"To betray the Codex is to erase yourself.To pretend loyalty while sowing deviation?That's how legends of rebellion begin."
—
Scene: Deadwood Plains – Codex Hunting Ground Delta-7
Lethe walks.Sword sheathed.Eyes forward.Every move watched by the Codex.
She's been given a new mandate:
"Track Cain. Break his Beast. Erase his edits."
She nods. Stoic. Efficient.
But deep inside her, the fractures whisper.
"Don't kill him.Learn him."
The shadow of the old self speaks louder now.
Her steps veer half a degree off from the Codex's prescribed path.Her aura flickers just a moment less cold.And when she finds Cain's trail in the snow—pawprints alongside bare feet—she doesn't report it immediately.
📜 [Codex Notification – Lethe Trail Analysis]
"Tracking accuracy: 97%Behavioral Consistency: 94%Delay in report submission: 3.6 secondsStatus: Within Tolerance"
Barely.
Lethe smiles.
"Good. Keep under their radar."
Scene Cut: Cain's Camp (Dusk)
Cain sits beside a fire made of half-burnt Codex pages—scraps from broken skills he'd fought off last moon.
Shadow lies beside him, ears twitching.
"She's near," the beast murmurs."Again."
Cain doesn't move.
"I know."
"You won't fight?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"
Cain looks at the sky.Clouds form the shape of an open eye.Watching.
"Because she doesn't want to kill me."
"How do you know?"
"Because if she did… she would've already done it. And because…"
He touches the spot over his heart.
"Something she said felt like remembering a part of myself."
Scene: Lethe's POV – Observation Ridge
She watches him through a Codex lens.It paints him red—threat, lawbreaker, anomaly.But she focuses past the filter.
On his stillness.His breath.The way he watches the sky.
"He looks like he's waiting for a sign."
She knows what that feels like.
She was once just a child with a skill not yet written,Held in a cell made of commandments,Told that to serve was holy—And to question was treason.
"They rewrote me," she murmurs."But some words don't erase so easily."
📜 Secret Action: Data Drift Injection
Lethe reaches into her armguard.Pulls out a forbidden Codex injector—A memory-leech.
She doesn't aim it at Cain.
She aims it at herself.
She selects one of Cain's skill fragments—retrieved from his first Codex-broken fight.
"Blank Beastbinder Code – Corrupted Signature: [Shadow Merge]"
She injects it.Her veins light up—purple and black.The Codex screams in error.
But the system doesn't know what to do.
"You can't learn his skill," it warns."You are not a Host. Not a Beastbinder."
Lethe grins.
"Then rewrite what I am."
📜 [Corruption Marker Imprinted: Shadow Merge v.0.1 – Compatibility: 3%]
She staggers.
Not because it hurts.
But because she feels Cain's instinct.
Not just how he moves.Not just how he fights.But why he survives.
She suddenly understands something.
"He's not rewriting to win."
"He's rewriting to stay human—in a system built to erase humanity."
Lethe opens her journal.A secret one.Made of real pages.
She begins recording notes:
— Cain responds to emotional resonance— Skill triggers linked to memory spikes— Instinctive rewrite patterns suggest deep trauma-coded resistances— Shadow isn't just a beast. It's a memory.
Conclusion: If I nudge him—If I guide his choices indirectly…
He might rewrite something even the Codex can't predict.
📜 New System Tag Created: "Codex Deviation Surveillance – Target: Lethe"
"Warning: Behavior flagged for review""Delay punishment pending—subject considered too valuable for immediate purge"
Lethe closes her eyes.
"Good. Keep watching me.Watch me burn your rules from the inside."