The world felt... different.
Elior stood outside the Vault. Air thicker. Time slower.
His glyph no longer flickered. It pulsed—deep blue, rhythmic, alive.
He could hear the city.
Not in words.
In thoughts.
Contact: The Resistance
Mira waited near the edge of the crypt-levels. A figure approached, wrapped in static-camouflage. No face visible—only a cracked emblem on the shoulder: a shattered eye.
"Codename Mira C. Vale confirmed," the figure said. "I speak for the Resistance."
Mira raised a brow.
"Took you long enough."
"We don't usually welcome former handlers."
Mira didn't flinch.
"I'm not one of them anymore."
"Then prove it."
The emissary handed her a small black cube.
"Upload this into Veiled's outer net.
It'll trigger a false-echo reset. Wipe 72 hours of memory citywide."
"Why?"
"So we can hit the Spire.
When they're blind."
Elior's Decision
Inside the Vault, Haleth paced.
"You're different. You're… stable. But not you anymore."
Elior looked at his hands. Every nerve hummed with glyph-energy.
"I can feel people.
Their hopes. Their lies."
He turned to the control node.
"You said I could rewrite personal memory nets?"
"Yes. Limited range. But with the city's Core Key... you could go global."
Elior stepped forward.
"What if I erased fear?"
"You'd create chaos. Maybe freedom. Maybe a cult."
"What if I gave them back the memories Veiled stole?"
Haleth hesitated.
"You'd break the illusion they want to live in."
Mira's Dilemma
Mira returned, cube in hand.
Elior stared at it.
"Memory bomb?"
"72 hours. Clean slate. Just enough for the Resistance to breach Level Zero."
"And after?"
"We take back the Spire. We end this."
"Or we replace one illusion with another."
Mira stepped closer.
"You've changed."
"I've evolved."
"So who are you now?"
Elior's eyes flared.
"I'm what Veiled feared most.
Someone they couldn't rewrite."
The Test
Elior took the cube.
Held it above the Vault's beacon port.
"If this works… everyone forgets the last three days.
Including the deaths. The betrayals."
"Including what we learned," Mira added.
"And what I became."
A long pause.
Then—
He activated it.
Reset
Across the city, lights dimmed.
Conduits flickered. Sky-banners collapsed into white noise.
People paused mid-step.
Conversations ended mid-word.
Eyes glazed over.
Time folded in on itself.
And then—
The world snapped back.
Order restored.
…but something felt wrong.
Elior looked at Mira.
She looked confused.
"Where... are we?"
He frowned.
"You don't remember?"
She shook her head slowly.
"Remember what?"
He took a step back.
Mira's glyph was gone.
Just gone.
"What have I done…"