Idris opened the door.
Lyric Ashenthorn stood in the corridor, looking exactly like she had yesterday—gray suit, silver hair, eyes that saw everything and revealed nothing. Behind her were two men in tactical gear, but they stayed back. This wasn't a raid.
Not yet.
"May I come in?" Lyric asked.
"Do I have a choice?" Idris replied.
"Of course. I could also wait for a warrant, return with a full security team, and seize everything in this workshop as illegal contraband." She smiled. "But I'd rather talk."
Idris stepped aside.
Lyric entered, glancing around the cluttered space with what might have been amusement. Her gaze settled on Saevus. "You integrated. I can see it in your eyes. Congratulations."
Saevus said nothing. His hand twitched, muscle memory from an hour of practice, and he forced it still. Cutting a corporate Keeper in half seemed like a bad idea.
"Don't be nervous," Lyric said. "I'm not here to arrest anyone. I'm here with an opportunity."
"We're not interested," Nox said from her corner.
Lyric looked at her. Really looked, the way she might examine a bug under glass. "You must be Nox. Thirteen years old. No registered guardian. Five arrests for petty theft, all charges dropped due to age. You're loyal. I respect that."
Nox went pale.
"Leave the kid alone," Saevus said.
"I'm simply demonstrating that I do my research." Lyric turned back to him. "Saevus Kain. Seventeen. No parents on record. Registered as a Null seven years ago during mandatory testing. Except you're not a Null, are you? You integrated a Remnant this morning. I felt the resonance from six blocks away."
Shit. "How did you—"
"Every integration creates a ripple in the Hollow. Most people can't sense it. I can." She walked to the table, saw the empty case where the Remnant had been. "Spatial manipulation type, if I'm reading the signature correctly. A cutting aspect. Useful for combat."
Idris crossed his arms. "What do you want, Ashenthorn?"
"To hire him."
Silence.
"Excuse me?" Saevus said.
Lyric sat down on one of the crates like she owned the place. "Valdris Corporation is always looking for talented Keepers. You're more than talented—you're unprecedented. A Null who can integrate Remnants. That shouldn't be possible, which makes you valuable."
"I'm not interested in being a corporate asset."
"No? What are you interested in? Money?" She pulled out a card—not paper this time, but the plastic kind that held credits. She set it on the table. "That's fifty thousand. A signing bonus."
Saevus stared. Fifty thousand credits was more money than he'd seen in his entire life.
"Food?" Lyric continued. "We provide three meals daily in our cafeteria. Real meat, not synthetic. A room in the residential tower. Climate controlled. Medical care. Training from Master-tier Keepers." She paused. "Safety. No more running from Remnant breaches. No more wondering if tomorrow you'll be arrested for illegal integration."
"I haven't done anything illegal."
"Not yet. But unsanctioned Keepers are required to register within seventy-two hours of their first integration. Failure to do so is a felony. You have about seventy-one hours left."
Saevus looked at Idris. The old man's expression was carefully neutral.
"You're threatening me," Saevus said.
"I'm informing you of the law." Lyric stood. "But yes, if we're being honest, this is also a threat. You can either work with Valdris, or you can work against us. The first option comes with benefits. The second comes with consequences."
"What happens if I say no?"
"You'll be arrested, tried, and sentenced to corrective custody. Your Vestige will be extracted and archived. You'll be released in five to seven years as a Null again. Meanwhile, people like Nox will continue living in the Lows, scraping by, hoping they don't get killed in the next rift breach."
Nox flinched.
"That's not fair," Saevus said quietly.
"No. It's not." Lyric's voice softened, just slightly. "But it's the system we have. I didn't make it. I just work within it."
"Why do you even want me? You've got hundreds of Keepers already."
"Because you're unique. Because understanding why a Null can integrate might help us create better Keepers. Because I saw you touch a Remnant yesterday and survive, and I'm curious about what else you can do." She picked up the credit card and held it out. "Take the offer, Saevus. It's better than the alternatives."
He didn't take the card.
"I need time to think."
"You have until tomorrow morning. After that, I file a report with the Bureau of Keeper Regulation. They're less understanding than I am." Lyric set the card back down. "One more thing. If you're worried about your friends, they can come too. Valdris has use for talented civilians. Nox could attend our academy. Mr. Venn..." She looked at Idris. "Well, we both know what you used to be. There's always a place for retired Architects."
Idris went very still. "How—"
"I told you. I do my research." Lyric walked to the door, then paused. "Think about it. All of you. This is a chance to stop surviving and start living."
She left. The two guards followed. The door closed.
Nobody spoke for a long moment.
"Architect?" Saevus said finally.
Idris sighed and sat down heavily. "Yeah. Long time ago. I was a Keeper. A good one. Had twelve Remnants integrated before I retired."
"Twelve?" That was Master-tier. Nearly Architect. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I left that life for a reason. The Dissonance was killing me. I was losing myself piece by piece. So I had my Vestiges extracted, came down to the Lows, and tried to live quietly." He laughed bitterly. "Guess that's over now."
Nox slid off her crate and hugged him. Idris patted her head absently.
Saevus looked at the credit card on the table. Fifty thousand credits. Real food. Safety. Training.
All he had to do was become property.
"What should I do?" he asked.
"I can't answer that," Idris said. "But I can tell you this: Valdris doesn't do charity. If they want you, it's because they plan to use you. The question is whether you can use them back."
"And if I say no?"
"Then we run. Leave Zenith Span. Try to disappear." Idris met his eyes. "But running only works until it doesn't. Eventually they'll find you. And when they do, you won't have any leverage."
Saevus thought about Nox, about the way she'd gone pale when Lyric threatened them. About Idris, who'd given up everything to live in peace and was now being dragged back into that world. About the Lows, full of people like Tomas who died in industrial accidents and left behind daughters who'd never know what happened.
He thought about the Remnant in his head, the echo whispering about cutting and shaping and the satisfaction of making something new from broken pieces.
"If I join," he said slowly, "I want conditions."
Idris raised an eyebrow. "You think they'll negotiate?"
"Lyric said I'm valuable. Unprecedented. If that's true, I have leverage." Saevus picked up the credit card. "I want Nox in their academy. I want you employed as my personal trainer. I want access to their Remnant archives. And I want the freedom to refuse missions I don't agree with."
"That last one they'll never accept."
"Then we negotiate." Saevus pocketed the card. "Tomorrow morning. I'll go see her."
"You sure about this?" Nox asked.
"No. But I'm not sure about anything." He looked at both of them. "If we're going to do this, we do it together. Deal?"
Idris smiled. "Deal."
"Deal," Nox echoed.
Saevus hoped he wasn't making a massive mistake.
---
That night, he couldn't sleep again.
He lay on the cot and felt Tomas moving in his head, restless, muttering about angles and tolerances and the daughter who'd never visit the grave. The memories weren't Saevus's but they felt real, vivid, like they'd happened to him.
*Is this what it's like for all Keepers?* he wondered. *Carrying ghosts?*
Around midnight, he gave up and went to the workshop. Found Idris there, working on something at the bench, old hands steady despite his age.
"Can't sleep?" the old man asked without looking up.
"The echo. Tomas. He won't shut up."
"First month is the worst. Your brain is learning to compartmentalize. Give it time."
Saevus sat down. "Did you ever regret it? Becoming a Keeper?"
Idris set down his tools. "Every day. And never." He turned. "The power is incredible. You can do things normal humans can only dream about. But the cost..." He tapped his temple. "I'm not entirely sure I'm still Idris Venn. Maybe I'm just a collection of memories wearing his face. Maybe the real me died years ago and I don't remember."
"That's horrifying."
"Yeah. But it's also beautiful, in a way. You carry pieces of people who would otherwise be forgotten. Tomas—his daughter might never know what happened to him. But you do. You remember. That has to count for something."
"Does it?"
"I don't know, kid. That's something you'll have to decide for yourself."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the workshop lit only by the glow of equipment panels and the eternal neon seeping through the grates.
"Idris," Saevus said eventually. "If I go to Valdris. If I become a corporate Keeper. Promise me something."
"What?"
"If I start losing myself. If the Dissonance gets too bad. You'll tell me. You'll stop me."
Idris looked at him for a long moment. Then nodded. "I promise."
"Thank you."
Saevus went back to bed. Tomas was still there, still whispering, but somehow it was bearable now.
Tomorrow he'd go to Valdris Corporation.
Tomorrow everything would change again.
But tonight, for a few more hours, he was still just Saevus Kain. Street kid. Scavenger. Nobody important.
He wanted to remember what that felt like.
---
Morning came too fast.
Saevus dressed in his least ragged clothes—still ragged, but slightly less—and Nox tried to fix his hair while Idris made breakfast. Real eggs, probably the last of his stash. They ate in silence, the weight of what was coming pressing down on all of them.
"You don't have to do this," Nox said.
"Yeah, I do."
"We could run. Like Idris said."
"For how long?" Saevus shook his head. "No. We go forward. We play their game until we figure out how to win."
Idris handed him a small device, a silver disc the size of a coin. "Panic button. If things go bad, press it. I'll know."
"What will you do?"
"Probably die trying to rescue you. But at least I'll die doing something interesting."
Despite everything, Saevus smiled. "Thanks."
They walked together to the transit station, up through the levels toward the corporate district where Valdris Tower waited. The higher they climbed, the cleaner everything became. No rust here. No graffiti. Just chrome and glass and the kind of wealth that felt alien.
At the tower entrance, Idris and Nox stopped.
"We'll wait here," Idris said. "Come back when you're done. However it goes."
Saevus nodded. Started to walk away. Stopped.
"Hey," he said. "If I don't come back—"
"You will," Nox interrupted. "You're too stubborn to let them keep you."
He hoped she was right.
The lobby was enormous, all marble and waterfeatures and holograms advertising Valdris's various products. A receptionist directed him to the elevators. Fiftieth floor. Executive offices.
Lyric was waiting when the doors opened.
"Saevus," she said, like they were old friends. "I'm glad you came. Let's talk about your future."
She led him down a hall to a conference room overlooking the city. From here, Zenith Span was beautiful—towers reaching toward the sky, lights glittering like stars. You couldn't see the Lows at all.
Lyric gestured to a chair. "Please, sit."
He sat.
She sat across from him, hands folded on the table. "I assume you've made a decision."
"I have conditions."
"I expected you would."
"Nox gets into your academy. Full scholarship. Idris works as my personal trainer. I get access to your Remnant archives—supervised, but I want to see what you have. And I want limited mission autonomy. I'll work for you, but I won't kill for you. Not unless there's a damn good reason."
Lyric considered this. "The first three are acceptable. The last one needs clarification. You understand that Keeper work sometimes involves violence."
"Against Remnants. Against threats. Not against people who just happen to inconvenience Valdris."
"We're not assassins, Saevus. We're security."
"Then you'll agree to my terms."
She smiled. Actually smiled, and it transformed her face from cold to something almost human. "Yes. I'll agree. Welcome to Valdris Corporation. You start training tomorrow."
She extended her hand.
Saevus shook it.
And tried not to feel like he'd just sold his soul.