The pedestal's light had faded.
But the words it revealed lingered in Elian's mind like a scar burned into thought.
Author Seed – Status: Dormant
What did it mean?
He'd seen trait descriptions, system logs, even raw code fragments… but this wasn't just another path or power. It sounded like a root command. Something older.
Something meant to create.
He moved deeper into the archive-chamber, where the walls bent unnaturally, slanting inward like a throat closing. Threads here didn't flicker — they ached, strained, warped under weight he couldn't see.
His Threadsense began to blur again. Lucid held, but barely.
Then he saw it.
A figure.
Crouched in the center of the next room, motionless. Wrapped in decayed robes. The air around it was still — not quiet, but paused, like time refused to move.
Not a corpse.
An echo.
Elian crept closer.
The figure twitched.
Then lifted its head.
Its face was covered by a cracked porcelain mask — nearly identical to the Echo Mask Elian wore on his belt.
Except this one was fractured down the middle.
And weeping black threadlight.
[Entity Detected: Memory Shell – Type: Variable Residue]
[Status: Cognitive Decay Imminent]
[Note: This anomaly retains fragmented Author Code.]
The shell stared at him.
Then it spoke — but not aloud.
Its voice appeared directly in his system feed.
'You're late.
I tried. I failed. I forgot.
Don't forget.'
Elian took a slow step forward. "What did you try to write?"
The shell twitched again. Its mask crumbled slightly.
The system bends. But bends back.
I wrote a rule. It erased me.
I am a warning.
Its hands lifted — slowly, like the act pained it. In its fingers, it held a single shard of glowing code, etched with spirals.
It extended it.
Take it.
Remember what I lost.
Elian hesitated.
Then took it.
[You have acquired: Author Shard – Fragment I]
[Effect: Unlocked pathline: Author Seed – 1%]
[Caution: Integrating unauthorized structure will draw high-level attention.]
The shell sighed — a soundless exhale.
And crumbled to ash.
Elian stood alone again.
But not unchanged.
Now, he held something different.
Something that didn't just resist the system.
Something that once tried to rewrite it.
And next time?
He wouldn't forget.