Chapter 12 – Dream Layer
The tunnel beyond the Prism Warden was quieter. No hums, no vibrations—only silence, like they'd stepped into a place where sound itself was forbidden. The walls were pitch black, but not in an empty way—in a dense, ink-like depth that bent perception.
"This isn't real space anymore," Sya whispered. "This is inside the code's dream."
"What does that even mean?" Kale asked, one hand brushing the wall. His fingertips didn't touch anything solid—only cold air.
Elyon crouched, brushing his hand across the floor. "There's no dust, no light, no texture. This place… it doesn't exist in matter. It's memory."
Suddenly, the air rippled. A new presence emerged ahead—a massive, floating cube, rotating slowly in space. Its surface was etched with ancient characters and thousands of blinking eyes.
"That's… a Memory Node," Sya said. "They used these to preserve fragments of the original system before the Fracture."
The cube began to speak—not aloud, but into their minds.
"WHO SEEKS THE HIDDEN TRUTH?"
Elyon straightened. "We do."
"PROVE YOUR IDENTITY."
A panel of light appeared beneath each of their feet. Questions appeared in glowing script.
Sya's asked: "What was your first loss?"
She swallowed. Images surfaced. Her sister's scream. The explosion. Her own hands, soaked in blood.
She whispered, "My sister. She died because I hesitated."
The panel dimmed.
Kale's question: "What do you fear most?"
He scowled. "Losing control."
Elyon's panel: "Who are you without the darkness?"
He hesitated longer than the others. "I don't know. Maybe nothing."
The Memory Node spun faster, lights blinking in chaotic patterns.
Then it calmed.
"ACCESS GRANTED."
The cube dissolved into code, lines of glowing blue data falling into a portal that opened at the end of the tunnel.
A voice echoed inside the portal, barely a whisper: "The seventh layer is not fractured… it's rewritten."
They stepped through—and everything changed.
—
They landed in a field of colorless flowers.
Above them stretched a violet sky with streaks of moving code.
"This… feels familiar," Kale said, surprised.
Elyon looked uneasy. "This is too calm."
Suddenly, a boy appeared among the flowers.
He looked about twelve. Black hair, white eyes, wearing an old, patched uniform that looked like it came from a forgotten era of the network.
"You don't belong here," the boy said.
Sya stepped forward. "We're trying to fix the code."
The boy tilted his head. "Why? So you can break it again?"
"We didn't break it—" Kale began.
"But you will. Everyone does."
The sky turned red.
The boy's body flickered, glitching.
He was no longer a child—but a tall, hollow-eyed version of himself. A glitch-born.
Elyon shouted, "It's a distortion field! His body's a construct!"
The creature attacked, sending waves of corrupt code in all directions. The flowers withered instantly. Sya threw up a barrier, blocking the first wave.
Kale charged, blades glowing with signature light. His strike slashed through the creature, but it reformed instantly.
Sya closed her eyes. It's a code trap. Not a real enemy.
"Don't fight it!" she yelled. "We're playing into its rules!"
She reached into her data core—and rewrote her own coordinates.
Her body shimmered—and vanished from the trap.
Kale saw her disappear. "Where—?"
"Rewrite yourself!" she called from the outside.
Elyon understood first. He concentrated, altered his code signature—and slipped out.
Kale hesitated. Then followed.
They landed in a plain white room, sterile and cold.
In the center sat another cube—but this one was cracked, leaking dark mist.
"The real Memory Node," Sya said.
"I can hear it crying," Elyon whispered.
Kale touched the crack. "This… this is the seventh fracture."
Sya nodded. "And it's not asleep. It's in pain."
Then the cube began to split.
And something began to awaken.
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Let me know when you're ready for Chapter 13.