Cycle 7, Year 314 — 6th Moonfall
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Smoke rose from the ruins of Sector Thirel, the sky tinted red by the last of the burning data cores. The corpses of three Harvesters lay at Kairo's feet, dissolving into ash and digital static.
He didn't stay to watch them fade.
His body was sore. The mark on his chest had stopped glowing, but it pulsed faintly — like it was waiting for something... or someone.
> "You're sloppy."
The voice came from the shadows — calm, dry, and unmistakably female.
Kairo didn't flinch.
He just turned.
There she stood, her silhouette framed by the broken arch of a chapel ruin. Veyna Morrakai.
Her silver hair, tied tightly behind her, gleamed like wire. A long cloak of black and blue fluttered around her armor — a strange blend of priestess robes and battlefield plating.
Strapped across her back was the Starlight Blade — a weapon said to cut through memory itself.
> "You followed me," Kairo said, voice flat.
> "I saved you. Again," she replied. "That last swing you made? Lazy. The Kairo I knew could split skyships in half."
> "I'm not him anymore."
> "You never were just one version of yourself."
A moment of silence passed between them. In it, the wind carried fragments of prayers long forgotten.
Then she stepped forward and dropped something at his feet — a shard of white metal, still hot with corrupt energy. The core of the last Harvester.
> "The Order is tracking you. They're accelerating," she said.
"You used the Code too loudly. They'll come in force next time."
Kairo knelt, studying the shard. His fingers twitched. A flicker of memory sparked — the sound of bells, a burning temple, a woman screaming his name… not Veyna's.
Someone else.
He looked up.
> "Why are you here, Veyna?"
Her gaze softened, but only slightly.
> "Because if you die, the rest of us won't even be allowed to forget we existed."
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Far above them, in a floating palace of obsidian and red glass, a masked figure watched the shard's heat signature go dark.
He turned to the black-robed congregation kneeling behind him.
> "The Ash-Born has remembered."
"Assemble the Null Choir. The Code must be reclaimed before the next Moonfall."