Ian crouched on the edge of the crumbling data-bridge, sparks of broken code dancing beneath his boots. The Core's rhythm had become volatile — like a live heart in cardiac arrest. Every system alert was screaming at him to retreat. He paid them no heed.
"Elaine's inside," he muttered. "If she's fighting that thing alone…"
He glanced at his wristband — a cracked interface still flickering with her last signal. A dim heartbeat icon blinking faintly. Alive… but fading.
Ian gritted his teeth. "Then I'm not waiting."
He yanked out the failsafe chip — the only thing holding his consciousness tethered to the real world — and drove his sword into the bridge's glowing spine. The system howled. Light consumed him, drawing his body into the collapsing data stream.
"IAN, DON'T—" the comm disintegrated into static.
And then silence.
The Core rippled. Reality itself bent inward, like the digital and physical worlds were trying to come together again.
When Ian's eyes opened, he was standing in a city that shouldn't be — part machine, part nightmare. Above him, the sky flickered between stars and code. Somewhere ahead, he could feel Elaine's fear.
And something older, beneath even that, something ancient smiled.
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Ian landed hard on the ground.
Metallic floor moaned beneath his steps — the floor was pulsing, like muscle covered by tendons. The Core wasn't only data anymore; it breathed.
He looked around.
Masses of corrupted code hovered over him like a city of broken teeth, continuously transforming between solid cobblestone and ghostly translucence. A flurry of characters floated over the horizon — sequences of decoded tongue along a string blowing into the wind.
"So, this is the Core…" he said softly. "It feels like we're walking through a graveyard full of ghosts that learned to think."
He took a step, and the world reacted. The ground reformed beneath his feet like the system was watching him, learning from him and adapting to his movements.
Then came the voices.
"Unauthorized entity detected."
"Identity fragment… sibling link confirmed."
"Assimilate in progress."
His temples ached painfully. The same thread that connected him and Elaine flared wildly, beating in time with her heart – racing, scared.
"Elaine?" he gasped. "Can you hear me?"
For a moment, nothing.
Then… her whisper:
"Ian… you should not have come."
Her voice did not sound entirely human.
He looked up — and there she was, or what looked like her. Elaine stood on the other side of the Lightbridge, her eyes burning with the same blue flare as the Core's pulse. But her shadow lagged a second behind her like it was someone else's.
"'You are not her,'" Ian whispered, his voice warming with resolve as he tightened his grip on the sword."
"Maybe not," the echo answered, smiling faintly. "But she's in me now… and if you want to rescue her, you'll need to get through me."
The Core shook once more — code condensing into molten light. Ian raised his blade. "Then let's begin."