They stood in the core hallway of Citadel Zareth, beneath a ceiling laced with forgotten tech and long-dormant AI nodes. Somewhere beneath them, the Citadel pulsed—aware now, alive, and changing its architecture in response to Kade's presence.
Marei tapped her lens. "Arden's squad fell back. They're regrouping, but not retreating. She wants you exposed, not dead."
"She'll have both soon enough," Kade muttered. "Unless we move first."
From above, a pulse of light descended through the glass-like walls and hung in the air, a flickering sphere of golden code. The throne had awakened more than just memory—it had triggered a dormant part of the Catalyst no one had seen since the original kings died.
The orb expanded, lines of light reaching out like a neural web.
**System Notice:**
*New Catalyst Function Unlocked.*
*Memory Override Node: Sovereign Class.*
*Would you like to access Project Origin?*
Kade blinked. "Project Origin…?"
Marei stiffened. "That's not in any archives. I've read every shard—there's no mention of that."
"Because someone erased it."
He stepped forward.
"Show me Project Origin."
The room dimmed.
A hidden chamber appeared behind the far wall, melting away in silence. No doors. No alarms. Just the cold breath of something ancient. They stepped inside.
The walls were lined with cryo-stasis pods—at least a hundred—each one dark, sealed, humming with low power.
Names floated on holo-labels. None familiar. Until one blinked.
Marei stepped closer. "That's… that's me."
Her own face stared back at her from the pod. Younger. Unscarred.
She took a step back, blood draining from her face. "This—this isn't right. I was never put under. I remember my life."
Kade said nothing. He was staring at the pod beside hers.
His name.
His own face.
Except… it was different. Younger. Cleaner. No burns. No pain behind the eyes.
"What is this?" he whispered.
**System Response:**
*Project Origin was an abandoned directive. It created perfect replicas of key operatives… to survive catastrophic failure.*
Marei's voice trembled. "You're saying we're… copies?"
"No," Kade growled. "Not copies. Survivors. We were rewritten."
She looked up at him. "That's why we remember things no one else does. Why the world doesn't match what it's supposed to."
He stepped back from the pods. "This isn't a war for territory. It's a war for history. Someone's been choosing which memories are real."
The sphere of golden code flickered again.
**System Priority Override:**
*Incoming Transmission – Unclassified Signal*
*Identity: Unknown*
*Message: Stop digging, Kade. Some timelines are cursed for a reason.*
The signal ended.
Marei raised her weapon slowly. "That didn't come from outside."
"No," Kade said. "It came from *inside* the Catalyst."
They stared at the dark pods again. As if any of them could open. As if one already had.
Kade's fingers curled.
"They're not just watching us," he said. "They're *controlling the game.*"
And he wasn't just a king anymore.
He was a pawn who'd just remembered he once built the board.