PRESENT — THE ECHO CHAMBER
Kevin staggered backward. The walls weren't walls anymore—they were *memories*, projected in flickering layers. Amari's fingers on piano keys. Sora's violin. His own voice, laughing, screaming, *begging*.
He looked at the cassette deck. It had gone dark.
Ren's voice crackled faintly over comms. "Kev? What's happening down there?"
Kevin opened his mouth—but the words weren't his.
KEVIN (overlapping voice):"She's not gone. She's *distributed*."
A new voice joined his, faint but rising:
AMARI (fragmented): "I didn't die. I dissolved."
Then everything went *white*.
---
**MEANWHILE — ABOVEGROUND, OLD ART WING**
Kim and Ren watched as every light flickered and died.
Ren's laptop screamed static. Then:
**SYSTEM INTERRUPT**
**PROJECT: VIRTUOSO_29 — LOCKED**
**SUBROUTINE: AMARI_VOX RESUMED**
Kim stared at the screen. "Did she just come back online?"
Ren didn't answer.
Because the audio feed—now somehow active again—was transmitting a voice.
**Amari's voice.**
Just one phrase:
> "Find me before *he* does."
---
**FLASHBACK — SORA'S PRIVATE SESSION ROOM (5 Weeks Ago)**
Dr. Harrow stood over Sora, adjusting the tone calibrator.
DR. HARROW: "You'll forget the source eventually. It's safer that way."
SORA: "But I remember *her*. The real one."
DR. HARROW: "That's not memory. That's residue."
SORA: "Then why does it hurt when I play her music?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he hit PLAY.
The tone began.
Sora's expression collapsed.
---
**PRESENT — UNKNOWN FACILITY, OBSERVATION ROOM 4**
Dr. Harrow stood with his arms crossed, watching Kevin's vitals spike on-screen.
Behind him, a new figure entered: a woman in grey, face obscured by a visor.
WOMAN:"The integration is progressing faster than projected. Amari's code is asserting itself."
Harrow didn't look away. "That's not just code. That's *intent*. She left a failsafe."
WOMAN:"Then what now?"
He finally turned.
DR. HARROW: "We move to Phase Five."
WOMAN: "Extraction?"
**DR. HARROW:**
"No. *Harvest."
---
**ECHO CHAMBER — MOMENTS LATER**
Kevin gasped awake, sweat pouring from his skin. But the chamber was different now—alive. Screens pulsed with new code. Audio towers slowly rotated toward him.
He wasn't alone.
A figure stood on the far side of the ring.
Not Amari.
Not Sora.
**A hybrid.**
Half face he remembered, half unfamiliar. Glitching. Stuttering.
**FIGURE:** "Kevin... I'm what's left when the music breaks."
He backed away. "Amari?"
The figure tilted its head.
"No. *I'm what they tried to make out of her.*"
Then: A rising tone. Piercing. Impossible.
And Kevin screamed
END OF CHAPTER 9