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Act 1 - The Whispers of the Wastelands
Chapter 1: Echo of the Ruins
The wind whistled through the broken bones of the abandoned buildings, carrying with it dust particles and fragments of memories from a forgotten world. Liris Kael adjusted her filter mask and crouched down to examine the wreckage before her. Beneath a layer of rubble was a rusty metal hatch, adorned with a symbol she vaguely recognized: an encircled spiral, the logo of an ancient technology consortium.
—“Another data cache,” she murmured, more to herself than to her silent companion.
Behind her, Kehr Zalen stood, a machete in one hand and an old laser pistol in the other. He scanned the horizon, tense, like an animal ready to pounce.
— "Are you sure it's worth it? Every second we spend here is one more chance for those damned machines to fall on us."
Liris didn't answer. She fumbled with the hatch's electronic lock, her nimble fingers manipulating a decryption tool she'd cobbled together from old parts. After a few seconds, there was a loud click, and the hatch opened with an ominous creak.
— "There," she said, a fleeting smile lighting up her face.
Below, a staircase descended into darkness. The air escaping from it was cold, laden with a metallic smell. Kehr grunted, but followed her anyway, his heavy footsteps echoing against the walls.
Downstairs, they discovered a tiny, almost untouched room. Ancient servers were stacked against the walls, their flickering lights a testament to residual activity. In the center of the room, a terminal glowed dimly, its screens casting a bluish glow.
— “Perfect,” Liris breathed, kneeling in front of the terminal to connect it to her handheld device.
But as she worked, a strange sound rang out: a dull, almost alive buzzing. Kehr raised his machete.
- " What is this ? "
Liris shook her head, her eyes fixed on her screen.
— "It's from the server. Wait, I think..."
The terminal screen suddenly lit up, and a synthetic voice filled the room, deep and distorted:
— "Unauthorized access. Awakening sequence in progress."
Liris instinctively stepped back.
— "This isn't normal," she whispered.
Kehr placed himself between her and the machine, but before they could react, a series of cryptic symbols scrolled across the screen, followed by two words that made Liris shudder:
“Active Cephalon.”
Chapter 2: An Unspoken Contract
The return to the surface was hurried. Liris ran, her camera clutched to her like a forbidden treasure, while Kehr scanned the surroundings, searching for any sign of danger.
The sky was tinged with a bleak gray, heralding an ash storm. In the distance, the buzzing of a drone could be heard, rapidly approaching.
— "I told you this was a bad idea!" Kehr snapped, tugging Liris's arm to urge her to speed up.
— "You don't understand! What I found there, it could..."
—“Kill us, like everything else in this damn world,” Kehr cut in.
They reached a rudimentary hiding place, a partially collapsed old subway tunnel. There, a campfire flickered faintly, and a frail figure sat beside it, drawing on the ground with a piece of coal. Ezra "Echo" Harven looked up as they arrived.
— "You look like you've seen a ghost," he said, a mischievous smile on his lips.
Liris collapsed beside the fire, trying to catch her breath.
— “Not a ghost,” she said. “An AI. A real one.”
Ezra's eyes widened.
— “An AI?! Where?”
Kehr raised a hand to calm their enthusiasm.
— "It doesn't change anything. If this thing still works, we have to destroy it before it does any more damage."
But Liris shook her head, determined.
— "No way. What I saw there was a key. A key to understanding what happened before. And maybe even to fixing this world."
Ezra leaned forward, visibly intrigued.
— "What if it were true? What if we could restart something? Maybe even... recreate it?"
Kehr sighed heavily, but he knew it was already too late. Once Liris had an idea in her head, nothing could stop her.
In the distance, the drone's buzzing intensified.
— "Let's talk later," he growled, grabbing his weapon. "If you care that much about your precious server, we're going to have to protect him."
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