They had bought themselves three days. That was the longest they could hide before Sol-Ah figured out the crashed spare tire was fake. Three days to read more of the Ancient Code and plan their escape before her secret army found them.
Inside the cold, silent temple, they worked without stopping at the glowing stone altar. They were running on almost no sleep. Eliza (in Julian's huge CEO body) wrote the plans and figured out the technical parts, while Julian (in Eliza's small body) focused on reading the ancient words.
The stress of the constant work, plus the forced, terrible closeness from sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder, wore them down fast. They were acting like one tired person, held together only by the constant, dull pressure of the Link Pain. They were too broken to fight each other anymore.
The Flash of Gold
On the second night, while Eliza was looking at the temple's power maps and Julian was fighting with the translation of the word "Anchor," it happened. Julian, really frustrated by one word he couldn't read, slammed Eliza's small fist down on the altar.
The whole glowing screen flared once, a blinding flash of gold. Both Julian and Eliza yelled out, grabbing their heads. It wasn't simple pain; it was a sudden, violent rush of feelings and memories that weren't theirs. The Link was triggered by total frustration and hitting something hard.
Julian gasped, staring at his small hands. He felt a sudden, deep understanding of big money, international tax law, and the raw excitement of taking over a company. He felt Julian's ambition—a cold, metallic taste in his mouth, a hunger for control he had never felt before. The raw, financial power was like a drug.
Eliza, meanwhile, felt a different kind of rush. She was suddenly crushed by the intense guilt and heavy feeling Julian carried from years of lying to everyone. She saw a memory of Julian's father telling him: Power is not a game, it is a necessary cruelty. She felt the deep pity Eliza had for the nameless people Julian had hurt.
She suddenly saw the power maps, not as simple wires, but as lives—families who would be kicked out if the power grid failed. The boss's cruel mind in her body was now mixed with Eliza's deep, soft heart. She stumbled back, the sheer weight of Julian's sad history—and her own kind response to it—making her feel physically sick to her stomach.
The Skill Exchange
When the overwhelming feeling went away, they were left with a terrifying truth. They hadn't just swapped memories; they had swapped core skills.
"The language," Julian said, his voice shaking in Eliza's throat. "I understand the Anchor's structure now. I know how to find the rest of the pieces. But I can't read this last sentence. It's too complex." Julian's smart business mind was now struggling with the subtle, emotional meaning of the ancient words.
Eliza, however, walked over to the schematic. "Give me the main power grid diagram," she ordered. Her tone was sharp, fast, and completely Julian's. "The flaw in the old power source—it's not a flaw. It's a hidden backup. I know exactly how to turn it on. I can feel the power flowing." She spoke with the mechanical, perfect confidence of a skilled engineer.
Fusion of Identity
They were becoming terrifyingly good, but at the cost of themselves. Eliza was now a cruel planner with a powerful CEO body and the occasional, crippling rush of human pity. Julian was now a precise spy with a small, agile body and the instinct to solve every problem with a massive amount of cash.
"This is what the Rule wanted," Julian realized, tracing a finger over the Code. "It wasn't a punishment. It was a forced blend. It wants to create one perfect person: someone with Julian's power and Eliza's kindness." The idea was freezing cold.
Eliza looked at him, and for the first time, she saw Julian's true fear, not through his eyes, but through her own deep feeling for the man who wore her face. "We are losing the line," she whispered, her voice low and strained. "Soon, we won't know whose thought is whose." The wall between them was melting fast.
The Unwanted Kiss
The shared feeling of doom and the blurring lines of their identities created a very fragile moment. Eliza reached out her massive hand, not to grab Julian, but simply to touch his small face. She wanted to make sure she was still Eliza and that the man in front of her was still Julian.
Julian instinctively leaned into the touch, a reflex born from the Link Pain and the new, strong feeling of loneliness from Julian's memory.
The moment lasted, heavy with unsaid feelings and confusing new emotions. They were standing close, one huge and one small, both completely lost. Without thinking, Eliza leaned in. It wasn't a kiss of love, but a kiss of desperate identification—a need to confirm the real person they knew. Their lips met briefly, softly.
The Immediate Regret
They pulled back instantly, the contact sending a shockwave through the Link that was confusingly mixed with shame and panic. Eliza's eyes were wide with horror. She had just kissed her husband—in her husband's own body. Julian stared at her, feeling a mix of Eliza's innocent shock and Julian's cold analysis of the physical feeling.
"That was... not me," Eliza choked out, covering her massive mouth with her hand. "That was the Link reacting to the shared fear. It's trying to join us."
"It doesn't matter whose impulse it was," Julian snapped, wiping Eliza's small mouth with the back of his hand. "The rule stands: we do not mess up the mission with personal feelings. We are not lovers. We are partners in survival. And you just gave me a taste of your husband's disgust." The raw fear in his eyes showed he was lying about the disgust, but the need for hard rules was crucial to keeping his mind whole.
The New Command
The memory swap, however, had given them a huge advantage. Eliza (now a smart planner) used the newly gained knowledge of the Anchor to quickly plan their next escape. She pointed to a high-security vent on the side of the temple.
"The Micro-Drive says the second Anchor piece is stored hundreds of miles away, in a place only reached by Syndicate tunnels," Eliza explained, her voice now calm and firm. "Julian, you know the code for that section of the tunnel system. We leave through that vent. Now."
They were no longer running blindly. They were executing a precise plan, using their joined intelligence to follow the Bloodline Debt trail. The scary truth was that the kiss, the shame, and the confusion had only made them better partners. They were winning, but they were losing themselves to each other in the process.