The dream began, not like normal really, but like how you had imagined a soldiers nightmare.
Lyria stood ankle deep in ash. Not metaphorical, not poetic, but in real f**king ash. It filled the air, some clung to her skin under her armor. The same armor she once wore with pride. The battlefield before her densed in blood and lined with the broken bodies of rebels, zealots, and innocents too. All burned for code they could no longer follow.
Above her, fractured light shined like a dying sun behind the shadow clouds.
Her blade dripped with blood. She didn't know whose.
A robotic voice spoke.
"[Fragment Alert: Combat Protocol Exceeded.]"
Her heart pounded like a war drum.
Then came his voice.
"Knight Captain Lyria of the Black Flame," said Inquisitor Varn Halec, stepping from the smoke. His robes were ceremonial, threads of divine silver sewn through armour. "You have disobeyed system boundaries."
She tried to speak. Her mouth wouldn't move.
"[Execution Order Authorized: Extraction Level Alpha.]"
Pain. Glyphs flared over her chestplate. Chains of glowing script coiled around her ribs, burning beneath her skin.
Make it stop.
I didn't mean to—
I couldn't stop—
I was trying to protect—
"[Unbinding Commencing.]"
She screamed. Then she woke.
She woke with her blade already half drawn.
The fire had dimmed down where the had stopped to make camp. Kaito stirred on the other side, blinking fast at the sudden noise.
"Bad dream?" he murmured.
Lyria stared at the shadows between the trees. "Old one."
He didn't push.
But her fingers tightened around the shattered golem sigil they'd recovered. The mark wasn't just similar to the Black Flame, it was part of her command seal. Now twisted and scarred.
Someone had sent her past to kill her present.
Later that morning…
They moved quietly, deeper into the ravine where Seren had calculated the entrance to the Vault of Genesis to be.
The mood was sharp edged. Kaito had cracked a joke earlier about "loot or divine consequences," and neither woman had even flinched.
Finally, Seren broke the silence.
"Lyria."
"Mm?"
"You recognized that golem before it activated, didn't you?"
Lyria didn't answer right away. She watched the canyon walls, eyes scanning for threats.
"Your silence is an answer," Seren said. "Its combat movements were too precise. Ritualized. Maybe The Scorched Doctrine, Black Flame patterns. You remember those, right?"
Kaito blinked. "Wait, the black flame? That's Lyria's....umm?"
Seren turned to him. "It was an elite divine unit under the Old Code—one that operated above the law. Lyria used to lead them."
He looked at Lyria. "Seriously?"
"You didn't tell me that part."
She didn't look back. "It was a long time ago."
"Not long enough," Seren snapped. "You should've told us."
"And you should've told us how long you were following us," Lyria fired back. "Before the temple. Before Sunderveil. You knew about the Error Signal."
"And I did tell you." Lyria added Pointing at kaito.
Kaito raised his hands. "Okay, let's not start divine girl fight number four right before we enter a cursed ruin. Can we table the guilt parade for ten minutes?"
"And yeah, but not the divine unit or above the law part." He added, replying to Lyria.
Seren growled something in ancient tongue and walked ahead.
Lyria exhaled. "She's not wrong."
Kaito touched her arm lightly. "Hey. You didn't build the system. You just survived it."
She gave him a look. Sharp. But grateful.
"Come on," she said. "Let's see what this Vault wants from us."
__
The Vault wasn't just hidden, it was submerged underground.
The space around the canyon wall vibrated, light refracting at impossible angles. Kaito reached toward it. His hand disappeared within the space.
"[ERROR: Accessing Sealed Domain — Genesis Vault Detected.]"
"[Override Key: Incomplete... Soul Signature Substituted.]"
A low rumble echoed under. The cliffside unfurled like fabric, revealing a staircase descending with polished steps. Strange glyphs glowed beneath their feet.
"Reality hack compression. This whole place was built to be invisible to the divine network. It's ancient."
Of course that was seren.*
Kaito stared into the dark. "How ancient are we talking?"
"Built during the First Cycle probably," she said. "When the gods were still debugging creation."
He didn't know what she was on about, but was already too uncomfortable to ask more questions.
They descended slowly.
The Vault opened into a wider chamber carved from smooth black stones, circled by mirrors. Hovering in the center was a massive obelisk, with carvings—some of it in the same jagged code Kaito had seen on his Error System UI.
As he stepped closer, the system pinged.
"[ACCESSING FRAGMENTED MEMORY FILES...]"
"[DIVINE IDENTITY TRACE — MATCH: 37.88%]"
"[WARNING: Memory Instability. Proceed with caution.]"
The world blinked.
And suddenly Kaito was elsewhere.
Golden light. A city on fire. And himself, taller, stronger, armored in radiant sigils—standing at the center of it all.
He raised a divine weapon. Countless voices chanted his name.
"Reformat the corrupted. Seal the deviants. Burn what cannot be bound."
Then it vanished. Back to the Vault.
Kaito staggered.
Seren caught his shoulder. "What did you see?"
"I think I ordered a genocide," he said flatly.
Silence.
"Well," Lyria with an unreadable expression, "at least you're not boring."
Seren gave her a look, but said nothing.
They continued deeper. Each hallway was lined with suspended coffins, transparent capsules storing inert system hosts.
One of them made Seren stop.
A pale haired girl lay inside, arms crossed, eyes closed. Burn marks ran along her skin.
Seren's breath slowed. "That's Rellia. My research partner."
Kaito stepped beside her. "She didn't make it?"
"She was too compatible. The system used her like a fuel cell."
Lyria turned away. "This place is a graveyard."
Seren whispered, "No, worst. It's a laboratory."
Then a pulse shook the Vault.
Glyphs flared red across the obelisk, and Kaito's Error System spat static.
"[WARNING: Threat Beacon Activated.]"
"[INCOMING HOSTILE SIGNAL: Redeemer-Class Golem]"
Lyria turned around. "They're coming."
Seren swore. "You triggered a failsafe."
"I didn't touch anything!" Kaito shouted, just as the air tightened and the Redeemers dropped.
It was twice the size of the last golem. Covered in mirrored armor, its movements smooth and unheard. Behind it marched six revenants in cracked Black armor. Lyria's old squad. Definitely.
They still wore her insignia.
"Knight Captain Lyria," one echoed. "You are ordered to return for sanctification."
Lyria didn't move. Frozen.
Kaito stepped forward, placing himself in front of her. "She's not going anywhere with you."
The golem raised its arms. Energy built along its forearms.
Seren shouted, "MOVE!"
The blast hit, Kaito pulled Lyria down. Debris rained.
Seren retaliated with a dual channel hex, ice and fire lashing at the revenants.
Kaito's system flared:
"[EMERGENCY OVERRIDE: Prototype Combat Tree Access Granted.]"
His rubber chicken glowed.
He didn't question it. He leapt in, deflecting a revenant's blade and stunning another with a squeaky CLONK.
Yes, it sounds funny but it works.
Lyria rose behind him, shaking.
"No more running," she said. And then she roared.
Her Fragment surged. Red light poured from her armor as she moved forward, blades spinning. One revenant fell. Then another. But the rage in her eyes wasn't hers, it was the other form.
[FRAGMENT ALERT: COMBAT OVERRIDE – UNSTABLE]
She turned toward Kaito. Eyes glowing. Breathing hard.
The golem lunged at her. She ignored it. Stepped toward Kaito.
"Kaito?" Seren warned. "She's not in control."
"I know," he said, standing still. "But she trusts me."
He held out his hand.
"Lyria. Come back."
She blinked. Snarled. Her blade wavered.
He didn't flinch.
"I'd rather die by your hand than see you turn into what they want you to be."
Her hands trembled. Then slowly, the light dimmed.
The golem struck, Lyria turned in a blur, sliced its head clean off, and collapsed to her knees.
Silence.
"[SYSTEM ALERT: Bloodbound Directive Unlocked.]"
Kaito dropped beside her.
"I'm here," he said softly. "Still here."
Outside, beneath the fading light of the ravine, they watched the Vault seal behind them.
Seren placed a hand on one of the mirrored walls. "There's more. We've only scratched the surface."
Kaito nodded.
Lyria sat alone by the cliff, her blade at her side.
"If I lose it again," she said quietly, "you need to end me."
"I don't really think I can, have you seen you?"
Kaito sat next to her. "But i will be besides you. That's a promise."