It had been twenty-three days since the Spiral reset.
The skies no longer bled. The monsters had either evolved into sentient beings or crumbled into ash. Cities were rebuilding—slowly, uncertainly. The survivors called it the New Rise.
Marcus stood atop the rebuilt Core Spire, staring down at the living grid beneath his feet. The world responded to him now, but he felt no triumph—just the weight of something larger pressing behind his eyes.
[System Status: Stabilized][Architectal Control: 92%][Unscanned Zones: 17% – Activity Detected]
The system was quiet. But it wasn't silent.
That was the problem.
Danny approached, arms full of maps and newly-drawn node charts. His eyes were brighter these days—healed from the Spiral's torment, brimming with curiosity again.
"They're calling them Echo Zones now," he said, unrolling one map. "Places that didn't reset. Stuck in pre-Override logic. No architecture. No evolution."
Marcus frowned. "Like bugs in the code."
"Or…" Danny hesitated. "Or fragments of someone else's system."
[Incoming Signal: Foreign Architect Signature Detected – Decryption in Progress][Name: Architect Elira-07][Status: Incomplete Integration][Warning: Legacy Protocol Awakening]
Marcus's breath caught.
"Elena?"
Danny shook his head. "No. Different frequency. Different design. Older. Way older."
Marcus turned toward the north, where the signal pulsed faintly in the distance—somewhere deep beyond the Ridge Sector, in a wasteland untouched by evolution.
"What the hell is a Legacy Protocol?" he asked.
The system replied with a line that chilled his blood.
[Legacy Protocol: A Preservation Construct Deployed Before Extinction Events. Purpose: Reboot Original Humanity]
Danny whispered, "So… not our version of humanity."
"No," Marcus said. "The one before all this. Before the Spiral. Before red rain. Before us."
The tower trembled beneath them.
[Legacy Architect Awakening in 48 Hours][Prepare for Protocol Conflict: Evolution vs Restoration]
Marcus stepped away from the edge, his heart pounding.
He had saved a broken world.
Now he would have to defend the right of its survivors to exist.