Trinity Flame Status: UNSTABLE]
Lockbrand Fracture – Tier II
Soulfire Compression: 67% critical
Warning: Host combustion risk imminent
She didn't scream.
Not once.
Even as the fire tore from her spine, her Mark cracking like glass trying to hold back a volcano.
We were in the ruins of a collapsed trial zone—Zone Delta-Twelve, once a Reaper arena. Now just splinters of code and ash.
But Trinity was the only one burning.
The enemy was long gone—a rogue cult splinter that detonated their own soulthreads in a final attack. We'd stopped them.
But not in time.
Somehow, their collapse had destabilized Trinity's Lockbrand.
Now her flame—the one tied to her existence—was eating her alive.
I reached for her.
She pulled away.
"Don't," she hissed. "It's too volatile."
"I've rewritten Death, Trinity," I snapped. "You think I can't handle flame?"
"You don't get it." Her teeth clenched. "This isn't just fire. It's my anchor. It's unraveling."
Orion watched from the edge of the rubble, his wards flickering uselessly. "She needs a thread-stabilizer. Echo-13's code won't help—it's too mechanical."
Trinity collapsed to one knee, eyes glowing too bright.
"I can hold it," she growled.
"No," I said, stepping closer. "You don't have to."
She looked up, pain laced into every breath.
"If you thread-pact with me," she warned, "your flame becomes mine. Your system link, your Key—it'll sync. If I go down… you go with me."
I didn't blink.
"Then let's burn together."
[Lucid Key Command: /threadbind Trinity Flame – Consent Confirmed]
Status: Active soul fusion link established
Result: Dual Anchor Sync
Warning: Shared death state enabled. If one dies, both fragment.
A blinding light exploded from our Marks, a spiral of red and gold wrapping around our arms like flame and thread woven together.
I felt it.
Her grief. Her fury. Her choice.
And she felt mine.
New Trait Gained: Bonded Flame Protocol
*+ Flame resilience (Shared)
Thread sense (Shared)
Emotion bleed (Stabilized)*
Trinity fell forward—straight into my chest.
But the fire didn't hurt anymore.
It wrapped around us like an oath.
"I didn't want to drag you into this," she said into my shoulder.
"You didn't," I whispered. "We walked in together."
Later, as she rested, Orion stood beside me, arms crossed.
"You keep rewriting things no one's meant to change."
"I'm trying to save her."
"You're also chaining yourself to every spark," he said.
And then, quieter:
"What happens when you need to burn alone?"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
All I knew was the system was watching.
And it had just recorded everything.
[Bond Registered – Threadpairing Confirmed]
Subject: TREY / TRINITY
Synchronization Index: 81%
Flamebound Class – UNLOCKED
We were linked now. Not just by choice. But by consequence.