Rotham stared at the blinking prompt.
REINTEGRATE – MERGE IDENTITY STRUCTURE?Y/N
He looked back at Selin's flickering projection. "If I do this… who will I become?"
She stepped closer, her image glitching faintly.
"You'll still be you, Rotham. But you'll remember. All of it. Everyone who was lost. Everyone who gave themselves to keep the Core from breaking. You won't just be one mind anymore. You'll be a continuum."
Directive-7's voice was low, cautionary.
"You were not designed for full integration. There is risk. Collapse of identity. Loss of self."
But Rotham already knew: this wasn't about surviving — it was about understanding. About restoring what was broken. He had walked in as a man seeking truth. Now, he stood as its final vessel.
He placed his hand on the console.
"Execute Reintegrate."
The room lit up.
The Core pulsed violently — not in anger, but in release. Streams of light burst from the spiral, converging on Rotham's body, threading through his mind like strands of thought reconnecting.
He collapsed to his knees.
Memories flooded in.
— A technician on Adra-9 during its golden age.— A security officer who died defending the breach.— A child watching her mother vanish in the light.— Selin's final moments, whispering his name.
Each life merged into him, not erasing Rotham, but anchoring him.
His eyes opened, glowing faintly now — touched by the Code.
He stood slowly, no longer just one voice, but many in harmony.
Directive-7 took a step back.
"You… survived."
Rotham looked at the spiral — now dim, dormant.
"No. We returned."
The Core was no longer leaking.
But something deeper had awakened.
And the echoes had a voice again.