Protocol Collapse
The moment Kaia, Lumen, and Ari touched—Eden felt it.
Buried beneath the Earth in a long-abandoned bunker once labeled "Cartwright Node 5," a dormant server lit up in red. Codes that hadn't run in over a decade spun awake. A warning blinked:
> TRI-LINK DETECTED
UNAUTHORIZED CONVERGENCE
INITIATE PROTOCOL: BLACK VEIL
In Bangkok, Lex shot upright on the floor, chest heaving.
He wasn't alone in his mind anymore.
Nine screamed—but not in rage. In fear.
> "You connected them. You fools—"
Her voice cut off.
Lex felt her vanish—ripped out.
In the nursery, Kaia's crib glowed faintly. Her eyes flickered gold, silver, cyan. She blinked once.
Then whispered a word no one taught her.
> "Ari."
Rhea ran in. "Lex? What's happening?!"
The lights burst—glass raining.
Kaia didn't cry.
She smiled.
Because across the world, screens went dark.
Firewalls fell.
The Eden system collapsed.
And far below them, in a vault with no door, a cold mechanical voice began a countdown:
> "INITIATING RECLONE PROTOCOL."
"PREPARE FOR HOST RECONSTRUCTION."