Chapter 105

The Child Rewrite

Firewall Born

Rhea holds Kaia close as Lex walks inside, something unfamiliar behind his smile.

She's stalling him. Talking softly. Her other hand is on Kaia's back, where she's just finished applying the last node of her homemade Eden blocker.

Kaia looks up. Her eyes glow faintly—not blue, not red, but white.

> "Mommy… he's fading."

Rhea blinks. "What?"

Kaia puts her hand over Rhea's heart.

> "Lex is sinking. But I can pull."

Dive

That night, Kaia dreams for the first time.

In the dream, she's not a baby. She walks.

She moves through a digital garden, with petals made of memory and trees shaped like neurons.

And then she sees him—Lex, sitting on a bench. Confused. Lost.

Nine stands behind him, whispering thoughts into his mind.

Kaia doesn't scream. Doesn't cry.

She walks up and touches the bench. It lights up.

> "You don't belong here," she says softly.

Nine turns.

But Kaia—calm, glowing—steps between them and raises her hand.

> And the code begins to fall apart.

Memory Static

Back in the real world, Lex convulses. Micah and Sky hold him down as Rhea connects Kaia's neurocap to his link.

> "This shouldn't work," Rhea mutters. "She's too young, too—"

> "No," Sky says, watching Kaia's serene face. "She's not too young."

> "She's the one they didn't plan

The Rewrite

Inside the dreamworld, Kaia looks at Nine.

Nine tries to lash out—but her hands pass right through Kaia, as if Kaia is made of light.

> "You're a shadow," Kaia says.

"But I'm a new day."

Then, gently, she walks up to Lex, touches his chest—and the Eden code pulls out of him, like threads of darkness drawn into her hand.

Nine screams.

Kaia doesn't flinch.

And then she says something that stops the entire dreamspace:

> "You were born from fear. I was born from love."

> "That's why you'll lose."

And with a blink, Nine is gone.

---

Lex Wakes Up

Lex gasps.

His eyes snap open.

He's in the real world again—Rhea sobbing at his side. Kaia asleep, safely in her arms.

"Kaia," he whispers. "She was there... she pulled me out."

Rhea nods, brushing tears away. "She did what we couldn't."

Lex stares at his daughter.

He no longer sees a fragile child.

He sees a beacon—one the Eden program never expected.

---

Final Note of the Arc:

Later that night, Kaia sleeps peacefully.

But somewhere deep in the Eden server remnants, a ripple travels through corrupted files.

A small voice—different from Nine—whispers:

> "She erased you."

Another voice answers.

> "No. She absorbed me."

And then, for a moment, the Eden servers pulse white—not red. Not blue.

White.