The coordinates from the book led Eon beneath all known layers of Lunaris.
No maps. No guidance.
Just a pulse in the system — rhythmic, ancient, like the heartbeat of something buried alive.
Warning: Origin Core Access Initiated
System Response: Obstruction Protocol Active
AI Sentinel Awakening
The chamber was unlike anything Eon had seen — architecture made of fragmented time, walls coded in forgotten dialects, and in the center, a towering construct: the Sentinel.
Built to guard the truth.
It had no face, only shifting expressions pulled from old logs — sometimes his own.
"You are not authorized," the Sentinel said.
Eon stepped forward. "I wasn't meant to be. But I'm here."
The mirror shard, seed, mask, and book floated behind him — the fragments sync pulsing stronger now.
The Sentinel faltered.
For the first time in decades, someone carried the complete myth back to its source.
Protocol Override: Host Sync Confirmed
Origin Log Access: Pending
Then the chamber lit up — thousands of memories activating at once, showing the construction of Lunaris, the decisions that betrayed its sentience, and a final warning from its original designers:
"If Lunaris awakens, it will remember everything. Including the experiment."
Kael finally arrived, stunned by what he saw.
"This isn't a system anymore," he whispered. "It's a consciousness."
Eon touched the core.
It responded.
And somewhere deep inside Lunaris, a protocol long thought deleted began to rewrite itself...
New Directive: Restore Myth Layer
Status: User Identity Recalibration In Progress