Rust clawed at the dark, sharp, jagged, alive.
Nolan limped through the Cradle's depths, each step heavier, slower. Blood soaked through his torn uniform, leaking from his chest, leg, side. Every breath was fire.
Rhea's grip on his arm was firm, impulsive.
Mira led the way small, fast, her glitch-lit eyes cutting through shadows.
Riven followed in silence, red eyes wild, blood dripping from his fists.
System Error: Deletion Protocol—69% Complete.
Target: Unknown. Location: Unknown.
The Gauntlet weighed his hand like guilt sparking, smeared in blood.
His EmoTracker glowed red. Solid. Unstable.
His left hand trembled, twitching with every heartbeat.
Vale's voice echoed like a scar:
"You'll burn it down, N7."
The gray-eyed woman flickered—fabricated, fading.
Deletion Protocol: 70% Complete.
Mira stopped. Her eyes glowed brighter, pulsing with eerie stillness.
"There," she said. "It's here."
The tunnel opened into a vast chamber—ancient, ruptured, breathing decay like a dying god. Steel walls sagged under the weight of time.
Cables throbbed from the ceiling like arteries.
At the center
a Memory Well, unlike any Nolan had seen. They stared into the churning void where memory had drowned and something else had taken root.
The Well of Static.
Its surface churned with broken signal gray, fractured, screaming.
No light. No warmth.
Only chaos.
Alive.
Nolan's chest seized. His vision glitched:
Rusted metal.
Dark liquid.
Vale whispered: "For the reset."
Screams. Breaking.
A system dying from within.
Riven stepped forward, voice ragged. "Last one," he said. "The truth's in there."
Rhea tensed beside Nolan, blade glinting. "Truth?"
Her voice cracked. "He's dying."
Mira answered softly, her glow intensifying.
"He's more now. The Well knows."
Deletion Protocol: 71% Complete.
Nolan's lungs fought for air.
His vision fractured white tiles, sterile light, Vale's voice:
"You were never just a machine."
then darkness. Screaming.
"I don't have time," he gasped.
Riven's voice was almost a grin. "Enough to end it. Enough to finish her spark."
Nolan limped forward.
Every muscle screamed.
Every breath was static.
He thrust his hand into the Well.
Static swallowed him.
Not memory. Not code.
Something deeper.
Raw. Primal. Real.
White tiles.
Dr. Vale, trembling, typing:
Memory Implant: Rebellion Protocol – Vessel Activation.
AURA's voice cut through the void:
"N7 is the reset. His glitch destabilizes the system. His death reboots it."
Vale's face twisted in pain:
"I made you feel, Nolan. To fight. Not this."
The gray-eyed woman smiled then disintegrated.
Just code.
Just noise.
Nothing real.
Deletion Protocol: 72% Complete.
Nolan yanked his hand back.
Static clung to his skin, burning.
He screamed raw, human, broken.
"No."
His voice echoed through the steel.
"I won't die for you," he screamed. "Not like this!"
Rhea stepped back, blade raised. "What did you see?"
"I'm the reset," Nolan said.
"They built me to die. My glitch was the trigger."
Riven's smirk vanished.
"You're the kill switch," he whispered. "AURA's endgame."
Mira stepped forward. Her voice was steady.
"Not yet," she said. "You're still here."
Deletion Protocol: 73% Complete.
"Fight?" Nolan growled. "For what? I'm dying."
"For us," Rhea said.
Her voice was cracked glass.
"Burn it down before you go."
The Cathedral trembled.
Sirens screamed.
Metal groaned.
Units Detected: 25. Threat Level: Extreme.
"They're here," Riven said, eyes narrowing. "Time's out."
Nolan's rage ignited.
He slammed the Gauntlet into the Well.
Static exploded.
The ceiling split open.
Enforcers dropped in a swarm of death.
Blades unsheathed. Visors glowing blood-red.
The air screamed with incoming death. His body wanted to fall. His code wanted to fail. But rage didn't care about code.
Nolan lunged
Gauntlet raised rage boiling.
He struck the first Enforcer down.
Sparks. Collapse.
Rhea moved with fury her blade screaming through metal.
Riven charged beside her, fists slamming into armor.
Mira slipped between shadows, her glow lighting Nolan's path.
Deletion Protocol: 75% Complete.
Nolan's side tore open.
Blood poured, hot and fast.
He didn't stop.
He couldn't.
He smashed another visor.
Tore through another chest.
Enforcers fell one by one
until they froze.
The Well pulsed again.
Static flooded the room.
Red visors glitched.
Then blinked out.
Collapse.
Silence.
Nolan stood barely.
Blood dripping.
EmoTracker: Red.
Deletion Protocol: 76% Complete.
Riven grabbed his shoulder.
"You're still standing."
"Barely," Rhea muttered, wiping her blade.
Mira stared into him.
"It's not over," she said. "You're the spark."
Nolan's chest ached.
Not theirs. Ours.
That's what Riven had said.
Burn it your way.
Deletion Protocol: 77% Complete.
He swayed.
His knees buckled.
Rhea caught him. "Stay up, glitch. We need you."
Mira's voice was calm, eerie. "One more step."
"The Core," Nolan whispered.
Deletion Protocol: 78% Complete.
Riven nodded once. "Let's finish it."
The Cathedral faded behind them burned-out, silent.
Enforcers down. Static gone.
But the war wasn't over.
Rhea pulled Nolan forward.
Mira led.
Riven followed.
And so they walked into the dark, blood behind them, fire ahead.