The world was still again.
Kael sat in the ruins of the terminal room, surrounded by the shattered pieces of the mechanical beast he had somehow destroyed. The glow from the Memory Core was fading, its warmth settling deep in his chest. His hand — now fully marked by thin, glowing lines — trembled slightly.
Not from fear.
But from realization.
"I killed it… That thing was unstoppable. But I—no… this Core—"
He didn't get to finish the thought.
The holographic woman reappeared beside him, kneeling calmly as if the chaos had never happened. Her voice remained eerily emotionless.
"The Warden-Class entities were deployed to suppress Core activation. You are now a target."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Target? For what?"
"Elimination. The Architect has detected you."
His blood ran cold at that name. He had heard it before — whispered like a myth in ruined bunkers and scavenger camps. The Architect was the god-machine said to control the skies. But those were just old tales. Fairy stories for desperate survivors.
Weren't they?
The AI spoke again.
"You must move. The longer you remain in the open, the higher the risk. Other Wardens are coming."
Kael stood up, slowly. "Where am I supposed to go?"
She raised a hand, projecting a glowing map of the broken city — and far beyond it.
"There is a hidden Guardian Vault in Sector Delta-Seven. If you reach it, you will learn the truth… and what you must become."
Kael clenched his fists.
He didn't understand all of it. But he understood one thing:
He had awakened something. And now the world — or whatever ruled over it — wanted him dead.
"I'm done running."
He stepped out of the terminal room, into the frostbitten streets. Snow and ash blew across the empty road. Somewhere above the black sky, something watched.
The hunt had begun.
Meanwhile…
Miles away, within a steel cathedral buried beneath a frozen sea, a figure knelt before a massive screen.
The screen showed Kael's image, frozen mid-battle. The boy's glowing hand. The light.
The figure stood.
"So… the last Dawnbearer lives."
He turned — revealing silver armor, half-burnt skin, and eyes that glowed like dying suns.
"I will bring you to the Architect. Alive… or broken."
His name was Sol. And he was Kael's future.
End of Chapter 3