—
In the outskirts of Old Kyoto, where Spiral signals had never reached, something ancient stirred.
A sealed temple, untouched by tech, flickered with golden lines—activation patterns from Protocol Aletheia.
A gate opened.
But this was no portal.
It was a memory.
*Waiting to be walked into.*
—
Hoshiro, Ayame, and Kazuki stood at the base of the temple. Lyric had led them here without saying a word, simply *knowing* the path.
"It was built before Spiral," Ayame whispered, scanning the structure. "It's not metal. It's encoded stone."
Kazuki touched one wall. "It feels like it's… breathing."
—
Inside, murals told a story:
—A civilization that rose before time.
—Aletheia, the system meant to awaken humanity's full memory.
—The betrayal: when a faction split off and twisted it into the Spiral—to *contain* rather than free.
Hoshiro traced a symbol he now understood:
*∞* — not a loop.
A convergence.
—
Lyric stepped into the center of the chamber.
"I remember now. I wasn't born. I was preserved. I'm the final *key* to reactivating the true core."
He turned to Hoshiro.
"And you… are the *door.*"
—
The temple began to glow.
Reality bent inward.
The next phase had begun.
—