Zone C-17 wasn't on any current system map.
That was the first sign something was wrong.
The second?
It didn't reject him when he crossed the boundary.
It ignored him.
The air felt thin. Not because it lacked oxygen — but because the threads here were wrong. Loose, like they'd been cut and never restitched.
Elian moved slowly.
The environment looked half-formed. Stone halls intersected with glass tunnels and open data fields that blinked like dying stars. Signs of collapse were everywhere, but nothing had been repaired.
This wasn't decay.
It was abandonment.
And yet…
There were signs of presence.
Carvings etched into walls — not glyphs, but words. Rough. Sharp. Personal.
'IT LIED
NOT ASCENSION — SEVERANCE
DON'T THINK TOO LOUD'
Elian crouched beside one, tracing the letters.
Whoever left these… hadn't died quickly.
His Threadsense started to buzz, then stutter.
Static.
That had never happened before.
He opened his system menu — slow, careful.
It flickered.
Then something new appeared.
[Zone C-17 Status: Suppressed Node]
[Classification: Rejection Class – System Disavowed]
[Warning: Sensory Feedback Unstable. Conscious Interference Possible.]
Conscious interference?
That was a new term.
He moved deeper into the zone — through a collapsed corridor littered with fractured threadbone and scorched sigils. He passed a dead construct — twisted and melted, something that had once resembled a Sentinel but had been fused to the floor by unknown energy.
And then he heard it.
Breathing.
Not near him.
Inside him.
His Threadsense twisted — not alerting danger, but responding to it. Drawing shapes in his mind.
A memory that wasn't his.
A scream without sound.
He dropped to one knee, bit the inside of his cheek, focused.
And then — the pressure passed.
In its place, a whisper across his vision.
[Lucid Trait Sync: 25% → 27%]
[Threadbreaker Trait Progress: 2.8% → 3.0%]
[Zone Memory Engaged: You have encountered a Severed Residual.]
[Caution: The system does not claim this place. Something else does.]
Elian stood slowly.
This zone wasn't glitched.
It wasn't broken.
It was rejected.
By the system.
And whatever lived here?
It didn't want to be watched.
Which meant it might just understand him.
And that made it dangerous.
But also… useful.