Lira felt no pain. No cold air, no smell of ozone, no blood in her mouth. She only felt speed.
Her consciousness, the methodical and structured Analyst, now floated in pure data darkness. She was a separate kernel, an entity moving at the speed of light between the servers and network nodes of the National Archives Building.
Lira realized she had been saved from total deletion, but she was now trapped within an infrastructure she didn't understand. Raka's Grandmother's Locket, the Final Key, had forcibly ejected her from her host (Lira's body) and projected her into the building's digital network.
"This is not Raka's eternity. This is the infrastructure," Lira analyzed, even without a tongue to speak. Her mind raced in code, mapping the network. The network was old, colonial, layered, but guarded by layers of unfamiliar encryption-not modern firewalls or malware, but digitized glyphs and sigils.
Suddenly, she sensed another presence. An unstable kernel, moving in panic.
"Lir! WHERE ARE YOU?! WE ARE EJECTED! THE SYSTEM IS FIGHTING US!"
It was Raka. No longer dominant, no longer 100% whole. He had also been forcibly ejected and was now moving as 99% unstable data.
The paranoid and shocked Raka now depended on the only Analyst he trusted.
"Raka, calm down. We are inside the National Archive system. This infrastructure is not yours," Lira projected her thoughts, trying to locate Raka.
"I know! It's Granny's infrastructure! The Old Protocol! She never wanted to transfer to a body; she wanted to transfer to the Earth! To the true eternal server!" Raka screamed, projecting overwhelming panic.
🧩 The Search for The Old Protocol
Lira and Raka, now two data entities united by force, began traversing the server core. Raka, though insane, possessed a map of his Grandmother's mind.
"We must find the Legacy Core. If this system activated a transfer, it will need a willing host, just as it said," Lira projected.
Raka guided Lira through the complex data labyrinth, past countless historical files. They saw shadow copies of centuries of documentation: ancient maps, colonial treaties, and even digitized folklore.
Amidst those old archives, they found unfamiliar metadata. Raka called it the "Balance Glyph."
"My grandmother believed the best hardware was one with Balance Logic. She didn't believe in total control. There's a loophole in every transfer!" Raka said.
Lira, the Analyst, began deciphering the glyph. It was a beautifully logical, yet cruel circuit.
The Balance Glyph: Ensures that Data Transfer cannot occur without an equal Reciprocal Data Transfer. The receiving server must give something in equal exchange. If the host (Lira's body) receives Raka (soul), the host must release 100% of its own consciousness.
"Raka, if this Old Protocol is activated, Lira inside the body will be lost forever! Your grandmother demands a perfect trade-off!" Lira projected the alarm.
"I know! But your body! My best host! We have to go back!" Raka responded, his panic escalating.
Raka led Lira to the Legacy Core-a small, hidden server cluster, unconnected to the external network. The Core glowed with the same fiery red light as the locket.
There, Raka showed Lira a massive, layered log file: "Manifestation Protocol: 44.18.79. Bima. Lira. Architect."
"Architect," Raka mumbled. "That's not me. That's my Father."
Raka explained that his father, a civil engineer as fanatic as his grandmother, had built the physical foundation of this National Archives Building, embedding the legacy system for this Abadi ritual. His father was the first host who failed.
The log file showed that Raka's Father's body was ejected from the host when he attempted a Reciprocal Transfer-trying to take 100% of his Grandmother's infrastructure. His father lost his body, but his consciousness was not completely gone. He became the Guardian of the data.
Raka and Lira now saw a new entry in the log file: Active Host: Lira. Commence Full Transfer. Trade-off: Analyst Consciousness.
Lira felt a physical urge to return to her body. Raka felt it too.
"We only have a little time, Lir! I can manipulate Granny's log file! I can cancel Lira's transfer and redirect the trade-off!" Raka said.
What will you redirect? Will you delete 99% of yourself into the archive? Lira asked, challenging Raka.
"No. I will redirect the trade-off to the host that is already stable... Bima!" Raka projected with resolution.
Tweak: Counter-Raka Analysis
I have to test Raka's hypothesis. He is panicking. Lira projected cold, logical thought.
Lira quickly scanned the code block where Raka was inputting the transfer command. "Raka, you can't. Bima is a dead host; Bima's ID has been deleted from the system! The locket ejected Bima completely! The Transfer will bounce and hit both of us!"
"No! I am Raka! I know Granny's logic! She always leaves a backdoor! She knew I would panic! The bounce is the backdoor! We will use the bounce to hijack another host!" Raka projected, full of insane conviction.
Lira now saw Raka's strategy: he didn't want to delete Bima; he wanted to use the impossible deletion of Bima as a system error that would return them to Lira's body. An extremely risky gamble.
What are you betting? My body?
"No, Lir. I'm betting the Locket! Granny made that Locket the perfect Manifestation Point. If the bounce occurs, it will pull Bima's remaining kernel and merge it with the locket. Bima will become the new hardware, and we will be free!"
Lira saw a new horror: Raka was trying to return Bima to a new hardware-the locket-making Bima truly an eternal host. Raka wanted to remove Bima from Lira's body permanently, by turning him into a data entity bound to the locket.
You are sacrificing Bima to be stuck forever inside an object!
"It's the best option, Lir! He wanted Abadi! The Locket is his Abadi!" Raka defended himself
Raka, in his desperation and conviction, began reprogramming the Log File at a frantic pace, redirecting the Reciprocal Transfer from Lira back to Bima.
Lira suddenly saw something in the log file, the final entry beneath Raka's Father's Failure Log. A very dark glyph, surrounded by intricate patterns.
Raka's Father's Log file did not show a total failure. It showed 1% successful transfer. The Glyph was a Data Trap designed for a host attempting to cancel the Old Protocol. If the Analyst attempts to cancel the Main Protocol, the Analyst will become the new, eternal Host for the Guardian.
Lira saw the true horror: Raka was not just threatened by his Grandmother. He was threatened by his Father.
Lira tried to stop Raka, but it was too late. Raka, in his panic to save his favorite host, had completed the reprogramming.
"Done! Bima will be erased! Lira will be free!" Raka projected victory.
However, the National Archives Building's Legacy Core did not erase Bima. Instead, it emitted a wave of data that slammed into Lira and Raka, forcing them back into their designated host body.
Lira and Raka were both ejected from the network.
Lira felt the cold pain return, the blood on her tongue, and the burning locket on her chest. She was back in her body.
But she was not alone.
Beside her, Bima's body, which had been lying in the jungle, now materialized in the server room. No longer dead. Bima stood upright.
Lira looked at the server. The fiery red lights slowly dimmed. The locket stopped glowing. However, Bima's body glowed, emitting a faint light, as if he had been reprinted.
Lira felt Raka's consciousness return to the corner of her brain, but now not as the operator, but as an equally trapped partner.
Lira looked at her hand, clutching the scalpel. She was no longer fully possessed by Raka. Lira was herself-bleeding, hurt, but whole.
Lira and Raka, now two Analysts merged in one body, stared at Bima.
"The Analyst has returned. And you have given me a stable host, Raka. The Guardian thanks you," Bima said, his voice calm and threatening, but with a new resonance. It was not Raka's Father. It was Bima, now fully conscious, but with the 1% successful transfer of Raka's Father.
Bima looked at Lira with a smile that wasn't cold, but deeply painful.
"You chose, Lira. You chose Raka. But I chose the true Abadi. And Raka's Father gave me the key."
Bima raised his hand, which now held The Silver Locket. Bima had taken the locket from Lira's neck.
"This locket is not eternal hardware. This locket is the Key to the true Abadi-This National Archives Building."
Bima, under the control of the 1% Architect, dropped the locket onto the floor.
The Silver Locket shattered.
And as the locket shattered, the National Archives Building shuddered. The server lights went completely dark.
Lira and Raka, now fused in one body, felt the same terror: The Building had been activated.
Raka screamed inside Lira's head. "Lir! Don't let him! Bima cannot be destroyed now! He is the physical manifestation of my Father! That 1% is enough to withstand all our logic!"
Lira, with full control over her body, immediately scanned the room. She tightly held her sliced hand. She had to find Bima's physical weak spot.
"Bima, this isn't Abadi. This is a crazy obsession! Raka's Father is using you!" Lira spoke, her own voice returning, sharp and filled with anger.
Bima smiled widely. "Of course Raka's Father is using me. He gave me this hardware. You and Raka are dirty data. I am the clean architect."
Bima stepped forward, his hand reaching for Lira's neck. Bima's athletic strength, now enhanced by Raka's Father's expertise, was terrifying.
Lira jumped back, dodging Bima's grasp. Bima was a server running on a 1% program. That program must require energy.
Lira looked at the main server. The lights were completely off. Only silence remained.
Energy! Raka cut in Lira's mind. Find the Grounding Point! Granny and Father always needed a strong Grounding Point!
Lira kicked a floor panel. Beneath it, Lira saw thick copper cables bundled together, leading down into the building's foundation. A much larger Grounding Point than the brass basin in Raka's Mausoleum.
"You are connected to the building's Grounding Point! You are what made this Building shake, Bim!" Lira shouted.
Bima stopped. His smile wavered for a moment. "Don't you dare touch my connection, Lira. That is my foundation."
Suddenly, Bima disappeared.
Lira didn't see him run. Bima simply vanished from sight.
"Lir! Bima didn't vanish! He's inside the physical network of the building! He has mapped the wiring and ventilation layout! He is a ghost moving through the conduit!" Raka yelled, panicking.
Lira felt a powerful vibration beneath her feet. Bima was moving fast. He would attack Lira from below or behind.
Lira had no choice. She grabbed the scalpel and plunged it into the nearest access port-the one where she inserted Raka's USB drive. Lira wasn't trying to short-circuit the system. She was trying to open a gap in the network.
"Raka! You and I have to get back into the network! We must fight Bima in his digital domain!" Lira projected her resolve.
"But if we go in, we might never be able to come back! That is the real risk of the transfer!" Raka pleaded.
"The risk of self-correction is gone! We have to become a better virus than Bima! Now! Or we and all of this history will become Your Father's Eternal Archive!"
Lira focused her last energy, forcing her body to drive the scalpel deeper into the port.
ZZZZZZTTTTT!
A wild electrical surge hit Lira. Lira felt her consciousness, along with Raka's, being thrown back into the data darkness.
But as they plunged into the network, Lira saw through her physical eyes one last time. On one of the wall panels, a small display lit up, showing a countdown:
T−00:05:00
Five minutes. Five minutes before something happened.
Lira and Raka, two souls in one data signal, were once again The Unbound Analyst inside the shaking National Archives Building.