The Grand Hall was still buzzing long after the Herald vanished.
Students whispered in tight clusters. Teachers barked orders. The barrier teams scrambled to rebuild broken runes.
But for Stark, the noise felt distant—thin, like it was happening behind glass.
The mark on his wrist throbbed with a slow, steady heat.
Not painful.
But aware.
The Architect is listening.
The thought arrived uninvited.
Lira reached him first, worry sharpening her eyes.
"You almost answered it," she said quietly. "I saw the way you froze."
"I didn't," Stark replied.
"You almost did," Aiden said behind her. His spear rested on his back, cracked along the shaft where the Herald's chain had bitten through it. "Don't act like you're invincible. You hesitated."
Stark didn't deny it this time. "It was inside my head."
Aiden froze.
Lira inhaled sharply.
Even Vale turned.
"In your head?" Vale repeated, stepping closer. "Describe it."
Stark hesitated, then spoke.
"It wasn't a thought. It was… a sound. Like a hum. Like it wanted a word from me, and everything in the mark reached for it."
Vale's eyes narrowed. "That is worse than I expected."
Aiden crossed his arms. "So what now? Lock him in a box? Quarantine him like the Council wants?"
"We will do no such thing," Vale said sharply. "But we must move quickly. The Architect has recognized Stark's tone. That means the Chorus Fragments will become unstable. And the nodes may react to him from greater distances."
Lira's voice dropped. "So even standing near a fragment could trigger something?"
Vale nodded.
"Then we need to finish stitching the chorus as soon as possible," Stark said. "Before the Architect learns how to speak through me."
Aiden made a sound between a scoff and a sigh. "You're saying 'before' like it hasn't already started."
He wasn't wrong.
Because when Stark glanced toward the shattered dome—
for a second—
the reflection staring back at him wasn't his own.
It was the First Summoner's.
He blinked.
It was gone.
The Council's Pressure
Vale's comm-bead lit up with a harsh chime.
A stern voice spoke on the other end—
"We need Stark escorted to Quarantine Hall. Now."
Vale muted it.
"Stark isn't going anywhere."
"They think I'm a bomb," Stark said quietly.
"You're worse," Aiden muttered. "You're a detonator."
Lira elbowed him. "He's a person."
Aiden didn't respond, but the glint in his eyes softened.
Vale motioned for them to follow.
"We can't stay here. They'll send guards."
They moved through a side corridor while the hall descended into chaos, slipping past damaged runes and flickering lights. The Academy felt wrong—too still, like the walls were listening.
The Ash Phantom hovered at Stark's side, its once-faint form burning brighter.
Its voice twisted like smoke.
"The Architect touched your chain. That was no small gesture. You carry a thread of him now."
"I don't want any part of him."
"You don't choose that," the spirit replied. "But you can choose what to do with it."
The Map Fractures
Vale led them into the Containment Division's private lab—rune-sealed, silent, cool.
The chorus fragments they'd collected rested on the central platform. Usually they hummed in harmony, glowing softly.
Now they flickered violently, each note clashing with another.
A sound like grinding bones filled the air.
Stark's mark tightened painfully the moment he stepped inside.
[System Notice]
Chorus Fragment Stability: CRITICAL
Reason: Architect Interference
Danger: Risk of uncontrolled Node activation
Lira winced. "It wasn't like this earlier."
Vale frowned. "The Architect forced a partial sync with Stark. That pressure is now leaking into the fragments."
"So the fragments are reacting to him?" Aiden asked.
"No," Vale corrected. "They're reacting to his mark."
Stark stepped closer.
The fragments flared. The map projection burst to life like a wounded animal, showing jagged cuts of light—fractured pathways, broken coordinates, collapsing nodes.
The Void Cradle pulsed at the center, brighter and angrier.
Aiden cursed. "It's rewriting the map!"
Vale typed rapidly, trying to stabilize the projection.
"No. It's not rewriting. It's showing us more. Additional nodes. Hidden faults. Interference channels."
Lira stared at Stark.
"It wants you to see something."
The fragments vibrated violently—
Then the projection changed.
A new symbol appeared.
At the bottom of the map.
Deep beneath the deepest layer.
A symbol shaped like an eye with four lines.
Stark's breath vanished.
"That… wasn't there before," Vale whispered.
"What is it?" Lira asked.
Vale leaned in slowly, as though approaching a sleeping predator.
"It's a… secondary core. A failsafe. The Architect has two hearts."
Aiden's grip tightened on his spear. "How do you kill something with two hearts?"
"You don't," Vale murmured. "You contain it. Or you replace it."
Stark's mark flared—
And suddenly the projection spoke.
"Heir of the Chain… find me."
The room shook.
Lights burst.
Runes cracked.
A wave of force exploded outward—shattering the platform, sending fragments flying.
Aiden shielded Lira.
Vale slammed a defensive glyph into the ground.
Stark was thrown back against the wall.
When the light cleared—
the map was gone.
The fragments lay dormant.
The room smelled of burned ozone.
And Stark's mark…
…had changed.
A new line had appeared across it.
Lira rushed to him. "Are you hurt?"
"No," Stark whispered.
But the truth was worse.
"I think it gave me coordinates."
Vale's expression turned grave.
"Where?"
"Underground," Stark said, voice hollow. "A place called the Deep Warrens."
Aiden stiffened.
"That's… off-limits. Even the Academy doesn't go there."
"They're not ruins," Vale said. "They're tombs."
The Mind Echo
Stark stood slowly.
The room dimmed.
His vision blurred.
And suddenly—
He wasn't in the lab anymore.
He stood in a corridor of white stone.
Chains hung from the ceiling like veins.
A figure stood at the far end.
Tall.
Pale.
Eyes glowing silver-white.
Not the First Summoner.
Not the Architect.
Something in between.
The figure lifted its head.
"You are too slow."
"The Cradle opens."
"Run while you can."
Stark took a step forward.
"Who are you?"
The figure smiled sadly.
"A mistake."
The vision cracked—
shattered—
And Stark was back in the lab, trembling.
Lira grabbed his shoulders.
"Stark! What happened?"
He swallowed.
"There's… another one."
"Another what?" Aiden demanded.
Stark's voice was barely a whisper.
"Another Summoner."
Silence hit the room like a blow.
Vale's eyes widened.
"That's impossible. They're extinct."
"No," Stark said. "One survived. Or… something that was meant to be one."
Aiden muttered, "Great. As if we didn't have enough problems."
Lira's hand tightened around Stark's.
"Do you know where it is?"
"Yes."
Stark looked down at his wrist, where the new mark line pulsed like a heartbeat.
"He's in the Deep Warrens."
Mission Update
[System Notice]
New Quest: Fractured Echoes
Objective: Locate the Lost Summoner in the Deep Warrens
Danger Level: Extreme — Dominion Presence Detected
Warning: Architect will interfere