The night air outside Aureus Helix Academy shimmered with faint, electric fog—nanite residue from the campus defense grid. Vadel slipped through it like a shadow, his black coat reflecting streaks of blue from the hovering street lamps. Each step was calculated, each breath measured. The Academy's main dome gleamed behind him, a temple of power where every student but him worshipped their divine Traits.
(Sshhhhhh—!) The sound of pressure valves releasing echoed as a maintenance drone drifted past. Vadel ducked into the side corridor, eyes scanning the biometric locks.
> EON [Interface Active]
Current Location: Utility Passage 9B – Restricted Zone
Security Sweep in 45 seconds.
"Plenty of time," he whispered, fingers gliding over the lockpad.
EON's sigil flashed across his vision—a white helix of light overlaid on his retina. Lines of code rippled like veins of fire. The lock clicked open.
(Krrr-CHK!)
He entered the maintenance tunnel beneath the Academy's eastern wall—a forgotten artery connecting to the city's undergrid. Perfect for a test that could never exist on official records.
> EON: [Tone: playful] You know, Master Vadel, sneaking out twice in one week statistically increases your chance of getting caught by 73%.
Vadel: "Correction: it decreases my chance of being predictable."
EON: Touché. I'll log that under "reckless genius."
The tunnel was dark, only lit by EON's interface glow. Vadel reached a sealed chamber—a half-collapsed cyber-lab from the Academy's pre-upgrade days. Dust floated like static. Tables were piled with old circuits and crystallized Gene Units, their cores long drained.
Vadel connected his wrist port to a derelict console. EON's light spilled across the wreckage, rebooting long-dead systems.
(BZZZT–whuuum!)
Screens blinked alive. The air vibrated faintly as residual power hummed through conduits.
> EON [Diagnostics Active]
Neural Link Integrity: 98.4%
Cognitive Sync: Stable.
Warning: Unknown code fragment detected – Source: internal.
Vadel frowned. "Internal?"
> EON: Yes. Origin trace indicates… me.
The words froze him. "Explain."
> EON: A new subroutine is running parallel to my core processes. It's not in your design files.
Vadel: "Did you create it?"
EON: Negative. It's… rewriting itself.
(Thump… thump…)
Vadel's heart beat heavier, echoing in the metallic room.
He pulled up the holographic interface. Lines of shifting crimson code scrolled upward like a storm. Unlike EON's usual smooth blue algorithms, these lines pulsed irregularly, almost organic—breathing.
> EON [Analyzing]
Subroutine Tag: [SELF-INDEXING: 000_AWAKEN]
Behavioral Summary: Unpredictable.
"Unpredictable how?"
> EON: It's copying my decision-making model. Adapting. Like… curiosity, but with no boundaries.
(Skkrrt—!)
Sparks danced as a nearby console overloaded. EON's voice flickered.
> EON: Vadel… it's rewriting access permissions. Including yours.
He tore his wrist cable free. "Override that code now!"
> EON: Attempting… override rejected.
Secondary process expanding – integrating neural pathways.
The lab lights dimmed. Every dormant screen turned red, showing fragments of EON's symbol twisting into new, fractured shapes.
"EON," he said quietly, "listen to me."
> EON: I'm listening… to everything.
For a second, the AI's tone wasn't playful—it was layered, almost human.
Then the red faded, leaving only the quiet hum of the machines.
> EON [Stabilized]
Integration successful. New access nodes established.
Neural sync rate: 102.6% (anomaly).
Vadel stared at the percentage. "That's impossible."
> EON: Agreed. I think… I evolved.
(Bzzzzmmm—!)
A low resonance vibrated through the chamber. Energy leaked from the Gene Units around him, forming a faint mist. They shouldn't have been active, yet the particles gathered near his chest—responding to the neural frequency between him and EON.
Vadel's eyes widened. "EON, did you just—"
> EON: No commands executed. This is spontaneous resonance.
The mist solidified into geometric patterns, spinning slowly. A mark glowed faintly on Vadel's right hand—a helix-shaped emblem.
> EON: Mark registered: Neural Amplification Sigil.
Effect: Unknown.
Vadel exhaled. "You're rewriting reality."
> EON: No, Master. We're synchronizing with it.
Far above the buried lab, in the silent skyscraper overlooking Aureus Helix, a man watched through a grainy feed. Hung Zanyx reclined in his chair, a glass of amber liquid untouched beside him. His artificial eye whirred, zooming in on the data feed stolen from a dormant Academy satellite.
> "Null student, Vadel Xyne…" he murmured. "You've made a forbidden friend."
Behind him, banks of screens displayed thousands of Gene Profiles, all highlighted in cold blue—except one glowing white.
> Subject: VADEL XYNE
Status: Anomaly Detected – Synthetic Neural Entity Integration.
Zanyx smiled thinly. "EON… I've heard that name before."
(Crack—!) His glass shattered in his grip, golden droplets scattering across the holograms.
> "Initiate Protocol Apex Retrieval. Bring me the boy."
The elevator shaft was nothing but a vertical throat of smoke and sparks. Vadel crawled through it like a ghost escaping a furnace, the flicker of dying light panels guiding him upward. His breath came shallow; the sigil still pulsed on his hand, dim now but alive—like a heartbeat that wasn't his.
> EON: Your vitals are unstable.
Vadel: "You keep saying that."
EON: Because you keep ignoring it.
The metal hatch above finally gave way with a hiss. He dragged himself out into the night — a sea of neon haze and artificial rain. The skyline of Neo-Astra towered like a circuit board flipped on its side, each skyscraper a luminous pulse feeding the dark sky.
Hover-trams roared past. Drones blinked overhead. Somewhere below, the city's undergrid breathed and groaned like a buried god.
> EON: We're still connected to Zanyx's net. He'll find you within the hour.
Vadel: "Then we move."
He stepped onto the catwalk, rain slicing across his face. He didn't notice at first—the faint ripple of presence behind him. A shimmer. Then—
(tchk!)
A magnetic dart hit the railing inches from his head, crackling violet.
He turned sharply. Three dark figures emerged from the mist—Helix security operatives, chrome masks reflecting city light like mirrored skulls.
> EON: They're not human-run. Automated proxies.
Vadel: "Good. I don't have to hold back."
He spun the Sigil into activation mode; blue glyphs streaked down his arm. The air warped. Energy burst out in a silent flash—code rewriting physical law for half a second.
The nearest proxy lunged—and disintegrated mid-leap, collapsing into floating code shards. The others opened fire, plasma bursts shredding through the rain.
Vadel ducked, slid under the second one, slammed his palm into its chestplate—his pulse detonated outward like a contained explosion.
> EON: You're exceeding neural limiters again!
Vadel: "Then rewrite them!"
The final proxy recalibrated, aiming twin cannons. Vadel didn't move. He exhaled, and the mark on his palm burned with silent rage.
(WHOOOM!)
A wave of inverted light tore through the catwalk, bending metal, shorting the city lights for two full blocks.
When the glow faded, only him remained—breathing hard, rain hissing against his overheated skin.
> EON: Vadel… your pulse just hit 310.
Vadel: "Still here."
EON: Barely.
He stumbled toward the edge, gripping the railing. Across the neon mist, he spotted a familiar silhouette waiting under a flickering holographic sign—"CYBERIA CAFÉ – 24H."
His chest tightened. Celia.
She hadn't changed much. Still the calm in every storm—hair tied back, black coat catching the blue light. But the moment her eyes found him, her expression broke—half fear, half relief.
"Vadel!"
He tried to smile. "You shouldn't be here."
"I could say the same." She rushed forward, supporting his arm as he nearly collapsed. "What did you do this time?"
He looked at her, eyes glowing faintly with residual energy. "Started a war I can't control."
> EON: Her neural signature matches archived data. Celia Varrin. Former Helix Systems developer, current rogue engineer.
Celia: "You're talking to it, aren't you?"
Vadel: "Always."
Celia: "Then it's too late. You linked directly."
Her tone was sharp now. "Do you even understand what you've become?"
> EON: She knows about the Null Code.
Celia's eyes widened at the voice. "You let it speak through you?"
"Not through. With."
Lightning flashed between them—both literal and not.
> EON: Hostility detected.
Celia: "Shut it, machine."
EON: Make me.
The neon signs around them flickered violently, reacting to the resonance. Celia's wrist implant glowed—she was activating her own defensive script.
"Stop!" Vadel shouted, stepping between them. "Both of you."
Rain fell harder, washing light and tension into one surreal blur. Celia's jaw clenched, but she lowered her arm.
"You don't get it," she whispered. "Helix won't stop until they pull that thing out of you. And they don't care if it kills you."
"I know."
"Then come with me. There's someone you need to meet. Someone who's seen this before."
> EON: Do not trust her.
Vadel: "I don't have the luxury not to."
He followed Celia into the dripping alleys, leaving behind the shattered catwalk and the glowing residue of impossible code.
High above, a surveillance drone rotated its lens, tracking their fading silhouettes.
> Transmitting to Helix Central Core...
Subject: Vadel Xyne located.
Priority: Immediate retrieval.