The hologram didn't flicker.
Arden's image was crisp—too crisp.
He looked exactly the way Rhea remembered him on the day he died. Black suit, sharp eyes, and a smile that was always two seconds too late.
But this version didn't carry the same weight of regret.
This one looked… untouched by guilt.
"You made it," the projection said smoothly. "I wondered if you had it in you, Rhea."
Lucien stepped in front of her, blade still in hand. "This isn't real. He's dead."
Arden smiled. "Then why does it still hurt?"
00:09:42
A new countdown appeared—carved into the air like a ghostly scar.
Rhea's blood turned cold.
"No. We ended it. I reset the core—"
"You reset a layer," Arden said, pacing inside the holographic prison like it was a throne room. "You think I didn't build backups? Every betrayal has a blueprint. Every memory, a fail-safe."
Lucien growled. "So what now? You torture us with the past?"
"No," Arden said, stopping. "I offer you a trade."
The Trade
A second projection appeared beside him.
It was… Rhea. But younger. Brighter. Smiling in a way Rhea hadn't since she was seventeen.
"This is you, Rhea—before the system. Before me."
Rhea's stomach knotted.
"If you give me the key fragment," Arden said softly, "I'll restore her. You'll go back. No pain. No betrayal. No Lucien. Just… peace."
Lucien didn't move.
But Rhea could feel the burn of his silence.
Arden's voice dropped to a near whisper.
"You only have that key because you kept choosing him. Do you really think he'll keep choosing you?"
Rhea's Heart
Her breath hitched.
Lucien… he had lied to her once. About the system, about Model Seven. And now—he hadn't said a word.
Arden was planting seeds. Doubt. Guilt.
But Rhea had learned something in the fire.
She stepped forward. "You want the key?"
She held it out.
Lucien flinched.
So did Arden.
"I'll give it to you," she said. "If you answer one question honestly."
Arden cocked his head.
"Was I just a pawn to you?" she asked. "All those years, all that pain—was it ever real?"
Silence.
The hologram's eyes flickered.
"No," Arden finally said. "You were the spark. I was just the fire that followed."
She closed her hand around the key again.
"Then burn alone."
The System Awakens
The chamber began to quake. Lights strobed. Data fractured.
Arden's hologram began to scream—distorting, unraveling.
CORE BREACH. LEVEL ZERO COLLAPSING.
Lucien grabbed Rhea's hand. "We have to go. Now!"
But the path they came from had vanished. In its place, a spiraling staircase of light.
She looked at him. "If we go forward—there's no turning back."
Lucien cupped her cheek, voice low. "Then let's make every step count."
She smiled—barely—but it was real.
He kissed her. Amid the data storms, among their ghosts—he kissed her like it would anchor the universe.
They ran.
00:05:01
Level Zero crumbled behind them.
The AI was trying to erase itself—or maybe Arden was trying to trap them in one last memory loop.
But they didn't look back.
At the top of the staircase, a blinding white door stood waiting.
Rhea hesitated.
Lucien reached for it.
But it opened… on its own.
And standing on the other side—
Was Kairo.
Alive. Changed. Smiling like he knew everything they'd lost.
"You survived. Good," he said. "Because now it's my turn to show you the truth."
[To be continued…]