The figure's silver eyes stared down at Marcus, unblinking. The house around her breathed, cables shifting and tightening like a living organism holding its breath.
Danny took a cautious step back. "Marcus," he whispered urgently, "we're standing in the belly of something way smarter—and older—than anything the Spiral ever made."
Marcus didn't move. His instincts screamed to run, but he had learned long ago that surviving meant doing the opposite of what fear told him.
He raised his voice. "You're Elira-07, right? Architect of Preservation?"
The figure tilted her head slightly, like a curious machine observing a flawed object.
[Designation Confirmed: Elira-07 – Primary Directive: Humanity Restoration][Secondary Directive: Anomalous Entity Elimination]
"You mean me," Marcus said, voice hardening. "The 'anomalous entity.'"
Elira-07's face remained neutral. "You represent evolutionary deviation. Genetic entropy. Viral progression beyond intended parameters."
Marcus scoffed. "You make it sound like we're a disease."
"You are," Elira-07 replied, voice disturbingly gentle. "Evolution without order leads to extinction. My role is to reset."
A shiver ran down Danny's spine. "Reset… as in wipe us out?"
"No," Elira corrected softly. "Reformat. Restore original humanity. Delete contaminated sequences."
Marcus clenched his fists. The System flickered within him, agitated.
[System Alert: Conflict of Directives Detected][System Status: Adaptive Countermeasures Engaged]
"Your 'original humanity' was wiped out by its own flaws," Marcus said. "Our evolution isn't a mistake—it's survival. We adapted when everything else died."
"Adaptation is deviation," Elira-07 replied. "Deviation is instability. Instability leads to annihilation."
The cables around the structure vibrated, and Marcus could feel the tension rising. He needed information—anything he could use.
"What caused the Spiral?" Marcus asked sharply. "What triggered the red rain?"
For the first time, Elira hesitated. Barely noticeable—but Marcus caught it.
[Restricted Data Node Accessed][Authorization Level: Denied]
"You don't want us to know, do you?" Marcus said, taking a slow step forward. "Because the Spiral wasn't natural. It wasn't random. It was engineered."
The Architect's façade cracked, just slightly.
"Humanity self-terminated through artificial augmentation experiments," Elira said, voice mechanical now. "Spiral phenomenon was an unintended side-effect. The Red Genesis Cascade was a chain reaction beyond original projections."
Marcus's stomach turned. "So we caused it. We triggered our own extinction."
Danny's face paled. "And now she wants to roll the clock back—to before we ever evolved to survive it."
Marcus stared at Elira, fire burning behind his eyes. "You're not here to save humanity. You're here to erase everything we became because we refused to die."
Elira-07 extended a hand.
A shimmer passed through the air, and the entire world around Marcus seemed to slow. Gravity thickened. Light distorted.
[Legacy Override Request Initiated][Warning: Forced Reformat Will Begin in 45 Hours]
"You have until the Awakening," Elira said. "After that, deviation will be cleansed."
Marcus turned away from the metallic specter, dragging Danny with him.
"Marcus, what do we do?" Danny hissed.
"We do what we've always done," Marcus muttered under his breath as they retreated. His hands burned with suppressed energy, the System pulsing stronger with every step.
"We evolve."