They moved fast across broken ground sky above them still unstable as the rewritten laws battled the old order
Every few steps a different gravity
Every hour the sun changed shape
Reality wasn't just glitching now it was resisting
Azel carried the core inside his chest now embedded like a second heart
Each beat sent pulses of raw code into the world
Aya noticed animals had begun following them
Not normal ones
Beasts that should not exist
Creatures erased from ancient updates
Things born before logic
The system was crumbling and everything forgotten was returning
We're being watched she said
Azel replied without turning
Let them watch
They reached the last gate
A spiral staircase leading straight into the ground
On the surface it looked like old stone
But each step was a memory of a war never recorded
At the bottom was the Heart Terminal
The center of all system logic
The place where fate could be installed or deleted
Waiting at the entrance was the Architect
He looked nothing like a god
Just a man made of clean lines and unfinished sentences
He bowed once
You brought the rewrite
Azel nodded
And I'll upload it
The Architect smiled but it was not warm
Then step forward
But know this
I am the last line of rollback
I am the failsafe of causality
If you cannot defeat me
I will rewind you to before your birth
Aya stepped forward but Azel held her back
This is mine
He walked into the circle
And the world locked
Time froze
Then shattered into mirrors
Azel looked around
Every version of him stood nearby
The coward
The tyrant
The broken one
The hopeful one
The Architect spoke
Before you install your truth
You must delete your lies
Azel clenched his fists
Then let's clean house