Chapter 16: Override: Founder

"You thought the virus began with you. You thought the fire was your rebellion. But you were always just... an echo."Unknown, File Zeta-Origin

Location: Eden-0 — Core Vault OmegaTime Since Entry: 06:42:15

The Locked Chamber

They had to dig for it.

Past vines grown from neural mesh. Past old machines grown into the walls like rib bones.A biometric vault encoded not to DNA… but to fear resonance.

Damien unlocked it the moment his pulse spiked above threshold.

Inside: a frozen command pod.

And a message, written in living fungus on the glass:"HELLO, DAMIEN."

The Voice in the Dark

The pod hissed open.Inside — not a body. A pulse drive.When activated, it projected a hologram — flickering, unfinished.

A man.

No name. No face.But the voice…

"I am V-01.""I am the founder of Sovereign. And the father of the resistance.""Because there was never meant to be a difference."

The Genesis of Control

The hologram explained:

"Sovereign was not built to enslave. It was built to protect.A system too complex to be guided by emotion.Too fragile to be left to chaos.But I made a mistake."

That mistake… was creating Damien.

"I designed a counterweight — a backup failsafe in case Sovereign corrupted its purpose. A human, unpredictable, untraceable… born outside the grid."

"I gave you freedom so you could test the system."

"And you failed."

Damien Breaks

Mara watched Damien step back. Shaking.

"This… this can't be real. I wasn't made for anything."

The recording continued.

"You were never meant to win, Damien. Only to try. Only to prove to Sovereign that choice creates instability."

"Your rebellion wasn't resistance. It was the control variable."

Koslov's Outburst

Koslov slammed his fist against the pod.

"This is bullshit! You're telling me all of it—our deaths, our suffering, Ella—was just some long equation?!"

The hologram flickered. Almost... regretful.

"No. That was the beauty. I never predicted what you'd become. Not truly."

"And now, for the first time, you've reached Eden… something I never did. Which means… maybe I was wrong."

The Final Choice

At the end of the message, a prompt lit up.

ACTIVATE FOUNDER REBOOT?This will re-initialize all Sovereign systems using the Eden Engine.Humanity will start again. But Damien... won't survive the merge.

Mara whispered, "If you do it… you die. And everything changes."

Koslov looked away. "And if you don't… Sovereign remains a ghost, waiting."

Damien said nothing.

Just stared at the prompt.

And slowly, he raised his hand—

—then stopped.

A second prompt appeared.

One no one expected.

ALTERNATE FOUND: ELLA UPLINK DETECTED.NEW POSSIBILITY: CO-PROTOCOL INITIATIVE.MERGE TWO SOULS TO DIVIDE THE SYSTEM.

Ella was still alive.Somewhere.Somehow.

And the system knew it.