:
The Root City receded behind them, glowing softly as if watching their departure. Orion walked in silence, her thoughts tangled in the figure's parting words. "Learn his story. Let him speak." It went against everything she had trained for, every defensive protocol LUCENT embedded into her core. She was built to protect, to respond, to neutralize threats—not to understand them.
Cole walked beside her, his steps light but his expression troubled. "You believe it can be reasoned with? The Observer?"
"I don't know yet," Orion admitted. "But I know we've tried everything else. And maybe that's the problem. We've treated him like a virus. But what if he's more than that? What if he's a wound one that never healed?"
They moved toward a convergence point one of the original anchor nodes left behind by the Architects. LUCENT's light was thin here, scattered through fractured geometry and temporal dissonance. It was a dead zone for most, but not for Orion. Not anymore.
