The Harmonization Hall brightened slowly with the arrival of morning. Soft daylight filtered through the root-veins in the walls, mixing with the pulse of the resonance stones in deep, steady rhythms. The air felt warm, but not in temperature—warm in the way biolight always was: alive, breathing, threaded with the quiet hum of Seliath itself.
Aeri's glow brightened slightly as she stretched her hands, waking from a few hours of drowsy half-rest with her back propped against the cradle. She had not truly slept. She refused to leave him alone.
He lay where she left him—quiet, strangely peaceful, his optic shuttered. The faint rise of vented breath through damaged plating reassured her.
Alive.
Still here.
Still listening.
Her glow softened into a gentle blue. She lifted a hand, letting her light hover near his cheek plating—not touching, just close enough for him to feel.
"Silin… morning light, I'm here," she whispered.
He stirred.
His optic flickered weakly, adjusting to the ambient glow.
Aeri exhaled in relief. "Hey… you made it through the night."
He blinked, slow and heavy.
She leaned closer, warmth threading through her glow. "Do you feel better?"
He did not answer with words, but his optic brightened. A soft, faint hum rose from his chest-node—subtle, weak, but clearer than last night.
Aeri smiled. "That's good."
Selora approached quietly from the rear of the hall. Her gold-blue glow held calm and mild concern.
"How is he this morning?"
Aeri answered softly, "Stable. I think. He still listens to everything."
"As does the forest." Selora touched a root-line near the floor. "The corruption tremor remains distant. But something about it is… watching."
Aeri's glow snapped slightly violet. "Can it reach us here?"
"Not yet." Selora knelt beside the cradle, lowering her palms. "But its resonance disturbs him. I suspect his core is sensitive to patterns we do not hear."
Aeri looked down at his optic. "He keeps reacting to things I can't feel."
Selora hummed. "A hybrid organism with mechanical memory structures would likely detect patterns outside Veshari range."
Aeri frowned. "Is that dangerous?"
"For us? Possibly. For him… certainly."
Aeri tightened her glow protectively.
He blinked again, slower now—his optic stabilizing.
"Let us begin morning harmonization," Selora said.
Aeri sat up straighter, aligning her glow beside the moss cradle. The hall responded instantly. Pulse by pulse, the roots lit with soft white-blue resonance.
The hybrid's logs flickered.
CO2L // PASSIVE SCAN
Resonance Input: Stable
Matrix Activity: Rising slightly
Core Heat: Low
Status: Recovering
He blinked again—more alert.
Aeri noticed. "You're waking up more."
He moved his hand a fraction—barely a twitch of fingers—but toward her glow.
Aeri felt her breath catch. "It's okay. I'm here."
He let his hand fall again, but his optic stayed focused on her glow.
Selora watched silently. Her expression softened. "His stabilization relies heavily on you. We knew this last night, but this morning confirms it."
"It's just my glow," Aeri whispered shyly.
"No." Selora's glow pulsed a deep, measured gold. "It's your intent. Resonance responds to what is felt, not only what is shown."
Aeri blushed, glow warming.
They began the harmonization cycle.
Aeri steadied her glow into calm blue.
Selora layered a low harmonic hum beneath it.
Seven lay still, absorbing the resonance.
Then—
A glitch.
A short, sharp flicker of white static surged across the plating of his chest-node.
Aeri jolted. "Elder—?"
Selora leaned in immediately. "He's receiving internal feedback. Something in his core is misaligned."
A thin crack of light pulsed across his plating—faint, like a reflection. But Aeri leaned closer and gasped.
Symbols.
Fading in and out.
Projecting like a broken memory-pulse:
CEC-7 // INTERNAL IDENTIFICATION SIGNAL
But she didn't understand any of that.
All she saw, glowing faintly in flickering fragments, was this:
… C E C – 7 …
… 7 …
… – 7 …
… 7 …
Aeri's breath froze.
Her glow flared gold.
Selora exhaled sharply. "A designation signal?"
The hybrid twitched, optic flickering violently.
Aeri reacted instantly—her glow sweeping into a calming blue-gold arc.
"Sha! Steady, steady, I'm here—just rest—"
He stabilized, optic dimming back to steady brightness.
The symbols flickered again—brighter this time.
… CEC-7 …
… 7 …
… 7 …
7
Aeri whispered, voice cracking:
"…Seven?"
The moment she said it—Seven's optic brightened.
He blinked once.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Aeri's glow burst warm.
"That's… your name?"
He blinked again—once more, the same slow pattern as before.
He didn't know what the word meant.
But he reacted to her tone.
Selora almost whispered, "Aeri, you must be careful—names are interpretations, not truths."
Aeri didn't care.
She leaned closer, glow trembling with warmth.
"Seven," she whispered again, softer. "Is that okay? Can I call you that?"
He blinked once.
Aeri pressed her hand to her chest, glow spiraling gold.
"Then Seven it is."
He blinked again—faint, weak, but unmistakably responsive.
Selora watched quietly. Her glow softened into contemplative blue-gold. "A designation… interpreted into a name. This may help stabilize his identity patterns."
Aeri couldn't stop smiling. "Seven… Seven…"
He dimmed his optic halfway, not in confusion—
But in comfort.
He saved the sound of her voice.
Saved the warmth of her glow.
Saved the moment.
Another tremor rolled beneath the roots.
Stronger.
Aeri stiffened. Selora's glow darkened.
Seven's sensor logs spiked.
CO2L // PASSIVE SCAN
External Vibration: Increased
Pattern: Silence-drift + corruption undertone
Interpretation: Unknown
Warning: Proximity Shift
Seven's optic snapped open.
He wasn't in pain.
He wasn't afraid.
He was listening again.
Aeri's glow snapped violet. "Seven…? Seven, what's wrong?"
He didn't look at her.
He looked at the wall—straight through the roots.
As if something was out there.
Waiting.
Selora moved to the wall, pressing her palm to the root-line.
Her glow shuddered.
"That pulse… it's stronger. Not fully corruption. Not fully silence. Something mixed."
Aeri whispered, "Is it coming for us?"
"No. Not yet."
Selora lowered her hand. Her glow dimmed.
"But it is… aware."
Seven twitched—an involuntary static pulse rippling through his frame.
Aeri's glow flashed gold in panic.
"No—Seven—stay with me. Don't listen to it—please…"
He turned his optic toward her. Slowly.
Not from understanding—only because her glow was the brightest anchor in his failing perception.
A fractured vibration rattled in his throat-node:
"…s-…v…n…"
Not a word.
Not intention.
Only broken static shaped accidentally by a damaged vocalizer.
Aeri froze, her glow stuttering as her breath caught.
She gently placed a hand near his cheek plating, her glow softening.
He blinked once—slow, unfocused, uncomprehending.
But he leaned minutely toward the warmth of her light, his frame easing by instinct alone.
He saved that glow pattern—not the meaning, only the warmth.
Another tremor.
Then silence.
Selora exhaled heavily. "We are not safe yet. But the forest holds the boundary."
Aeri didn't look away from Seven.
"I won't let anything touch him."
Seven's optic softened, recognizing her tone.
He breathed out a soft static-sigh.
His fingers twitched—weak, slow—but in her direction.
Aeri leaned closer, glow touching the air around his cheek plating.
"Rest, Seven," she whispered. "Please rest."
His optic dimmed.
The hall's harmonics deepened.
Morning warmth wrapped the cradle.
He slipped into low-power mode—
not from collapse,
but from calm.
Aeri exhaled trembling, eyes soft.
"He trusts me…"
Selora whispered, almost to herself:
"He does. And that is why we must protect him—before whatever is whispering in the silence finds a way through."
Aeri held his hand without touching.
Seven steadied.
The roots beneath the hall hummed with quiet warning.
And the silence outside waited.