The door sealed behind them with a low mechanical hiss, leaving Kade and Marei alone in the stale dark.
No lights. No echoes. Just the hum of buried machinery beneath their boots—ancient and agitated.
"This is it," Marei whispered. "This is where the fourth shard fractured."
Kade scanned the jagged corridor. The walls were choked with cables like black veins. This wasn't a lab. It was a tomb, carved into the mountain and forgotten after the last Reset.
They hadn't slept in nearly a day. System alerts had herded them here with vague instructions—"Trace Sovereign Fragments // Locate Node C4-A"—but no one said what waited at the end of this hall.
Kade flicked on a wristlight. "I don't trust it."
"You shouldn't." Marei touched a metal panel. It pulsed faintly beneath her fingers. "This entire place was shielded during the first Collapse. It shouldn't be responding to anything. But the shard… it's resonating."
Kade watched her face—how distant she looked now. Every new fragment they found pulled her further away from herself. He hadn't said anything yet, but the last time she'd interfaced, her eyes had gone fully white. And she'd spoken in a voice that wasn't hers.
System-logged. Word-perfect. Not human.
"I'm going in," she said, stepping toward the pulse point.
Kade grabbed her wrist. "No. We scan it first. Then we—"
The panel lit up.
Then the ceiling roared.
Steel clamps groaned overhead. A containment cradle unfolded from the roof—part mechanical, part biological. Something between a throne and an operating table.
Node C4-A Detected.
Carrier Identified: Marei, Vessel-3.
Requesting Sovereign Escort Verification…
Kade stepped forward instinctively. A flash of red lit the room, scanning him top to bottom.
Verification… pending.
Marei's breath caught. "Kade—don't resist it. Let it in."
Too late.
The system slammed into his mind like a storm. Images crashed through him: thrones crumbling, a city devoured by white light, someone screaming his name—Kade, not as he was, but robed in armor, eyes burning gold.
A memory not his… or one buried too deep.
Match… confirmed.
Sovereign Lineage Verified: Forgotten Class // Tier Null
The air snapped with heat. Sparks burst from the walls as the containment cradle fully activated, and the floor beneath Marei lifted her gently toward it.
Catalyst Sync Beginning. Memory Fragment Retrieval: Phase I
"No," Kade said, stepping forward, reaching for her—but a field ignited between them, pure static.
"Marei!" he shouted.
Her eyes opened—glowing, blank. Then the room shuddered, lights dimmed, and the cradle hissed open again.
She dropped to her knees, gasping.
Kade caught her just before she fell.
"The fourth shard…" she whispered, "It's not just data. It's a map. A trial."
She looked up at him, eyes wet, voice shaking.
"They're going to test you next."