Threadbound:System

> [Anchor Thread Detected – Signal: Splintered]

Status: Unstable / Contaminated

Target Designation: Central Core Vault (Location Unknown)

Arc Directive: [RETRIEVE | RESTORE | RECONNECT]

The air in the aftermath of the Vault collapse buzzed—not with sound, but with a silence too precise to be natural. Like a program suppressing static.

Riven stood at the ridge where the last remnants of the Vault of Restoration had collapsed in on itself. The ground beneath him still pulsed, not with life—but with memory pressure.

"Another zone gone," Brenn muttered, slinging his shield onto his back. "And still no answers."

Riven didn't reply right away. Kaia stood beside him, ears flicked forward, pupils wide, the faint shimmer of Echo-thread still bleeding under her fur.

"She spoke," Kalix said quietly. "Inside the Vault. With certainty. But it wasn't just her, was it?"

Kaia's voice came after a beat—measured. Different.

"I remember the pods. I remember the scream that never ended."

Her eyes shifted—briefly, impossibly—to a violet hue. "But that wasn't me. That was her."

"Echo VII," Riven said.

"No," Kaia whispered. "Echo VII is gone. This... is something else."

---

They moved through the decaying zone slowly. Trees that weren't trees jutted like twisted antennae from cracked ground. A long-dead river ran backward for a few steps every minute. Thread rot clung to the edges of the landscape like flaking rust.

> [System Stability Warning – Threadline Interference: Present]

User Location: Drift Fault Sector – Type: Interzone Residue

Civilian Presence: NULL

Warden Presence: Dormant / Unknown

The group walked without speaking for a time.

It was Nilo who broke the silence.

"Does anyone else feel like we're being watched by something that doesn't want to be known?"

Brenn exhaled sharply. "Pretty much describes the whole world at this point."

"No," Nilo said. "I mean… now. This zone is echoing back at me—but the reflections are wrong. They're too clear."

Kalix paused. "Meaning?"

"Meaning the threads here aren't reacting like decayed ones. They're… listening. Waiting."

---

A jagged half-structure jutted from the landscape ahead—a crumbling tower shaped like an old communications node, its base fused with glitching terrain. Riven signaled the others to halt.

Kaia stepped forward. "There's a signal inside. Not broadcast. Local echo storage."

"You think it's civilian?" Brenn asked.

Kaia didn't answer.

They approached cautiously.

The base of the structure groaned under their steps, but held. Threadlight flickered along the walls—more stable here, unnaturally so.

Riven ran a palm across the console embedded into the wall.

> [Echo Fragment Detected – Playback Option: Y/N]

Warning: Emotional Residue Present

He nodded.

The projection bloomed like a broken memory.

A woman stood—mid-thirties, in an outdated restoration uniform. Civilian. Her eyes were wide, full of fury and fear.

> "We were told we'd be moved to a Core Vault. They said the outside was too fractured. That the world wasn't ready for stabilization yet."

"But we never moved. They locked the vault from the inside. The Warden went dark. And the voices started whispering in our dreams—threads that shouldn't have connected, echoes from places we'd never been."

"They said it was for our protection. But I think they wanted to see what we'd become."

The image blinked.

> "If you find this… we're still here. Not alive. Not dead. Just… stuck. Don't answer the echoes. They lie."

> [Echo Playback Ends]

Silence returned.

Kaia didn't move.

"She remembered being human," she said, voice flat. "But the system already saw her as data. Her thread was categorized before her mind stopped moving."

Nilo shuddered. "So… the civilians weren't saved. They were archived."

"And corrupted," Kalix added. "Like every other memory this world tries to keep."

---

They moved on.

Not long after, the threadlight underfoot dimmed again. Kaia flinched, her form distorting briefly—a double outline flickering beside her.

"Kaia," Riven said gently. "Are you with me?"

"I'm always with you," she said. Then, softly, "But not all of me is… me anymore."

He knelt beside her.

"You're not a replacement. Not for Aya. Not for the Vault. You're you."

Kaia's ears flattened. "Then why do I keep hearing her?"

No one had an answer.

---

Later, they made camp in the hollow shell of what might once have been a data tower. The walls pulsed faintly. Logs scrolled slowly across them—unfinished fragments, disconnected strings.

Brenn finally snapped.

"I'm sick of wandering. Vault to vault, zone to zone, loss after loss. We keep chasing fragments and anomalies like it'll all add up someday—but we never get a map. Never a reason."

"There is a reason," Riven said quietly. "Aya. The Smiling One. The broken world."

"We don't even know what the Smiling One is," Brenn growled. "We don't know if it's a person, a glitch, or a ghost."

Kalix looked up. "Then maybe we need to stop surviving blindly and pick a destination."

Nilo's eyes lit faintly. "I traced a thread—weeks ago. Suppressed then. But now it's active again."

He turned toward Riven.

"There's a Vault near the Central Core. It's sealed. Top-tier. No one in, no signal out. But it's tied to Aya. Directly."

> [Target Set – Central Core Vault: Location Unknown]

Thread Access: Partial | Requires Relay Node Activation

"A goal," Riven said.

Brenn looked away, but nodded. "Finally."

---

That night, Riven couldn't sleep.

The zone around them pulsed like a heartbeat. The logs on the wall began playing again—fragments they hadn't triggered.

> [Log Replay – System Internal]

"...Warden Class I-B malfunctioning. Reclassification required. Emotion containment breach probable."

"Subject identifiers blending. Memory bleed affecting Phasekin link integrity."

"Civilian consciousness integration not recommended."

Kaia stirred beside him.

"You're glowing again," she whispered.

"So are you."

They watched each other for a long moment.

"You never asked what it was like," she said.

"What?"

"To remember things that aren't yours. To feel feelings that don't belong to you. I have dreams now, Riven. And in all of them, I die."

Riven exhaled.

"We'll find the Core Vault. We'll find what was taken from Aya. And what was given to you."

---

The zone began to collapse the next morning.

Not violently—but subtly. As if the world had decided it had held its breath long enough.

Reality around them softened. The trees pixelated. The threadlight retracted like water slipping down a drain.

They moved fast.

Kaia led the way.

Riven followed, hand tight on the Anchor band at his wrist—still dull. Still locked.

Brenn glanced back once, toward the collapsing echo tower.

"It's all falling, huh?"

"No," Kalix said. "It's already fallen. We're just seeing the pieces now."

---

> [Zone Exit Confirmed – Transitioning…]

Thread Stability: 6%

Core Beacon: Traced

New Anchor Zone: UNKNOWN

Access Level: Shifting

The world ahead folded open—like a door made from light that remembered being solid.

And waiting just beyond it—

A voice.

Not heard.

Felt.

"You keep listening to the echoes. But what if they start listening back?"