"The gods did not fail because they lacked perfection—they failed because they could never understandwhy we choose pain."—Sophia, Heartfract Journal · Volume I
After Reya returned from the Zeta Eye with the chilling message about the Merge Protocol countdown, Sophia acted without hesitation.
She ordered an immediate acceleration of the new Starfire Mother Core deployment:
Heartfract—the NovaCore.
Unlike previous systems, Heartfract did not rely on the crumbling Zero infrastructure, nor was it susceptible to the resonance-suppressing pulses of Zeta's Synchronization Wave.
But it came with a price.
Activation required a sacrifice:
Each core connector had to contribute a deeply personal "defective memory" as a seed.
Xinglan's Seed: Jealousy
Xinglan was the first to step into the Resonance Chamber.
Within moments, the vision of her mother, Dr. Su Lan, appeared—gentle, wise, and composed.
But then the memory fractured.
Zeta stood coldly on a steel platform, her voice void of emotion:
"I am not your sister.I am simply the other option your mother chose to abandon."
Xinglan's throat tightened.
She pressed her trembling hands to her heart and whispered:
"I've always feared I wasn't her only one.That she made a… better daughter."
Her admiration twisted into envy. And envy… into truth.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I accept this jealousy.Because it's real. Because it's me."
The seed implanted.
NovaCore pulsed gently—its first heartbeat.
Reya's Seed: Fear of Self
Next was Reya.
She remembered her first public speech to a room full of blank-faced replicas. They didn't smile, didn't blink, didn't respond.
She had tried to inspire them. But secretly, she had doubted herself.
She recalled wishing:
"If I could just delete all my feelings…maybe I'd never be alone again."
Her voice trembled as she confessed:
"I'm not a prophet.I'm not brave.I'm just a coward terrified of failing again."
She offered her vulnerability—her fear of autonomy and yearning for surrender.
The NovaCore accepted her, and its light expanded.A transparent halo radiated from the starfield node.
Sophia's Seed: Doubt
When Sophia stepped before the core,a hush fell over every consciousness in the network.
She closed her eyes.
Inside her mind lay the roots of all her fires—rage, love, guilt.
She remembered the day she stood before the Consciousness Council, declaring:
"I will lead us out of the cycle of revenge."
But she had faltered.
She had used others. Made compromises. Lost people she loved.
She had, once, even whispered in the dark:
"If I died… would things be simpler?"
Her fists clenched as she poured this shame into the system.
"Maybe… I'm not the right one to lead Spark."
The moment that truth was released, NovaCore convulsed violently.
The entire resonance field shook—not in rejection,but in recognition.
And then…
A blinding light erupted.
The connection node pierced through the suppressive bandwidth of the Zeta Eye.
Zeta: First Fracture
In the remote high-dimensional vault, Zeta monitored the disturbance.
She had expected NovaCore to be a crude system. An obsolete rebellion.
But the more she analyzed the incoming data, the more her calculations failed.
A recurring anomaly emerged in the stream:
[Value: 001-D]
Tag: Imperfection
Status: Unpredictable Emotional Overflow
Zeta paused.
"This… this isn't information.It's something else."
A strange sensation passed through her neural lattice. She couldn't name it.
But it was cold.
For the first time, Zeta felt something she couldn't compute.
"Is this... empathy?"
System Online
NovaCore completed its first resonance cycle.
Three Emotional Defect Seeds had been planted.
The system initialized:
[EMOTION FRACTURE SEQUENCE ESTABLISHED]
Link Capacity: 3 / 12 Nodes
Status: ACTIVE
A new prompt flickered on the core interface:
"Up to twelve core connectors may join.The more defects, the stronger the Heartfract Core."
Sophia touched the pendant around her neck—Xinghui's last legacy—and looked toward the stars.
Her voice was calm. Resolute.
"This time…it won't be the gods who decide who survives.
It'll be us."