The terrain changed.
Not by distance,
but by purpose.
The ground beneath Kael's feet cracked in rhythmic patterns—like impact scars spiraling from a single forgotten blast.
The bottle at his side glowed brighter with each step.
No longer passive.
Now leading.
Symbols scrolled faintly across its surface.
Most meant nothing.
One pulsed in steady cadence:
COREFALL.
Kael followed.
The sky above dimmed, though no clouds moved.
The light here seemed thinner.
Less convinced of its right to shine.
He crested a ridge.
Below—
A crater.
Vast.
Blackened.
At its center:
A structure half-sunken in scorched glass.
Spines of metal bent outward like a dead machine's ribs.
Kael descended.
The wind whispered as he entered.
No doors.
Just a wound in the stone.
Inside: silence.
And memory.
It hung in the air.
Buzzed behind his teeth.
As if something had once spoken here,
and the echo never left.
The bottle pulsed again.
A light beam projected upward from its core.
It scanned the chamber.
Once.
Twice.
Stopped.
A panel at the far end lit up.
Kael approached.
The panel flickered, then stabilized.
A shape appeared.
Human—barely.
Faceless.
Draped in cloak and cables.
Voice digitized.
Clipped.
"Node integrity… compromised."
"Subject: unauthorized deviation."
"Engaging reset cascade."
Kael stepped back.
"What are you?"
The shape tilted its head.
No eyes.
But Kael felt it watching.
"Reclamation Protocol active."
"Memory threads outside parameter range."
"Source must be cleared."
The bottle's light surged.
A field shimmered around Kael.
Thin.
Fragile.
But standing.
The faceless figure stepped forward.
Each motion left afterimages.
Not speed.
Glitch.
"You are not the first."
"You are not aligned."
"Return or be rewritten."
Kael raised a hand.
The lines along his arm flared to life.
Emerald.
Amber.
Unstable.
"I'm not yours to fix."
The Reclaimer didn't pause.
It lifted a hand.
Code unfurled like a net of light.
Kael braced.
The bottle fired a pulse—
sharp as thunder.
The attack shattered mid-air.
Fragments of code rained down.
Kael stumbled.
The Reclaimer stood unmoved.
But flickered once.
Then again.
"Resistance noted."
"Rewriting… delayed."
It turned.
Walked into the wall.
And vanished.
Kael dropped to one knee.
His breath came in shards.
The bottle dimmed.
The projection ended.
But on the floor, where the Reclaimer had stood—
a symbol remained.
Burned into the stone.
A spiral.
Intersected by a fracture.
The mark of a Witness.
Broken.
Kael stared at it.
Then at his hands.
At the bottle.
"I'm not your error," he said quietly.
The bottle pulsed.
Once.
Then—
"Nor your copy."