Chapter 66: Power in Delusions

Even in shadow, they felt exposed.

Fenrir's arms were still wrapped around her, his presence quiet but unmistakably alert. Within the hush of their room, the blackout and Shadow Mask offered privacy no Virex surveillance could touch—but the weight of what they were becoming gave no real rest.

Elira shifted slightly to face him, her tone quiet. "How far do you think we can go? Inside the system."

Fenrir was silent for a breath, then replied, "We're ahead of Dray. That much I'm sure of. I felt it when he tried to override my motor control during the fight with Vranos. It lagged. He was slow."

Elira nodded. "I felt something similar when he tried to summon me yesterday. It was like my presence was being… rerouted."

"But the scientist," Fenrir added, voice low, "he's still beyond us. That thing we saw—the dragon-shaped servitor—there's no way that's his real body."

"No," Elira agreed. "It was too convenient. Too exposed. I think it's a direct extension—something he controls personally. Like a marionette. But the mind behind it… that's still hidden. Somewhere deeper."

They both let the thought hang, the invisible presence of the scientist a weight neither could name nor measure.

After a pause, Elira turned, propping herself up slightly. "I want to tell you how I connected to the Purpose Core."

Fenrir met her eyes, listening intently.

"It wasn't like Pattern," she said. "There was no response. It felt… old. Dormant. I couldn't push commands into it, so I tried something else."

She touched her chest lightly.

"I convinced myself I wasn't synthetic. That I wasn't made—I was born. That I was a true elf. That I belonged in the forest, wild and kind and cruel and infinite."

Fenrir raised an eyebrow, almost amused, but said nothing.

"It was stupid," Elira said with a small laugh. "But something shifted. Something… clicked. The core stirred. Barely, but enough to notice."

Fenrir reached up and brushed a thumb gently over her cheek. "That doesn't sound stupid. That sounds like truth."

A comfortable silence followed, but Elira's mind moved forward, threading toward what came next.

"What about Brakka?" she asked. "He's changed."

Fenrir frowned. "More precise. Quieter."

"I think he's already awakened. Without the Control Core. Maybe not completely, but he's far beyond Vranos."

"Vranos is…" Fenrir shook his head. "Unstable."

"He's still locked in his loop," Elira murmured. "Memory without control. Past without direction. And tomorrow, we'll see just how much of him is left."

A long silence followed. Then Fenrir said, "Do we intervene?"

Elira looked up at the ceiling, lips tightening.

"No," she said finally. "Not yet. Let the day tell us what it wants."

(End of Volume I : Echoes and Shadows)