They stood at the edge of the stone spiral.
The air here was thicker—not heavy, but dense in a way that bent sound. Lyle could hear Juno's breath clearly, even though she wasn't speaking. Every movement echoed like a drumbeat trapped in cloth.
The Architect's voice was gone.
But the path remained.
A staircase that coiled downward into ink-colored mist.
Juno touched the wall. Her fingers recoiled from the cold.
"This was warm before," she said.
Lyle didn't respond.
Because the Codex in his hand had begun to tremble.
> [Structural Integrity: Fractured]
Unauthorized entity has triggered defensive collapse sequence.
Host synchronization holding.
Deeper access required to stabilize root.
A single line of light carved itself across the stair's center.
Juno glanced sideways. "Still want to keep going?"
Lyle nodded.
"Especially now."
---
They walked in silence for what felt like hours.
The deeper they went, the less the world followed rules.
Walls flickered between stone and memory.
Sometimes, Lyle saw shadows walking beside them.
Himself. Younger. Crying.
His mother. Smiling through tears.
Juno reached out and touched his arm.
"Is this you?"
He shook his head.
"No. It's the Codex. Showing what I would've forgotten."
---
At the fifth turn, they passed a door.
Not a normal one.
A library gate, scorched half-open, as if something had escaped from within.
Lyle stopped.
The Codex flicked to a page it had never opened before.
> Page 404: Rejected Inheritance
A memory played without permission.
A boy.
Younger than Lyle. Pale eyes. A different symbol burned into his chest.
Screaming as the Codex refused him.
Then silence.
Juno stepped closer to the projected image.
"Who was he?"
Lyle's voice came quietly.
"The last one who touched the Codex… before me."
And above the boy's head, a name flickered briefly:
> Valen Stride.
Juno stepped back, breath shallow.
"He… he failed?"
"He was erased."
---
They continued downward.
With every step, the Codex grew warmer.
Like it was remembering pain.
Then, abruptly, the spiral ended.
They stood before a circular chamber—not carved, but grown.
As if the Codex had grown it from itself.
In the center floated a sphere of shattered text, spinning slowly.
A whisper escaped from it.
Not a voice.
A question:
> "If he follows… will you stand between?"
Juno looked at Lyle.
He stared at the sphere.
Then replied:
"I won't stand between."
"I'll stand with her."
The chamber pulsed in approval.
> [Synchronization deepened.]
Mirror Bond – Activated.
Passive Echo Shield enabled.
Root path opened.
Behind the sphere, the floor peeled open, revealing another stairwell.
One that descended into colorless space.
Juno shivered.
"This is it, isn't it?"
Lyle nodded.
"We go down…"
"…or everything comes up."
---
Far above them, the Retainer reached the first junction.
And paused.
Because his blade—burned black and etched with Codex-suppression glyphs—was humming.
It hadn't done that in decades.
And for the first time in a long time, he whispered to himself:
> "I may be too late."
Then he descended.
One floor behind.