Light.
It poured through Leon’s body like molten gold, searing through every nerve, every thought. For a heartbeat, he couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t think.
Then the world shifted.
He wasn’t standing in the ruins anymore.
He was inside… a memory.
The air shimmered with code, vast and endless. Above him stretched a silver sky, latticed with glowing lines of data that pulsed like veins. He stood in what looked like a city — but not one made of stone or steel. This was digital. Alive. Breathing. Every building hummed with energy, every surface covered in flowing code.
[Neural Link Established: Genesis Fragment.]
[Simulation Access Granted.]
Leon staggered forward. “Where the hell am I?”
The System didn’t answer — not in words. Instead, the city around him shifted, flickerin
