Chapter 224: The Fracture in the SignalQuito.The shard had stopped glowing by morning, but Elena felt it pulsing faintly beneath her skin whenever she moved. The connection hadn’t vanished—it had sunk deeper, like a heartbeat she couldn’t quiet.Ines leaned against the counter, watching her with w
Sophia shook her head. “It doesn’t want to absorb. It wants to understand.”Raven’s jaw clenched. “How do you know that?”Sophia looked toward the mirror, the blue-gold light flickering across her reflection. “Because I can feel it, too.”---The resonance deepened. Elise adjusted the regulators, tr
Chapter 223: The Whisper in the CodeLa Paz.The lab felt different in the morning. The mirror no longer radiated danger but something subtler—an ambient awareness, like the room itself was listening. Elise sat in front of the main console, scrolling through logs that defied standard interpretation.
She gasped. “They’re testing it.”Ines, who had been dozing in a chair, stirred. “What?”Elena stood abruptly, holding the shard. “They’re reaching out again. The Pulse is responding.”Ines rubbed her eyes. “And how would you know that?”Elena’s expression softened. “Because I can feel it.”She clos
Chapter 222: The Threshold ExperimentLa Paz.The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the lab glowed faintly from the rows of monitors still streaming residual data. Sophia stood before the mirror again, this time not as a scientist staring into the unknown, but as someone who had crossed its edge and come ba
Chapter 221: Fractured ReflectionsLa Paz.The lab felt hollow now. Alarms had long since fallen silent, leaving only the faint hum of electronics that didn’t quite belong. Sophia sat slumped in the control chair, her fingers tracing the pattern of burns left by the neural lattice across her temples