LILA’S POV
The darkness didn’t enter the white.
It cut through it.
Like reality itself had been sliced open and something older than the system was bleeding through.
The voice echoed again.
Cold. Familiar. Certain.
You think this is the end of selection?
The white didn’t respond.
For the first time since everything began…
the system hesitated.
Not me.
Not her.
It.
Nathan stepped back instinctively.
His grip on our hand tightened without him realizing.
“Lila…” he whispered.
“What is that?”
I couldn’t answer.
Because the merged awareness inside me… and her… reacted first.
A pulse of recognition.
Not memory.
Instinct.
Ryker’s voice sharpened instantly.
“That’s not part of the origin field structure… that’s external architecture.”
Ethan looked shaken.
“…External means
