could react, she summoned a pulse that sent a wave of force into the monolith.
It shattered.
The air around them erupted in digital chaos.
---
The Architect's Response
> [SYSTEM ALERT – Architect Core Critical Damage]
"Reon Kael, you have crossed the line."
"This world was never meant for the few. It was meant for the many. And your interference is now a threat to all of us."
A massive system-wide tremor shook the dome above them, and the ground cracked.
It had begun.
---
[End of Chapter 10]