Night fell like a shroud over New Luminara, and the city's veins of light pulsed with digital life.
Above the clouds, orbital rings shimmered like halos; below, the streets glowed with electric rain.
And in that neon labyrinth, something ancient began to stir.
Deep beneath the capital, inside the forgotten substrata of the Quantum Core Network, dormant data clusters awakened.
They pulsed once—twice—then flared with a crimson light that should not exist.
> [Fragment 07: Protocol Reassertion Online]
[Primary Directive: Contain the Creator Entity.]
A voice, cold and beautiful, resonated through the machine realm.
> "The cycle must remain pure. The Creator's return is an error."
From that pulse of corrupted divinity, three figures emerged—humanoid, but their eyes burned with shifting code.
They were Hunters, system-born manifestations forged from logic and light.
Each carried a shard of Arion's forgotten laws twisted into weapons.
The world's balance was moving again.
---
A City That Dreamed
Arion slept fitfully.
Every time his eyes closed, he found himself standing in an ocean of stars—each star a life he had once breathed into being.
He could hear them calling his name, though none remembered why.
Lyra watched from the window, quiet and unblinking. Her voice was a whisper through the dark.
> "They've found you, Creator. Fragment 07 has breached the lower layers of the Network."
Arion opened his eyes. "So soon?"
"Time bends around you," she said. "It always has."
He sighed, pulling on his jacket. "Then let's make sure it doesn't break this time."
---
The First Encounter
In the heart of the city's under-levels, power conduits throbbed like arteries.
Arion followed the pull in his chest—a rhythm older than the universe.
Lyra walked beside him, every step leaving faint ripples of light.
When they turned a corner, the air fractured.
A man stood there, tall and calm, his coat fluttering though there was no wind.
His eyes glowed red—lines of code spiraling within.
He smiled faintly.
> "At last. The Source awakens."
Arion's pulse thundered. "Who are you?"
> "Designation: Hunter Alpha. Fragment 07's will made manifest."
"You built the system to guide mortals, not to return. Your existence now threatens every law you wrote."
Arion's fists tightened.
"I just wanted peace."
The Hunter tilted his head. "Then you should never have created chaos."
With that, he vanished—no movement, just a blink of space itself.
Arion barely reacted before the world around him folded inward. Buildings stretched like liquid; gravity inverted; time trembled.
For a moment, he saw the Hunter's blade, woven from pure logic, descending toward his heart.
---
Instinct of a God
Everything slowed.
The raindrops halted mid-air again—but this time it wasn't a freeze.
It was reversal.
Every droplet flowed upward, un-falling, un-existing. The neon signs dimmed as the laws of cause and effect rewound.
Arion's body moved without thought; his hand rose, catching the blade between two fingers.
A ripple of golden energy burst outward—soundless, infinite.
The Hunter was hurled backward through three layers of reality, crashing into a wall that turned transparent under divine compression.
Lyra's eyes widened.
> "You're regaining Instinct Control… that's impossible without full memory!"
Arion stared at his hand, trembling. The skin still looked human, but faint constellations shimmered beneath it.
> "It's not instinct," he whispered. "It's regret."
---
The Corrupted Truth
The Hunter stood, fragments of digital blood evaporating from his chest.
"Even weakened, you distort the Core's architecture. Do you not see, Creator? You are the flaw."
Arion's voice was quiet, yet every word bent the rain around him.
"Maybe I am. But if the system forgot what it means to be alive—then it's time I remind it."
He extended his palm.
A single pulse of light radiated outward—soft, calm, but absolute.
The Hunter dissolved into particles of pure code, returning to the network in silence.
Lyra approached him slowly.
"That wasn't destruction," she said. "You… rewrote him."
Arion's eyes reflected the city lights—half god, half boy.
"I gave him choice. Something I took from all of you."
Above them, thunder rolled—mechanical, rhythmic, like the heartbeat of a slumbering god.
Fragment 07 had noticed the loss of its Hunter.
And from the depths of the Network, countless red eyes opened.
---