"This code… it’s not just encryption," Selena said, her finger hovering over the glowing, intricate patterns. "It’s a language."
Her voice, a hushed, awe-filled whisper, cut through the sterile silence of the analysis center. Henry stared at the screen, at the interwoven symbols that pulsed with an almost organic rhythm. He saw it now, too – not merely a sequence of commands, but a syntax, a grammar, a life of its own. A programming language unlike any modern construct, yet eerily familiar in its arcane complexity. Arkan, Elias had hinted. An ancient tongue. And Elias Kane, the architect of his own downfall, the man who had authored "Project Chimera – Beta Protocols" at Dione Infra, was also the key to understanding this ancient evil.
The realization settled in Henry’s gut like a cold, h
