The spiral descent felt longer than it should have. Every step down the helical stone ramp throbbed with a subtle vibration, like the heartbeat of the Hollow Vault itself. The air thickened with data—a mix of ozone, decay, and something synthetic, like rusted circuits still clinging to the memory of life.
Yuki led the way, his gauntlet humming faintly as the runes on its surface reacted to the ambient code saturation. Selene and Kai followed, silent but alert. No words were needed now—each of them could feel the shift, as if they'd passed a threshold not meant for mortal steps.
"The noise is getting louder," Selene murmured finally. Her voice echoed strangely, as though layered across dimensions.
Yuki nodded. "It's not sound. It's... signal. The Vault is awake."
They reached the landing—a circular platform carved from obsidian alloy. At its center stood a towering pillar of fragmented crystal, webbed with golden wiring and suspended glyphs. Around it, floating shards of translucent memory cores hovered like petals in a timeless bloom.
Kai sniffed the air, letting out a low growl. "This place remembers too much."
Yuki stepped toward the pillar, drawn by instinct. A pulse rippled outward. The crystal flared with color—blue, red, then flickering into glitching violet. The light scanned him, and suddenly, data flowed like a waterfall.
He staggered, clutching his head as a weight slammed into his mind.
< Memory Sync: Prototype Z — Triggered >
Visions poured in—flashes of experiments, shattered labs, a child inside a stasis pod. Scientists arguing over deletion protocols. A log entry burned itself into his memory:
"Subject Z is not a summon. He is the synthesis of fragmented echoes, a living reboot key. His presence risks cascading system instability. Protocol recommendation: Isolation or Deletion."
Yuki gasped, knees buckling. Selene was at his side instantly, steadying him. Kai's form shimmered, half-phased between his physical body and data.
Yuki's hand shot up—not to strike, but to stabilize himself. The flow of information slowed, the tidal wave becoming a stream.
His voice was low but firm. "Some of my skills... they've been merging on their own. Others appeared after certain battles. But this—this is different."
He looked up at the core. "It didn't give me anything new. It just confirmed what I already was."
Selene stepped closer, her eyes locked onto his. "And what are you?"
"I'm not an error," he said. "I'm a bypass. Something created to disrupt the cycle... or maybe restart it."
The Vault's core pulsed again, and the memory shards began to shift—aligning into a rotating spiral, each shard displaying faint, ghostly images: faces of long-forgotten test subjects, schematics of impossible machines, and interlaced patterns that looked like spellcode grafted onto circuitry.
Kai's eyes glowed. "It's showing you the past... and asking what you'll do with it."
Yuki stared into the spiral. "Then I'll do what I was meant to do—rewrite the end they planned for me."
The steps of light emerged from the base of the core, descending in a slow arc to an even deeper layer of the Vault. The hum in the air shifted, turning into something like a whisper. Not malicious—but ancient. Expectant.
As they stood before the staircase, Selene broke the silence. "Every layer we descend... we get closer to the answer. But also closer to the origin."
Yuki smirked slightly. "I'm ready for both."
They began to descend. This time, the steps were of solid light, projecting from memory itself. Each step triggered a flicker in Yuki's mind—a new image, a sensation, a pulse of knowledge he couldn't yet grasp. But he absorbed it all.
Below them, the Hollow Vault shifted again, as though acknowledging their path.
And somewhere deep beneath the layers, something stirred.