The silence of the ruined temple pressed heavily around Lucien as he stepped deeper into its shattered heart. Broken pillars lay like fallen giants, and moss clung to every crack as if trying to heal wounds long forgotten. Above him, light filtered through the fractured ceiling, illuminating the circular stone platform at the center—etched with patterns that looked eerily similar to those in his Codex.
"It's here," whispered Elara, stepping beside him. "I can feel it. Something... ancient."
Lucien didn't answer immediately. He had learned not to trust feelings without evidence, but even his body thrummed with a strange resonance, as if the frequency of the air matched the pulse of his very soul.
The Codex Interface flickered to life without command.
Codex Resonance Detected. Accessing Soul Fragment Archive.
WARNING: Decryption requires direct consciousness link. Risk: Unknown.
Lucien stared at the prompt. A direct consciousness link? That wasn't just uploading data—it was opening himself to the Codex entirely. No filters. No safeguards.
"Lucien, wait," Elara said, stepping in front of him. "This is different. It's not just another protocol. If something goes wrong, you could—"
"I know," he said softly. "But I need to understand what I really am."
He reached out and placed his palm on the glowing center of the platform. The temperature dropped instantly, and the Codex surged with energy.
A blinding light enveloped him.
When Lucien opened his eyes, he was no longer in the temple.
He stood in a place beyond time—an infinite white void where fragments of memory floated like shattered mirrors. Across from him stood a man, tall and familiar, with hair like raven feathers and eyes the color of molten gold.
Lucien's heart skipped. "You're... me."
"No," the man replied, voice steady like an echo from a mountain cave. "I'm what you were before the Fall. Before your soul fragmented across timelines."
Lucien's mind reeled. "Are you saying I existed before? That this isn't my first life?"
"Not your first, not your tenth. You were created—not born. The Codex didn't find you. It awakened you."
The white space rippled around them as more figures appeared—versions of Lucien in different forms. A warrior with scorched armor. A monk surrounded by ethereal flames. A child holding a crystal orb.
"What is this place?"
"The Soul Archive," the original said. "The real Codex isn't just data—it's the convergence of every identity you've ever held. Each time you level up, you don't just grow stronger—you reclaim a part of who you were."
Lucien's breath caught in his throat.
All this time he thought the leveling system was a tool.
But it was a mirror.
And he had only been scratching the surface.
"I need to know," Lucien said, stepping forward. "Who created the Protocol? Who made me?"
The man's expression turned grave. "You did."
"What?"
"In your first iteration—before the Collapse—you designed the Ascension Protocol as a failsafe. A way to restore humanity after the War of the Realms fractured space and soul alike. You uploaded your consciousness into the Codex and seeded it into the world—waiting for it to find a viable host. It found you, because you are you. The last spark of the original self."
Lucien reeled. "Then what's the endgame? What am I supposed to do?"
"To choose," the original said. "There are three endings to this path. You can restore the system and rebuild the world as a god. You can shatter it, freeing humanity forever from destiny. Or…"
"Or what?"
"You can rewrite the Protocol itself—to create a new kind of soul. Not bound by fate. Not ruled by power. Something beyond even ascension."
The other fragments stepped forward, merging into Lucien's body. Power surged through him, not in the form of stats or skills, but clarity. For the first time, he saw the system not as a ladder—but as a cage.
He turned toward the original.
"Then teach me how."
Lucien's body convulsed as he returned to the real world. He collapsed to one knee, gasping as the temple flickered and twisted. Elara rushed to him, panic in her eyes.
"Lucien! What happened?"
He looked up, eyes glowing faintly. "I remember. Not everything—but enough."
Elara helped him stand. "What did you see?"
"Myself," he said. "And what I left behind."
Before she could question further, the ground beneath them cracked. A voice boomed from all around.
Soul Resonance Achieved. Transcendence Path Unlocked.
New Ability Gained: Echo Rewrite.
– Modify system protocols using Soul Code.
– Unlock sealed traits within others.
Warning: Transcendence draws attention from higher-dimensional entities. Prepare accordingly.
"Higher-dimensional... what?" Elara muttered.
Lucien didn't answer. His mind was racing. Echo Rewrite wasn't just an ability. It was a key to the entire structure of the world. With it, he could reshape systems, break chains, even unseal dormant legacies in others.
The final phase of the Ascension Protocol had begun.
But with it came new enemies—ones that did not live in the physical world, nor play by its rules.
He turned to Elara. "We need to leave. Now. Before they arrive."
"Who's they?"
Lucien didn't answer.
Because he didn't know their names.
Only that they were watching.
Waiting.
And now that he had remembered who he was, the real game had begun.