Reboot Protocols

The Relic Purity Sect had repurposed an old metro exchange center as their base. From the outside, it looked abandoned—cracked walls, sunken gates, a collapsed antenna dish. Inside, it was anything but.

Through Kael's binoculars, he counted at least twenty robed figures—each wearing glowing circuits woven into their garments like holy runes.

Nyra muttered, "Is it still a cult if they've got better tech than the government?"

BITS hovered just behind her. "Absolutely. Especially if they chant things like 'Cleanse the code' and 'Upload your faith.'"

Eirin handed Kael a relic chip, her fingers lingering a moment too long. "Once you reach the core terminal, plug this in. It'll wipe the Reboot Protocol permanently."

Kael turned it over in his hand. "And if it doesn't?"

"Then it'll upload your entire memory stream into the corrupted cloud archive," BITS chirped. "Forever."

Kael raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't asking you."

They entered at night.

Through a service tunnel Nyra remembered from… somewhere. Maybe a past mission. Maybe a childhood memory twisted by the Echo Project. Either way, she led them with sure steps.

Kael followed, his Starkey dimmed, every movement silent.

"Let me guess," he whispered. "Plan is: sneak in, upload chip, don't die?"

"Exactly," Nyra said. "And if things go wrong?"

"We wing it with sarcasm and explosives?"

BITS chimed in. "My specialty."

They reached the heart of the facility—a dome-shaped relic server hall pulsing with distorted light. Holograms flickered between ancient advertisements and corrupted prayer scripts.

At the center stood a massive crystalline terminal, its surface black and gleaming.

"The main core," Eirin said over comms. "It's reading you already. Be careful."

Kael stepped forward, holding the chip.

The moment he got close, the room changed.

The lights dimmed.

The terminal pulsed.

And then a voice spoke.

"Welcome home, Subject Zero."

Kael froze.

Nyra's eyes snapped to him. "Subject what?"

He didn't answer.

Because the voice wasn't coming from speakers.

It was inside his head.

"Do you remember us?" it whispered. "We remember you."

Kael fell to one knee.

His vision warped.

He saw fire again.

He saw the clone.

He saw himself, older—standing in the center of a data storm.

The First Memory.

BITS floated in alarm. "Kael's neural echo is spiking—shut it down!"

Nyra rushed to the terminal, but the moment she touched it, a shockwave sent her flying.

"Do not interrupt the reboot," the server intoned. "The Subject must complete the cycle."

Kael screamed—

And then went completely still.

Inside his mind, he was somewhere else.

Standing in a mirrored corridor, staring at infinite versions of himself.

Each one carried different scars.

Different lives.

Different choices.

One version stepped forward—his eyes dark, his voice hollow.

"You think you're the original?"

Kael whispered, "What… are you?"

"I'm the one who finished the mission."

Kael raised his hand, calling the Echo Core's power—but it flickered.

This was a memory prison.

He was trapped.

Until—

A knife struck the wall beside him, and Nyra stepped through the mirror.

"Well," she said. "That was dramatic. You gonna stay trapped in your own head or come help me hack the cult?"

Kael blinked. "How—"

"Relic interference opened a weak point," BITS's voice said from above. "Also, she stabbed the server. With a screwdriver. Four times."

Nyra reached out.

Kael took her hand.

Together, they surged out of the illusion.

The real world came back in a crash of static and alarm sirens.

The server wailed, glitching. "Protocol failed. Subjects unsynchronized."

Kael slammed the chip into the port.

The entire facility pulsed—then went dark.

Silence.

Then:

"Upload terminated."

"Reboot cycle: dead."

"Subjects: unknown."

"Threat: recalculating."

BITS floated in from the hallway. "That went well."

Nyra panted. "Define 'well.'"

"We survived, nobody's memory got turned into a wallpaper screensaver, and Kael didn't accidentally become the villain. Today."

As they made their way out, Kael looked over at her.

"You saved me."

Nyra smirked. "Well, you're kind of annoying, but I'm used to you now."

Kael chuckled—then winced.

"Still got that voice in your head?" she asked.

He nodded. "But quieter now. Like it's watching. Waiting."

She handed him a knife.

"Next time it talks, stab it."

Back at the surface, Eirin met them with a tight nod. "You did it."

Kael held up the cracked relic chip. "Barely."

She took it, pocketed it carefully. "One Reboot Protocol down. Two more to go."

Kael groaned. "Of course there's more."

BITS beeped. "On the bright side, I think I converted one of the cultists. She gave me her number."

Kael stared. "You don't have a phone."

"Yet."

Far away, in a void of corrupted memory, the First Memory opened his eyes again.

"Subject Zero has deviated."

"Reinforcement required."

"Send in the next prototype."

💬 Author's Note — Kazuki Rei

That's one Reboot Protocol down — and about twenty more questions raised.

Kael saw himself, got mentally punched by a ghost server, and BITS almost got a girlfriend.

Next:

👉 Chapter 22 – Next Prototype Attacks

👉 Or Flashback Arc: Who Was Subject Zero Really?

Pick your poison. Or both. You know I'm chaotic.

— Kazuki Rei

Let me know which way you want Chapter 22 to go — New Enemy, Kael's Secret Past, or combine both in a storm of fire and trauma!