They walked through ash and silence.
Kael's footsteps echoed down the empty corridor—bare concrete, scorched walls, and broken conduits that dangled like entrails from the ceiling. Behind him, Sera walked in silence, the distant growl of collapsing steel reminding them the Hollow Court's final hideout was no more.
The Cradle Dogs had done their job.
The Hollow Court was broken.
But Kael had survived.
System Notification:
[Ashborn Protocol – Core Stabilization: 42% Complete]
[Next Milestone: Partial Evolution Available upon Completion of Field Trial Objective]
He didn't fully understand what that meant yet, but every part of him felt different. His steps were lighter. His perception sharper. The world no longer felt like a weight pressing down—it felt like something waiting to be carved.
"Where are we headed?" Kael asked.
"An old relay chamber beneath the outer district," Sera answered. "It links into transit lines used before the first Collapse. No one patrols them now. Not even the Interceptors."
Kael paused at that. "Why?"
She glanced over. "Because even they don't like what's down there."
That didn't sound promising.
But Kael didn't complain. He didn't feel like the boy who had knelt in chains two nights ago, bleeding in the mud.
He was changing.
Fast.
The Black Relay
The entrance was a sealed vault embedded into the floor of a forgotten reactor room. Its blast doors had rusted into place over the years, and it took Kael's system-boosted strength and Sera's lockdown tools to pry them open.
Below, a spiral staircase descended into darkness.
"Stay close," Sera muttered. "There are things that live down here. And some of them… remember."
As they descended, Kael's vision adjusted. His eyes—now marked with the faint glow of the Ashborn protocol—pierced the dark without strain.
Down below, the world changed.
The tunnel opened into an underground causeway. Massive metal tubes stretched across the void like intestines of some long-dead machine. In the center, a transit rail sat cold and broken. Old war markings were still burned into the walls—glyphs of factions Kael had never heard of.
And in the far distance, pulsing faintly like a dying heartbeat, was the relay.
It looked like a ribcage made of obsidian. A collapsed spire with fractal wiring still twitching with ancient energy.
Sera approached it cautiously. "This used to link remote memory nodes between underground enclaves. The Hollow Court used to store pieces of lost Ascension Codes here."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "Used to?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she walked up to the base of the spire and inserted a fractured key into the console.
The relay screamed.
It wasn't a sound—they felt it in their bones. Like reality twisting against itself.
Kael gritted his teeth. "That's not supposed to happen, is it?"
"No," she said. "It's waking up something that shouldn't be waking up."
System Alert:
[WARNING – Foreign Code Detected in Relay Spire]
[Caution: Echo-Entities Present in Local Dimensional Fold]
From the darkness, something slithered into view.
Echoes of the Forgotten
It looked human—at first.
A tall, emaciated figure with elongated limbs and eyes like hollow lanterns. But as it stepped into the faint light, its body shimmered, revealing layers of spectral data and neural static bleeding off it like smoke.
"Echo-Entity," Sera whispered. "Residual intelligence born from collapsed system imprints. They guard forbidden code."
Kael took a step forward. "Can I fight it?"
"You'll have to."
The Echo turned toward Kael. And then, to their horror—it spoke.
"You… were not born."
Its voice came from everywhere. Like hundreds of memories whispering at once.
"You do not belong. And yet… you carry what we lost."
The Echo raised a clawed hand—and lashed out.
Kael moved.
The world slowed again, Specter Veins flaring as Kael dipped low and spun past the claw, slamming his fist into the Echo's side.
[Shadow Crucible: 1 Stack – RELEASE]
The blast struck—but passed through the creature as if it were mist.
Kael staggered. "That didn't work."
Sera tossed him a prism. "Hit it with this!"
He caught it mid-air. Instinct took over. He pressed it against his chest—and felt a surge of harmonic vibration spread through his arms.
[Ashborn Sync Artifact Detected]
[Temporary Upgrade – Harmonic Edge]
Converts next physical attack into frequency-synced kinetic strike.
Effective against spectral or code-based enemies.
Kael didn't wait.
He lunged again—this time striking with a fist wrapped in white energy that vibrated with the rhythm of broken code.
The Echo screamed as Kael's punch disrupted its form.
It retaliated, slashing a gash across Kael's arm—but instead of pain, he felt power.
[Shadow Crucible: 2 Stacks – RELEASE]
The second blast obliterated the Echo's torso.
It twisted, faded—and vanished.
The relay went silent.
A Glimpse of the Past
In the Echo's place, a holographic feed burst into light. Ancient data streamed through the air—fragments of broken records, faces, names, glyphs.
And a message.
"If you're hearing this… then the Nullborn has awoken."
Kael froze.
The voice was male. Calm. Familiar.
"Your kind were never meant to exist. But if the code has accepted you… then your survival is now the last variable."
Sera looked at Kael, pale. "You're… Nullborn?"
Kael blinked. "I don't know what that means."
But the feed didn't wait.
"Find the Ashen Vault. Deep beneath the Spires of Badrin. There, the first protocols were buried—locked away after the Collapse."
The message ended.
Silence returned.
Kael stood still. The name echoed in his mind: Nullborn.
He felt it—the way his system had always been different. How the others couldn't see what he could. How his code evolved around pain, not power.
"Looks like we have a destination," he murmured.
Sera nodded, still shaken. "You don't get it. The Spires of Badrin are in lockdown. They're a dead zone now. No one goes near them."
Kael's eyes gleamed faint white.
"Then I guess we go where no one dares."
Unwelcome Company
As they began their journey back to the surface, Kael felt something shift.
The Ashborn Protocol pulsed again.
[System Notice – Trial Completed]
[Progress: Core Stabilization 100%]
[Ashborn Protocol Tier I – FULL UNLOCKED]
New Ability: Void Step
Short-range phase shift movement. Bypasses line of sight and barriers.
New Passive: Pain Memory
First attack from any enemy is reduced. Pain experienced improves resistance.
Kael staggered. It didn't hurt—but it was heavy. Like part of him had awakened and was now too big to fit back inside his skin.
"You alright?" Sera asked, watching him carefully.
Kael straightened. "Better than ever."
But something was waiting above.
As they climbed out of the dark, they found the world burning.
Smoke billowed in the distance. The city beyond the Court was under attack.
And walking through the flames… were Interceptors.
More than Cradle Dogs.
More than Enforcers.
Ascendants.
Sera gasped. "We have to run."
Kael didn't move.
His system flared with anticipation.
"No," he said. "We find the Vault. And we make them chase us."