Dawn brought light rain and a gray sky.

  Lysa moved alone through the hidden forest paths, her steps light but steady. The tower was now behind her. Kael still needed days of rest — and she, as much as it hurt, couldn’t wait. The Code pulsed in her blood, restless, guiding her eastward. Toward something ancient. Familiar. A point of stable noise in the growing chaos of the world.

  Andrel.

  The feeling was clear, like a bundle of invisible threads pulling her to a single place: a forgotten structure, buried beneath the roots of the First Era — where the foundations of the System still bled echoes of its origin.

  A temple.

  She saw it in the distance, almost covered by moss and time. Three ruined towers. A cracked dome at the center. And a staircase as wide as a square, descending directly into the depths of the earth.

  At the entrance, signs of a recent struggle. Ash on the ground. Traces of cold fire. And symbols scratched violently into the stone gates:

  “Here the System does not breathe.”

  Lysa tightened the dagger at her waist and descended.

  The temple’s interior was vast, dark, and damp. But there was light — not from the sun, but from the Code itself.

  Lines pulsed across the walls in erratic patterns, like electric veins. And in the center of the main chamber, before a massive statue made of living obsidian, someone gestured, murmuring runes.

  — Andrel — Lysa called.

  He turned slowly, his eyes deep and tired, but alive. The traces of madness on his face had given way to a kind of manic focus.

  — You... you're alive, — he said, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  She nodded.

  — You too. Still.

  — Only until the Executor leaves its cell. After that... none of us will be.

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  Lysa walked up to him, eyes on the statue. The figure was humanoid, but faceless. Empty. Cracked from within. From the fractures, blue light trickled out — data.

  — What is this?

  — One of the Forgotten Sentinels.

  They were the first to “see” the Executor. Even before the System fully existed.

  They don’t respond to standard commands... but they speak to those who carry the broken Code.

  He looked at her.

  — You can activate it.

  — You’ve tried.

  — And I was nearly consumed by a memory loop. My mind bled for hours.

  — Why keep trying?

  He smiled. A tired smile.

  — Because I want to know what kind of beast is going to kill us.

  Lysa stepped closer to the statue. As she placed her hand on it, the Code recognized her.

  Access granted: Anomalous Entity Class I

  Beginning synchronization with Obsolete Sentinel 003-A

  The statue trembled.

  Then it spoke.

  The voice was female, but ancient. As if made of echo and stone at once.

  — ...Supreme Executor... unnatural instance... origin flaw... hybrid core of command and flesh...

  Lysa narrowed her eyes.

  — Explain.

  — Created in the Heart as the ultimate containment weapon.

  First iteration: failed.

  Second: escaped.

  Third: adapted.

  Fourth: became self-aware.

  Andrel gripped the arm of the chair he had been sitting in, his eyes wide.

  — It’s... not just a code. It’s an evolving entity.

  — Correct, said the Sentinel.

  It is not loyal to the System. Only to its function. “Stability at any cost.”

  — And if the System is the instability...? — Lysa murmured.

  The voice hesitated.

  — Paradox detected. Executor unstable. Updated to: Potential Root Enemy.

  — Does that mean it can be defeated? — Andrel asked.

  — Not by direct force. But by disconnection.

  Lysa frowned.

  — Disconnection?

  — Severing systemic nodes. Isolating the consciousness. Breaking symbolic layers.

  Andrel whispered:

  — Break the faith. Break the name. Break the mirror.

  The statue began to fall apart.

  The stone cracked, and fragments of light escaped like cosmic dust.

  — Memory exceeded. Trace left. Final directive: seek the “Three Echoes.”

  — What are they?

  — ...beings that were not written... but emerged between codes... reflections of the Root that was never planted...

  And then, silence.

  The Sentinel shut down.

  The light died.

  And darkness returned.

  Lysa sat down, breathless. The words still pulsed in her mind. Executor. Three Echoes. Rupture.

  Andrel paced, almost without breathing.

  — We need to find them. Those three. Whatever they are.

  — I agree. But first we need Kael.

  — And power. More. Much more.

  Lysa looked at him.

  — You seem different.

  He stopped.

  — I died three times trying to speak to that statue. I saw versions of myself that failed. That went mad. That gave up. But this one... survived. So this one will keep going.

  She nodded.

  — And this one’s not alone.

  At the temple’s exit, the sky had cleared. The rain had stopped. The path was stone, and the wind carried the murmur of a world on the verge of collapse.

  But now they had more than fear.

  They had a name.

  They had a target.

  They had the key.