THE ARCHITECT
2079 Words
The elevator was silent.
Floor 1. 2. 3.
Enma stood alone. 30%.
_“Don’t trust her,”_ the King whispered. _“No one builds a prison and calls it a home.”_
“Shut up,” Enma said.
Floor 50. The labs. Empty.
Floor 89. The air got cold.
Floor 90.
The doors opened.
---
*FLOOR 90: THE GARDEN*
Not red. Not bone.
*Green.*
Grass. Trees. Water.
A garden 1km wide under a glass ceiling.
And in the center: *A WOMAN.*
She was sitting on a bench. Reading.
White dress. Black hair to the floor. Eyes closed.
She looked 30. But her voice was old.
“Hello, Kurogane Enma,” she said. Without looking up. “You took your time.”
Enma stepped out. 35%.
“Who are you?”
The woman closed her book. “I’m the Architect.”
She stood.
“I built the Wall. I built the Sync. I built you.”
Silence.
Enma didn’t move. “Prove it.”
The Architect smiled. “Fair.”
She snapped her fingers.
The garden changed.
Now it was F-Block.
Young Enma. 5 years old. Chained. Screaming.
And next to him: The Architect. Younger. Holding a syringe.
“I found you in the wastes,” she said. “You were dying. Demon-tainted. So I saved you.”
She injected young Enma.
“The first dose of Crimson Sync,” she said. “From my own blood.”
The scene vanished.
Enma’s blood was cold. 40%.
“You made me a monster,” Enma said.
“No,” the Architect said. “I made you a weapon. Against them.”
She pointed up. At the glass ceiling. At the red sky.
“200 years ago, the demons came,” she said. “They ate cities. Ate people. Ate the world. We had 1 year left.”
She walked to a tree and touched it. “So I made the Wall. 90 floors. 90 seals. And I made the Sync. To fight them.”
She turned to Enma. “But the Sync needed a host. One that wouldn’t break. So I made 100. You were the only one who lived.”
Enma looked at his hands. “The First King?”
“A failure,” the Architect said. “Too strong. Too early. He went mad and tried to open the Wall. So I locked him in.”
She walked to Enma. “And you. You’re the last one. The perfect one.”
*CRIMSON SYNC: 45%*
_“She’s lying,”_ the King said. _“They all lie.”_
Enma ignored it. “Why now? Why talk to me now?”
The Architect’s smile faded. “Because the Wall is dying.”
She waved her hand.
The glass ceiling became transparent.
Above: The red tear. But smaller now.
And around it: *CRACKS.* Running down the Wall.
“Every time you use the Sync, you crack it more,” the Architect said. “93%. 99%. You’re too strong. The Wall wasn’t built for you.”
Enma clenched his fists. “So what? You want me to stop?”
“No,” the Architect said. “I want you to finish it.”
She walked to the center of the garden.
There was a door there. Made of light.
“Behind this is Floor 91,” she said. “The Core. Where the Wall is powered.”
She looked at Enma. “It’s failing. In 30 days, it collapses. And the demons come through.”
Enma stared at the door. “What’s in there?”
“The heart of the Wall,” the Architect said. “And the heart of the Sync.”
She held out her hand.
A key. Made of bone.
“Take this,” she said. “Go in. Restart it. Or replace it.”
Enma didn’t take it. “What’s the catch?”
The Architect was quiet. “To restart it, someone has to stay. Forever. As the new Core.”
Enma laughed. Bitter. “You want me to sacrifice myself.”
“I want you to save them,” the Architect said. “Like you did before.”
Silence.
Enma looked at the key. Then at her.
“Why me?” Enma asked. “Why not you?”
The Architect touched her chest.
Under the dress: scars. Hundreds.
“I did,” she said. “For 200 years. I was the Core. But I’m dying. The Sync is killing me.”
She coughed. Blood on her hand.
“I need a successor,” she said. “And you’re the only one strong enough.”
*CRIMSON SYNC: 50%*
Enma didn’t take the key. “No.”
The Architect’s face fell. “Enma—”
“I’m not spending forever in a box,” Enma said. “Find another way.”
“There is no other way,” the Architect said.
“Then the Wall falls,” Enma said. “And we fight.”
The Architect stared at him. “You’d risk everyone? For your freedom?”
Enma met her eyes. “I’d risk everything. For my brother.”
The Architect sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
She snapped her fingers.
The garden vanished.
Now they were in a white room.
And in the center: *JIN.*
Chained. Unconscious.
Machines around him. Beeping.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 60%*
“What did you do to him?” Enma growled.
“Nothing,” the Architect said. “Yet. But I can. His blood is 1/4 mine. 1/4 demon. 1/2 you.”
She walked to Jin and touched his forehead.
Jin gasped and woke. Eyes red. 45%.
“Brother?” Jin said. Scared.
“Don’t touch him,” Enma said.
The Architect held up the key. “This opens the Core. Or it opens him.”
She pointed at Jin. “I can make him the Core instead. He’s younger. He’ll last longer.”
Enma moved.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 70%*
He was in front of her in 1 second.
Hand around her throat.
The Architect didn’t fight. “Good. Angry. That’s what I need.”
Enma squeezed. “Let. Him. Go.”
The Architect smiled. Even as she choked. “Or what? You’ll hit 100%? Please do. It’ll make this easier.”
Enma threw her.
She hit the wall and stood up. Not even bruised.
“Impressive,” she said. “But useless.”
She snapped again.
The chains around Jin tightened.
Jin screamed. 50%.
“Stop!” Enma yelled.
“Then take the key,” the Architect said. “Or I take him.”
Enma was shaking. 75%.
The red was crawling up.
_“KILL HER,”_ the King said. _“TAKE THE KEY. SAVE HIM.”_
Enma looked at Jin. Jin was looking at him. Shaking his head. _No._
Enma looked at the key.
He took it.
The chains dropped.
Jin collapsed.
The Architect smiled. “Good boy.”
---
*THE CORE*
The door of light opened.
Inside: *A ROOM.*
White. Infinite.
And in the center: *A HEART.*
10 meters wide. Made of red light. Beating.
And around it: chains. Going up. Into the Wall.
“This is it,” the Architect said. “The Core.”
She walked to it. “It needs Sync to live. I gave it mine for 200 years. Now it needs yours.”
She looked at Enma. “All of it. 100%. Forever.”
Enma held the key. 80%.
“Once you put it in,” she said, “you can’t leave. You’ll be the Wall.”
Enma looked at the heart.
Then at Jin, being carried in by Aoi.
Aoi had followed. “Enma. Don’t.”
Enma didn’t answer.
He walked to the heart.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 85%*
The heart pulsed. Like it recognized him.
The Architect handed him the key. “Put it in the slot.”
There was a slot. In the heart.
Enma held the key over it.
His hand shook.
Jin’s voice: “Brother... don’t...”
Enma closed his eyes.
He thought of F-Block.
He thought of the 100.
He thought of Hell.
And he thought of Rule 3.
_Don’t forget._
Enma opened his eyes.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 90%*
And he snapped the key in half.
The Architect’s face went blank. “What did you do?”
Enma dropped the pieces. “Found a third option.”
The heart pulsed. Angry.
The room started shaking.
The Architect ran to it. “You i***t! You just doomed us all!”
Enma grabbed Jin and Aoi. “Then we run.”
They ran.
---
*THE COLLAPSE*
Alarms.
The Wall was shaking.
Floor 90 was cracking.
The Architect was screaming behind them. “IT’S COLLAPSING! THE DEMONS ARE COMING!”
Enma hit the elevator. 92%.
Floor 90. 89. 88.
The Wall was falling apart around them.
Floor 50. A piece of ceiling fell. Enma caught it.
Floor 20. The lights went out.
Floor 1.
The doors opened.
Outside: chaos.
The red tear was huge now.
Chains falling.
And through it: *DEMONS.*
Hundreds. Pouring out.
The army was already fighting.
Kuroda was free, shooting.
The S-Class were fighting.
Hana. Varn. The kids.
And in the sky: *THE ARCHITECT.* Floating.
She was made of light now. Dying.
She looked at Enma. “You did this!”
Enma set Jin down. “No. You did.”
*CRIMSON SYNC: 95%*
A demon 5 meters tall landed in front of him.
Enma didn’t hesitate.
He hit it.
Once.
It exploded.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 96%*
Another.
Another.
Enma was moving. A blur of red.
Aoi was next to him. “What now!”
Enma looked at the tear. At the Architect. At the Wall.
“Now,” Enma said, “we close it.”
“How?”
Enma looked at his hands. 97%.
“The same way I did before. But bigger.”
He looked at Jin. “Jin. I need you.”
Jin stood. 40%. “What do I do?”
Enma grabbed his hand. “Give me your blood.”
Jin nodded.
Enma cut both their palms. Pressed them together.
*CRIMSON SYNC: Enma 98%. Jin 60%*
The red jumped between them.
Enma looked at the Architect. “You said the Sync needed a host.”
The Architect nodded, crying. “Yes.”
Enma smiled. “Then we’re giving it two.”
He and Jin ran.
Right into the tear.
---
*INSIDE THE TEAR*
Not Hell.
Not Earth.
*BETWEEN.*
Chains everywhere. Demons screaming.
And in the center: *THE CRACK.*
The source of the tear.
Enma and Jin stood in front of it.
Holding hands. Bleeding.
*CRIMSON SYNC: Enma 99%. Jin 70%*
The demons were coming.
Enma looked at Jin. “You ready?”
Jin nodded. Scared. “Yeah.”
“On 3,” Enma said. “We push.”
“1.”
“2.”
“3.”
They pushed.
The red exploded from them.
It hit the crack.
And the crack... closed.
The chains fell.
The demons screamed and vanished.
The light died.
Silence.
---
*AFTER.*
They were back on Earth.
The Wall was still standing.
But smaller. 70 floors now.
The tear was gone.
The Architect was on the ground. Human again. Dying.
Enma and Jin were on their knees. 20%.
Exhausted.
The Architect crawled to them. “How... how did you...”
Enma looked at her. “Two hosts. Half the burden each.”
The Architect laughed. Crying. “Smart. So smart.”
She touched Enma’s face. “You saved them.”
Enma didn’t answer.
The Architect’s eyes closed. “The Wall will hold. For now. 70 floors. It’ll last 50 years.”
She smiled. “Good job, Vessel.”
And she died.
---
*1 MONTH LATER.*
The camp was a city now.
People were coming from other F-Blocks.
The Wall was being rebuilt. Smaller.
Jin was 25%. Stable.
Enma was 15%. Barely using it.
They were sitting on the new roof.
Looking at the Wall.
70 floors. Strong.
“We did it,” Jin said.
Enma nodded. “Yeah.”
Aoi came up. “We got a signal.”
“What kind?”
“From the other side of the wastes,” Aoi said. “Another F-Block. They have someone like you.”
Enma looked at her.
Another one?
Enma stood. 18%.
“Let’s go,” Enma said.
Jin stood too. “I’m coming.”
Enma smiled. “I know.”
They walked to the gate.
Behind them: the Wall.
In front: the world.
*TO BE CONTINUED*
- Writer
