Caspian stepped out of the node.
The city greeted him with silence. Not peace. Not calm. The kind of silence that happens after something ancient has moved.
The skyline was darker now. The red veins threading the clouds pulsed slower, thicker. As if the tower had shifted into a different phase of breathing.
He looked up.
He felt it.
Not through his eyes. Through his blood.
A signal. A pressure. A presence not bound to the system. Something the interface couldn't define. It pressed against him like cold static against bone.
[NODE EXIT COMPLETE]
[Blood Protocol Fully Active]
[Resonance: 27.4%]
[Foreign Entity Detected. Analysis… Failed]
Neris appeared at his side, her expression unreadable.
"She's here."
"You know her?"
"I know what she's not."
He scanned the skyline. A streak of silver light crossed above the buildings, too fast for normal sight. But not too fast for him anymore.
"She's moving toward the tower."
"No," Neris said. "She's moving toward you."
Caspian said nothing.
The interface pulsed again.
[Administrator Attention Flag. Pending Cleanser Deployment. Sub-Protocol Interference Detected]
He clenched his fists.
Everything was changing faster than expected. The system was adapting, rewriting. But something outside of it had slipped in. Something not accounted for.
And it wanted him.
He looked toward the tower, still burning with digital fire. He could feel the pull.
But he turned away.
"I'm going to find her."
Neris raised an eyebrow.
"Good. Because she's already found you."
The wind shifted. Cold. Hollow.
And from the rooftop above, the silver-eyed girl stood watching, her cloak billowing like shadow. The air around her warped with pressure. She didn't speak.
She only stepped off the edge.
And fell toward him.