The maintenance tunnel was a cramped steel throat stretching into darkness. Pipes hissed overhead. Emergency lights flickered red like a pulse.
Rei ran beside Iris, the masked stranger leading them with silent, sure steps. Every few metres, they tapped a wrist device, scrambling surveillance nodes before they could lock on.
The deeper they went, the more Rei's skin prickled with unease.
Not fear.Recognition.
Why does this place feel familiar?He'd never been here—yet every corner felt like deja vu.
The masked stranger suddenly stopped.
"We're safe for now."
Iris doubled over, hands on her knees. "Safe? We're in a horror movie tunnel with a stranger in cosplay—this is the opposite of safe!"
The stranger ignored her complaint and turned to Rei.
"You felt it, didn't you? The recognition."
Rei stiffened. "…Yeah."
Iris shot him a worried look. "Rei?"
Rei swallowed. "It's like… I've been here before. Even though I haven't."
The stranger nodded once. "Good. That means the memories are bleeding through faster than expected."
Rei's chest tightened. "Whose memories?"
The masked figure's voice dropped.
"Aeron Vale's."
Iris stared. "…the guy Unit Zero keeps calling you?"
Rei nodded slowly.
"Explain," he demanded. "Everything."
THE ARCHITECT THEORY
The stranger leaned against a wall panel, crossing their arms.
"Aeron Vale was not just a scientist. He was the lead architect of the Quantum Seed Project—a prototype immortality engine built from fractal code and quantum consciousness."
Rei's pulse quickened."I—what does that have to do with me?"
The stranger pointed at Rei's glowing arm.
"That code inside you? That's Aeron. Or at least, the part of him that survived the Collapse."
Rei stepped back. "You're saying I'm possessed?"
"No," the stranger said calmly. "You're reincarnated."
Rei froze.
Iris whispered, "That's… impossible."
"Not impossible," the stranger corrected. "Just illegal. And extremely dangerous."
They reached up and tapped their mask.
Holographic lines flared.
"Two hundred years ago, when Aetherion purged the Architect caste, Aeron made a desperate move. He condensed his consciousness into a quantum echo and embedded it in the Seed. That seed was designed to activate not immediately, but in the next compatible host."
Rei felt the air thin around him.
"You're saying he hid himself inside… me."
"Yes. And the activation wasn't supposed to happen until adulthood. But his memories are leaking early."
Rei clutched his head as flashes burst across his mind—labs collapsing, a woman shouting his name, a swarm of AI constructs tearing through a city.
He staggered.
Iris caught him. "Rei! Stay with me!"
The stranger watched him with cold precision."You aren't fully synchronising yet. But if you do—Rei Arclight will vanish. Aeron will take over completely."
Rei felt like ice water poured down his spine.
"So I'm just… a vessel?"
"No," the stranger said softly. "You're something Aeron never planned for: a hybrid."
Rei blinked. "…A what?"
"A second life. A new personality growing on top of an old one. That's why Aetherion is panicking. They expected Aeron to revive. They didn't expect you."
AETHERION'S FEAR
The tunnel suddenly vibrated—distant explosions echoing from above.
Aetherion was sweeping the district.
"They're desperate," the stranger continued. "A reincarnated architect is the one thing their regime cannot control."
Rei's voice trembled. "Why me?"
"Because your neural pattern matched the Seed's dormant signature."The masked figure tilted their head. "Fate. Coincidence. Destiny. Pick one."
Iris stepped forward, expression sharp. "And you? Who are you exactly?"
The stranger hesitated.
Then, slowly, they reached up and pressed the latch at the side of their mask.
The holographic visor flickered—and the mask split open.
Rei's breath caught.
Beneath it was a young woman with short silver hair and piercing amber eyes. A faint scar crossed her left cheek.
"I'm Lyra Voss," she said.
Rei's heart jumped at the name—another ripple of recognition.
Lyra continued:"I was Aeron Vale's protégé. And I swore I'd prevent him from resurrecting. Even if it means protecting you from him… and from yourself."
Iris narrowed her eyes. "And we're supposed to trust you?"
Lyra shrugged. "You're alive, aren't you?"
Rei took a step closer, voice low.
"So tell me the truth, Lyra… Why save me now?"
Lyra's gaze softened—just barely.
"Because," she said,"Rei Arclight is the only person alive who might surpass Aeron Vale."
Rei felt the floor tilt beneath him.
"Surpass him…?"
Lyra nodded.
"And if you don't learn to control the Echo soon, Aetherion won't be the only thing trying to kill you."