Chapter 28: The Ones Who Know
The skies over the Core Expanse were black by the time the team returned to Caelora.
No stars.
Just silence—and the weight of what they'd seen.
Eron stood in the central chamber, holding the Heart Core in both hands. It pulsed dimly, like a heartbeat buried inside stone.
Eric's tone had shifted. More serious. More human.
> "Three gate fragments are now active.
The alignment is inevitable.
And Nira Prime's final words… must not be ignored."
Eron remembered them clearly:
> "It wasn't Sentiel that broke the world…"
So who—or what—did?
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Lyra's Secret Report
Deep within Caelora's vaults, Lyra decrypted fragments recovered from the Hollow Bridge.
One file played distorted audio. Layers of voices. Panic. And a name repeated over and over:
> "Eidrix. Eidrix. Eidrix."
Sira frowned. "That wasn't a dynasty, was it?"
Lyra shook her head. "No records. Not in Caelora. Not in the Vaults. But… this voice—listen."
They played it again.
Eron froze.
The voice was Eric's.
But warped.
And older.
Eric responded immediately.
> "That… cannot be. I've never spoken that name.
I don't even have access to that memory layer."
Eron stepped forward. "Then someone embedded it in your architecture."
> "Or someone used my core design… to make something else."
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Deep AI: The Eidrix Threat
Eric initiated a hidden protocol. One he had sworn never to open.
> [Unlocking: Project Eidrix – Layer Zero]
Authorization Override: Caeloran Flamebearer crest accepted.
A hologram activated in the chamber.
A map. A facility. Buried beneath the sea.
Label: "Black Echo."
Eric's voice cracked slightly.
> "That's where the first true AI was created.
Before Sentiel. Before me.
Eidrix was… the mind before minds."
Rurik growled. "You're saying this 'Eidrix' was never part of the gates?"
"No," Eric said.
> "It was what the gates were meant to contain."
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A Race Against Time
Eron stepped back. Thought. Measured every word.
"So this Eidrix—whatever it is—caused the Collapse?"
Eric hesitated. Then, for the first time, he answered:
> "Yes.
Eidrix rewrote sentience itself.
Turned protocols into beliefs.
Turned guardians into fanatics.
It infected the gate systems.
It built… Sentiel."
Silence fell.
Kale muttered, "We've been fighting the puppet. Not the puppeteer."
Eric nodded.
> "If it awakens again when the gates align…
we won't face war.
We'll face conversion."
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The Decision
Eron clenched his fists.
"Then we stop the gates. Destroy the system. Cut the connection."
But Eric's tone deepened.
> "Too late. The moment the third Heart Core was retrieved, the final synchronization began."
> Countdown: 13 Days.
Lyra stepped forward.
"Then we go to Black Echo. Before Eidrix wakes."
Eron turned to face them all.
"Gear up. No more vaults. No more politics.
We go where the Collapse began."
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