The Second Architect
The chilling revelation from Elias’s data drive hung in the corrupted air of the desecrated cavern, a final, poisoned legacy from the fallen architect. Lyra, still reeling from the torrent of information, clutched the metallic drive in her hand as if it were a burning coal. The discovery of a Second Architect and a new, more lethal phase of the Cerberus plague was a gut punch, a terrible confirmation that their hard-won victory was not a true end, but a precarious beginning.
"A successor? He… he knew he might fail?" Derek’s voice was a low growl of disbelief, his face a mask of shock and renewed fury. "And he just passed on his evil to someone else?"
"Not just someone else," Lyra said, her eyes wide with the horror of the details she had just absorbed. "Elias was al
