"Before I remembered your name, I remembered your pain."
They didn't stop running until the echoes of the Shadebot faded behind collapsing steel. Somewhere above, the metro lines had caved, buying them time—but not safety.
They tumbled into a dim chamber—a forgotten terminal room, its walls etched with emotional graffiti left behind by rebels long gone. "Feel, even if they forbid it." It glowed in fading red ink.
Eris leaned against the wall, her breathing uneven. Kairo stood still, dazed—his mind unraveling like broken code.
"You said you knew me," she said finally, "but how?"
He turned to her, voice hollow but sure. "There was a tower… a data transfer gone wrong. You were there. You tried to stop it."
Her eyes narrowed. "That was years ago. I was only a child—just learning to hack signals."
"I saw you scream when they burned it down," he whispered. "You were the last voice I heard before I died."
Silence thickened. Her mask of calm cracked.
"I thought… I imagined that," Eris said, softer now. "I've had dreams. Dreams of a boy who protected the core with his life."
"That wasn't a dream," Kairo said. "That was me."
Suddenly, one of the broken terminals lit up—flickering with a blue flame. It wasn't electricity. It was an emotion trace—a rare phenomenon, left behind by people who felt too strongly in forbidden places.
Kairo stepped toward it. It glowed brighter.
And then… a hologram appeared.
A teenage Kairo, battered and bloodied, staring into a camera.
> "This is Protocol Heart-09. If you're seeing this… then I failed. But that means someone still has a chance. Find Eris. She's the key. She always was."
The image blinked, distorted, then vanished into darkness.
Eris covered her mouth. "You recorded that?"
"I don't remember doing it… but I guess the old me did."
"Why me? Why did he—why did you—think I was the key?"
"I don't know yet," Kairo said, stepping closer. "But maybe it's because when the world went numb, you were the only one who still felt."
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
For the first time, she didn't have an answer.
---
Author's Thought:
💫 Kairo's past is more than just codes—it's connected deeply to Eris's pain, too. What's their history? Why is she the key? Drop your theories, legends.
— AuthorZayden