The Archive split apart.
A thunderous crack echoed across the endless cemetery as the ground beneath the monuments fractured from horizon to horizon.
Millions of memorials shook violently.
Ancient structures toppled.
Crystal towers shattered.
Fragments of lost realities scattered through the air like glowing rain.
Sarya struggled to keep her footing.
The entire Archive was coming apart.
Not collapsing.
Opening.
Something buried beneath it was rising.
And judging by the Architect's reaction, it was something she had spent an unimaginably long time trying to keep hidden.
"No..."
The word escaped her again.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
Regret.
The kind of regret that survived centuries.
The kind that never truly healed.
The First Failure stood unmoving.
Darkness spiraled around him.
The giant eye behind him expanded further.
Its gaze remained fixed on the widening chasm.
"You buried it too deep."
The Architect's jaw tightened.
