Legacy Burn
The Voidwraith moved like a virus through reality—blinking in and out, glitching time and space.
I rolled across cracked concrete, narrowly dodging a blade of corrupted data that hissed through where my head had just been.
No more Spiral Interface.
No more reality loops.
Just pain, reflex, and instinct.
Aria was already at my side, shouting over the chaos. "There's a fallback generator in the old Eden Tower! If it's still there, it might still run Spiral residue tech!"
> "And if it doesn't?"
She smirked grimly. "Then we die trying."
---
The Voidwraith screamed, the sound warping gravity. Windows shattered in a wave as it surged forward.
We ran.
Through collapsing buildings, down overgrown streets, past rusted husks of what was once civilization.
Eden Tower was half-buried in vine and ash. Its once-pristine Spiral spires now a broken crown on the skyline.
But the power core...
It pulsed faintly.
A heartbeat waiting to be awakened.
---
Inside, the walls were scorched with old code—Spiral runes half-burned, half-erased by the Reset. Aria yanked open a rusted panel and pulled out a jagged spiral crystal.
> "It's corrupted, but I think I can force it to ignite."
I held off the Voidwraith as it bore down on the entrance—every step cracking the walls, its body expanding, evolving, becoming more... aware.
> "Faster, Aria!"
> "Just buy me thirty seconds!"
---
The countdown began.
I fought with nothing.
A metal pipe. A broken console. Rage.
But something sparked in me.
Not Spiral code. Not data.
Will.
For the first time, I wasn't fighting to reset time.
I was fighting to protect it.
---
The tower lit with a golden surge. Aria screamed as the generator core flared—and released a blast of raw, unstable Spiral energy.
The Voidwraith was caught mid-leap.
Its body fractured.
Its data scattered.
But it wasn't destroyed.
> It retreated.
Melted into the shadows like a virus seeking another host.
---
Aria collapsed beside me. "We hurt it."
I looked at the pulsing core.
> "And now it knows we can."
But the generator had done more than just power up Spiral energy.
It had reawakened something beneath the city.
A message scrolled across a cracked screen near the heart of Eden Tower:
> "SEED PROTOCOL REACTIVATED. SPIRAL ORIGIN SITE LOCATED: DEPTH-9."
Aria stood up slowly. "Looks like we're going underground."