🌌 Ashenwell Outskirts – Veiled Transit Hub
The wind outside the Ashenwell barrier wall was colder. Real. It didn't buzz with simulation feedback or artificial warmth. Here, everything felt heavier—less curated, more alive. And more dangerous.
Grim adjusted the stolen cloak Kaia had snuck to him. It shimmered slightly, camouflaging him from low-level Lume scanners. Enough to get through the outer gates unnoticed.
Sparks floated just ahead of him—half-visible, her form glitching every few seconds like a flame caught in static.
"Still not at full capacity," she muttered. "There's code missing. Whole libraries, wiped clean. I can't even access half your neural sync."
"You're still here," Grim replied quietly.
She glanced at him, then smiled—barely. "That used to mean something."
He didn't answer. The air between them was thick with everything they hadn't said. Sparks had always been more than a guide. More than code. She was his. His tether to sanity when everything else fell apart. But now she was... altered.
Flickering.
Sometimes when she spoke, there were two voices. Hers—and something buried.
"Do you remember Ayesha?" he asked as they passed a blinking terminal.
Sparks hesitated. Then nodded.
"She sang through a collapsing Lume rift once. Pitched her own heartbeat as a harmonic key. Saved all of us."
"Her file says she might be compromised."
"I know." Sparks' glow dimmed. "She's not the only one."
A pause.
"You're glitching more," Grim said.
"I know that too." Sparks looked away. "Something followed me back. I just don't know what it is yet."
📡 Court Broadcast – Mobile Projection Node
They reached the ridge just as the holo-feed came back into range.
Tristan—Rapture—stood tall on a floating platform, speaking to displaced civilians. His silver-bladed staff rested against his shoulder, the Court insignia gleaming on his coat.
"…Ashenwell remains secure," Tristan was saying. "We stand as its shield. You will be relocated safely."
He was calm. Almost too calm. Grim watched every movement—the practiced smiles, the poised stance. It was the brother he remembered… but filtered. Hollowed out.
Then something shifted in the crowd.
A cloaked figure approached Tristan from behind, passing him a case.
Grim's eyes narrowed.
That case bore the same rune from Project: Solace—the one the Court had branded onto Grim's file, and his skin.
Sparks twitched violently beside him. Her form destabilized, warping into scattered flame-shards before reassembling.
"I know that case," she whispered. "It holds identifiers. Line triggers. They're going to use him."
"Then we move," Grim growled.
He turned to descend the hill—
But froze.
A shadow detached itself from the rock behind him. Silent. Seamless.
The figure wore black, his cloak stitched with null-glyphs. His presence was suffocating. But his voice was calm.
"You're not ready."
Grim's hand went to his sword instantly, fire licking along its edge.
The shadow didn't flinch. Slowly, the hood lowered.
Pale skin. Silver-blue eyes. Black hair falling like smoke around his face.
"Max," Grim whispered.
His youngest brother stood between him and the mission, body still, unreadable.
But not hostile.
"I've been watching you since you broke the barrier," Max said. "Since Sparks came back."
"You were the one trailing me in the Archives?"
"I had to be sure. That you were still you." Max stepped forward, just enough to let the dying sunlight catch the glint of obsidian blades at his sides. "The Court wants you erased. They don't get to."
"I thought they programmed you to kill me."
"They did," Max said flatly. "And I refused."
Grim stared. "Why?"
Max didn't blink.
"Because you're my brother. And I remember."
🌒 Shadow Bond – Fragmented Dialogue
Sparks floated between them, unstable.
"You followed us all this time and never said anything?" she asked. "You let him walk into fire?"
"I watched," Max said. "It's different."
He looked at Grim again.
"You're going to chase Tristan. I know that. I won't stop you."
"Then why are you here?"
"To protect you," Max said simply. "From the Court. From them. And… from yourself."
Grim turned away.
"I don't need protection."
"You always did," Max replied. "You were just too strong to admit it."