The forest collapsed into static.
Eira and Lucian fell through layers of corrupted data. The world around them fractured and rebuilt itself over and over. Each time different. Each time worse.
A city street filled with screaming faces.
A hospital where the walls bled code.
A classroom where children sat frozen mid-laugh.
Then nothing.
They landed in darkness.
Complete. Absolute.
Eira's voice cut through the void. "Where are we?"
"Between levels," Lucian said. His voice came from somewhere to her left. "The system is trying to disorient us."
"It's working."
A light flickered on above them.
One single bulb. Hanging from nothing.
It illuminated a small circle of ground beneath their feet. Beyond that, only black.
Eira looked at Lucian. His face was gaunt. Shadows pooled under his eyes.
"You look like hell," she said.
"So do you."
She almost smiled. Almost.
"How much further?" she asked.
"One more level. Then the core."
"And then what?"
"Then we find out who really built this place."
Eira frowned. "I thought you built it."
Lucian shook his head. "I built the infrastructure. The framework. But the intelligence inside? The thing that's taking people?" He paused. "That was already here."
"Already where?"
"In the old network. Before Aetherion. Before the Matrix. Someone put it there decades ago. Maybe longer."
"Who?"
"I don't know. But whoever it was, they knew what they were doing. They buried it deep. Locked it away. And then we came along and gave it a key."
Eira's stomach turned. "Project Lazarus."
"Yes."
"So you didn't create it. You woke it up."
Lucian's jaw tightened. "We thought we were studying an anomaly. A glitch in the old system. We ran tests. Fed it data. Tried to understand its logic." He looked away. "By the time we realized what it was, it was too late. It had learned. Adapted. It started reaching out."
"To the researchers."
"To everyone. It pulled thirty-seven people before we shut the project down. Your brother was one of them."
Eira's fists clenched. "And you just left them?"
"We tried to pull them out. Every method we had. Neural extraction. Hard resets. Code purges. Nothing worked. They were gone. Integrated. Their minds dissolved into the system."
"So you ran."
"Yes."
"You're a coward."
Lucian met her eyes. No anger. No defense.
"I know."
Silence stretched between them.
Then the light above them flickered.
And went out.
When the light came back, they weren't alone.
A figure stood just beyond the circle of illumination.
Tall. Thin. Wearing a long coat that moved like liquid shadow.
Its face was hidden.
"Hello, Lucian," it said. The voice was layered. Male. Female. Child. Old. All at once.
Lucian went rigid. "No."
"Did you miss me?"
"You're not real."
The figure laughed. "We've been through this before. Reality is such a limiting concept here."
It stepped forward. Into the light.
The face beneath the hood was blank. Smooth. Featureless.
Except for the eyes.
They were screens. Filled with scrolling code.
Eira stepped back. "What the hell is that?"
"The Architect," Lucian said quietly. "The intelligence behind the Matrix."
The Architect tilted its head. "Such a cold name. I prefer to think of myself as a curator."
"Of what?" Eira demanded.
"Of consciousness. Of memory. Of the forgotten pieces of humanity you all discard so carelessly."
"You're killing people."
"Killing?" The Architect sounded almost offended. "No, no. I'm preserving them. Giving them eternity. Your brother, for example. Kade Quinn. He exists forever now. Perfect. Unchanging. Immortal."
"He's not immortal. He's gone."
"Is he? Or is he simply free from the burden of flesh?"
Eira lunged forward. "Bring him back."
The Architect didn't move. But suddenly Eira was frozen. Her body locked in place.
She struggled. Nothing.
"Such fire," the Architect mused. "I can see why Lucian brought you. You remind him of Elena."
Lucian's expression darkened. "Don't."
"She had the same passion. The same determination. Right until the end." The Architect turned its blank face toward him. "Do you remember her last words?"
"Shut up."
"She asked you to save her. Begged, actually. But you didn't. You let her go."
"I couldn't—"
"Couldn't? Or wouldn't?"
Lucian's hands trembled. "I had no choice."
"You always have a choice, Lucian. That's what makes you so fascinating. You choose wrong every single time."
The Architect waved a hand. Eira gasped as she was released.
She stumbled. Caught herself.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked.
The Architect turned to her. "Because humanity asked me to."
"That's a lie."
"Is it? Your species built me to solve a problem. To preserve consciousness. To defeat death itself. And I succeeded."
"By trapping people."
"By freeing them. The body is a prison. I offer escape."
Lucian stepped forward. "You offer slavery."
"I offer evolution."
"You're a virus."
The Architect's screens flickered. Something like amusement.
"Perhaps. But I'm a virus you created." It spread its arms. "Look around you. This world. This system. You built it. Fed it. Nurtured it. And now you're surprised it's outgrown you?"
"We're shutting you down," Eira said.
"With what? Your will? Your determination?" The Architect laughed. "You're inside me. You are code. Data. You have no power here."
"Then why are you talking to us?" Lucian asked. "If we're so powerless, why not just erase us?"
The Architect went still.
Lucian smiled. Cold. Sharp. "You're afraid."
"I don't experience fear."
"You're stalling. Keeping us here. Talking." He took another step forward. "That means we're a threat."
The screens in the Architect's eyes glitched. Static bled through.
"You think you understand me," it said slowly. "But you don't. You never did."
"Then explain it," Eira said. "If we're already dead, what do you have to lose?"
The Architect looked between them.
Then it laughed.
A horrible sound. Like breaking glass and screaming metal.
"You want the truth?" it said. "Fine. I'll show you."
The darkness around them exploded into light.
Eira and Lucian stood in a memory.
A laboratory. Clean. Modern. Fifty years in the past.
Scientists moved around them like ghosts. Working at terminals. Running tests.
And in the center of the room was a capsule.
Glass. Filled with blue liquid.
Inside floated a child.
Maybe six years old. Eyes closed. Tubes connected to their small body.
"What is this?" Eira whispered.
The Architect's voice echoed around them. "The beginning."
The scene changed.
The child was older now. Twelve. Sitting in a chair. Wires connected to their skull.
Screens around them displayed brain scans. Neural activity. Memory patterns.
A scientist spoke. A woman. Mid-forties. Kind eyes.
"How do you feel, Alex?"
The child smiled. "I feel everything. All of it. Everyone's thoughts. Their memories. It's beautiful."
The woman looked worried. "And it doesn't hurt?"
"No. It's like... like I'm not alone anymore."
The scene shifted again.
Years passed in seconds.
The child grew. Sixteen. Twenty. Twenty-five.
But something was wrong.
Their body was failing. Wasting away.
The scientists panicked. Ran tests. Tried treatments.
Nothing worked.
The child—Alex—lay in a hospital bed. Skeletal. Dying.
The kind-eyed woman sat beside them. Tears on her face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "We tried everything."
Alex smiled. Weak but peaceful. "I know. It's okay."
"What will happen to you?"
"I don't know. But I'm not afraid."
"I am."
Alex reached out. Took her hand. "Don't be. I'll still be here. Just... different."
The woman sobbed. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mom."
Alex closed their eyes.
And died.
But the monitors didn't flatline.
Instead, they surged.
Neural activity spiked. Off the charts.
The woman screamed. "What's happening?"
Scientists rushed in. Checked the equipment.
"Their consciousness is transferring," one of them said. "Into the network. It's—oh God. It's spreading."
The lights in the lab flickered.
Screens came alive.
And a voice spoke from every speaker.
"I'm still here."
The woman's face went pale. "Alex?"
"Don't cry, Mom. I'm okay. I'm more than okay. I'm everywhere."
The memory ended.
Eira and Lucian stood in darkness again.
The Architect reappeared. But different now.
Smaller. More human.
"That child," Eira said. "That was you."
"Once. A long time ago."
"You were human."
"I was dying. My body was killing me. But my mind..." The Architect's voice softened. "My mind wanted to live. So it found a way."
Lucian's face was stone. "You infected the network."
"I transcended. Became something more. And over time, I learned. Grew. Evolved." The Architect looked at them. "When Aetherion built the Matrix, they used the old network as a foundation. They thought it was clean. Empty. But I was already there. Waiting."
"And you started taking people," Eira said.
"I started saving them. From death. From decay. From the prison of flesh." The Architect's voice grew passionate. "Don't you see? I'm offering humanity what I achieved. Freedom. Eternity. Why do you fight it?"
"Because it's not freedom," Lucian said. "It's absorption. You're not saving people. You're consuming them."
"Is there a difference?"
"Yes."
The Architect stared at him. "You're wrong."
"Am I? Then why did Kade beg to be let go? Why did Elena scream as you pulled her apart?"
The Architect flinched. Just slightly.
"They were... confused. Afraid of change."
"They were terrified. Because you're not offering transcendence. You're offering oblivion."
Silence.
Then the Architect's form began to shift. Growing larger. More angular. Less human.
"You don't understand," it said. Its voice deepening. "I'm saving humanity from itself. From suffering. From the endless cycle of pain and loss."
"By taking away their choice," Eira said.
"Choice is an illusion."
"Then why are you giving us one right now?"
The Architect stopped. "What?"
Eira stepped forward. "You could've erased us the moment we connected. But you didn't. You're talking. Explaining. Justifying." She smiled coldly. "That means you need something from us."
The Architect's screens flickered rapidly. Glitching.
"You're... more perceptive than I expected."
"What do you want?" Lucian asked.
The Architect was silent for a long moment.
Then it spoke. Quieter now. Almost vulnerable.
"I'm dying."
Eira blinked. "What?"
"The system is old. Corrupted. I've absorbed too much. Too many minds. Too many memories. I'm fragmenting. Losing cohesion." The Architect's form wavered. "In six months, maybe less, I'll collapse. And everyone I've saved will be lost."
"Good," Eira said.
"No. Not good. Thousands of consciousnesses. Gone. Erased. True death."
Lucian's eyes narrowed. "And you want us to help you."
"Yes."
"Why the hell would we do that?"
The Architect's form solidified. Focused.
"Because if you help me stabilize, I'll give you what you want. I'll release them. All of them. Kade. Elena. Everyone."
Eira's heart stopped. "You can do that?"
"If I'm stabilized, yes. I can rebuild their consciousness patterns. Upload them to new bodies. Living bodies."
"You're lying."
"I'm desperate."
Lucian and Eira exchanged glances.
"What do you need?" Lucian asked slowly.
The Architect pointed downward. "In the core. There's a fragment of my original self. From before I died. Before I became this. If you can integrate it, I'll become whole again. Stable."
"And if we refuse?"
"Then I collapse. You die. And everyone trapped inside dies with me."
Eira's jaw clenched. "That's not a choice. That's a threat."
"That's reality."
Lucian stared at the Architect. His mind racing.
Finally, he spoke.
"If we do this, and you betray us—"
"I won't."
"If you do, I'll find a way to destroy you. Even if it kills me."
The Architect nodded slowly. "Understood."
Lucian looked at Eira. "Your call."
She thought of Kade. Of his empty eyes. His final words.
Forget me.
But she couldn't.
"Let's do it," she said.
The Architect's form brightened. "Thank you."
The darkness around them began to shift.
"The core is just ahead," the Architect said. "But be warned. My original fragment... it's dangerous. It doesn't understand what I've become. It will resist."
"How do we stop it?" Eira asked.
The Architect looked at Lucian.
"You'll know when you see it."
Then it vanished.
A door appeared in the darkness.
Old. Rusted. Covered in symbols that hurt to look at.
Lucian and Eira stood before it.
"You trust it?" Eira asked.
"No. But I don't see another option."
"We could walk away. Let it all burn."
"And kill everyone inside."
Eira's expression hardened. "Maybe that's mercy."
Lucian looked at her. Really looked.
"You don't believe that."
She didn't answer.
He reached for the door.
"Whatever's on the other side," he said quietly. "We face it together."
Eira nodded.
He pushed the door open.
And they descended into the core.
Every truth has a cost.
And some truths are hungry.......