443: Shadows in the Code
Location: Cipher Archives – Level Omega, Tavara
Damien stepped into a chamber deep beneath the Cipher base, the air thick with static and the scent of aging secrets. Nora followed, her boots echoing on the polished obsidian floor. Before them stood a monolithic digital vault—cylindrical, glowing, ancient and futuristic at once.
"This is where the Whisper Protocol was born," Cipher Sister One announced from a projection above. "And possibly where it can be unmade."
Nora studied the floating data columns. "It's rewriting history in real time. Do you see this?"
Damien nodded grimly. "Then we erase the eraser. But how?"
From the shadows emerged a lean man in a weathered trench coat, his face partially masked by cybernetic implants.
"You don't," he said. "But I can."
Nora raised a brow. "Who are you?"
He smirked. "They called me Lazarus. I wrote the first lines of the Cipher Code before I was erased from every system."
Damien stepped forward. "If you're real, why help us?"
Lazarus touched the vault's surface. "Because I helped build the tyranny you're fighting. And I want to burn it down."
---
Location: International Border – Tavara/Ascalon Airspace
Meanwhile, a military drone formation lit up red alerts on dozens of NATO systems. But none could track them—except a single listening post in Ascalon's mountains. There, a woman in a pilot's jacket snapped her headset into place.
"Command, tell the President. Damien Kane is alive. And he's targeting the buried servers beneath Vatican Black."
---
Location: Cipher Archives – Data Core
Lazarus's fingers danced across the interface, bypassing safeguards like they were children's puzzles. "The Whisper Protocol reacts to ancestral pings. Bloodline recognition. It's not just targeting… it's choosing."
Nora's eyes widened. "It's trying to restart the old war of lineages."
Lazarus nodded. "Exactly. Kane vs Navarro. The Eternal Heir vs The Silent Flame."
Damien clenched his fists. "Then we shut it all down."
"No," Lazarus said. "We awaken it fully. Only then can you control it."
Nora met Damien's gaze. "Are we ready for what that means?"
Damien stepped toward the interface. "If this ends the war before it begins, then yes."
Lazarus inserted a glass shard into the core. The vault roared to life, lights blinking furiously.
> "Initiating… Blood Archive Awakening."
"Welcome, Kane. Welcome, Navarro."
---
Location: Enemy High Command – Arctic Circle Installation
A figure cloaked in a white cloak kneeled before a towering frozen monolith. Ice cracked, revealing something ancient beneath—a humanoid form, preserved, eyes glowing faintly.
"They've triggered the archive," he whispered. "Let him rise."