The map was hidden in an encrypted pocket of Kestrel's old files, deep in a legacy archive that only unlocked when Amelia synced with his interface—her pulse, her neural signature, her touch memory triggering dormant code.
It appeared as a glowing lattice overlaid on the forest canopy—three nodes, multiple intersections, and in the center… a spiral-shaped pattern that pulsed in time with her heartbeat.
"This is a burn map," Eris whispered, scrolling through layers. "A neural route overlay. It doesn't just track the Nodes… it tracks you."
"Those lines," Amelia murmured. "They're not roads."
"They're synapses," Kestrel said quietly. "Connections buried in your DNA. Dormant pathways waiting to be lit."
Amelia stared at the glowing threads that converged at her chest, her mind spinning with the implications.
Each node wasn't just a place.
It was a phase of her.
A transformation.
Kestrel stepped beside her. "Do you remember when we first met, back in the old lab?"
Amelia nodded, faintly. "You wore that ridiculous dark coat, pretending not to watch me."
"I never stopped," he said, voice rough. "Even after you reset. Even when you looked at me like a stranger."
She turned to face him.
"I knew you were in there," he added, more quietly. "Even when you didn't know me."
The air between them thickened, charged. She stepped closer, lips parting—then staggered back with a sudden jolt.
Echo.
A voice in her head, sharp, warning:
"Not yet. If you touch him now, I'll tear the map in half."
Amelia blinked. "She's… afraid."
Eris looked up. "Of what?"
"She's not jealous," Amelia said slowly. "She's protective. She thinks this connection—this… bond—could destabilize the final merge."
Kestrel frowned. "Echo's interfering with your feelings?"
"No," Amelia said. "She is my feelings. Or at least… the amplified ones."
Zahir entered, tossing down a cold bag of rations and a cracked data core. "Dominic's gone."
Everyone froze.
Eris stood. "What do you mean—gone?"
"He took the stealth suit, one of the sync amplifiers, and he hacked my access key. He's heading to Node 3." Zahir's jaw tightened. "He's not coming back."
Amelia's throat tightened. Despite everything, despite the breach, part of her still felt Dominic like a burned-in ghost under her skin.
"I felt something shift," she said softly. "Like a door opening. But not for me."
Kestrel touched her arm gently. "We go after him."
"No," Amelia said. "He made a choice. Now I have to make mine."
She turned back to the map—watching the lattice begin to pulse, faster now, as if it could sense time running out.
"I won't let Solas finish what they started," she said.
Kestrel stepped closer. "What will you do?"
Amelia looked at the glowing center of the map—the place where everything met.
Where everything ended.
"I'll finish the sync. On my terms."
And this time, Echo didn't resist.
She whispered instead:
"Then let's prepare your heart. There's one last test before the merge."