The next morning, the sun didn't rise.
It flickered.
Lira watched it with a blank face as she wrapped up camp.
"Sky's corrupted again."
"You think it's the system or the world?"
"Same thing, these days."
Cael stood nearby, palms open, eyes closed.
The Keymark was quiet.
Not dead.
Just… waiting.
He whispered:
"Directive: Archive authority reset.New classification: 'Cael.'"
The ground didn't shake.
The system didn't sing.
But somewhere far below them — something old began to wake up.
"That's it?" Lira asked.
"That's it."
"You don't want to erase the whole damn thing? Wipe every Lock flat?"
"No."
"Why?"
Cael looked at her.
Eyes clearer than they'd been in days.
"Because I want to know why it started.Not just how to stop it."
She stared.
Then nodded.
"Vestige, then?"
"Vestige."
They headed east — toward the blacklisted map sector, where three cities had once overlapped and now fought each other for reality.
Vestige wasn't on any current charts.
Because Vestige didn't sit still.
It phased.
It fractured.
It remembered too much of itself to function like a city anymore.
But somewhere beneath it…
Was the first Lock ever activated.
Meanwhile, in an abandoned neural lab deep inside a sealed archive vault — a cryopod hissed open.
Inside: a Thirian.
New.
But not raw.
Composed.
His eyes opened.
Not confused.
Certain.
He stepped out.
Spoke to the dark.
"Thread recognized: Cael."
"Connection pending."
"Sequence must continue."
End of Chapter 20: A New Directive: Cael