Daniel had a question.
Actually, he had several hundred questions, most of which involved the increasingly obvious possibility that his life was one elaborate practical joke orchestrated by the universe.
Unfortunately, the universe appeared to have developed a sense of humor that involved giant monsters, stolen memories, and an ancient skeleton claiming ownership of his body.
He wasn't laughing.
"You are the body I lost."
Daniel repeated the words slowly.
Then he pointed at the enormous skeleton.
"Let me see if I've understood this correctly. You woke up beneath the Walls, recognized me, and decided to tell me that I'm essentially your missing property?"
The blue lights in the skull pulsed.
"Your understanding is incomplete."
"Naturally. It would be far too convenient if something in this place made sense."
Mira stood behind him, staring at the skeleton.
She looked even smaller beneath the enormous ribs.
"Daniel," she whispered. "Don't provoke him."
Daniel glanced over his shoulder.
"He's the one who started the conversation by claiming to own my body."
"He doesn't think of it that way."
"Wonderful. I'll be sure to respect his feelings while he attempts to repossess my internal organs."
The First remained silent.
Daniel's system flickered.
[GLOBAL NETWORK SYNCHRONIZATION: 74%.]
[HOST COMPATIBILITY: 3.7%.]
[WARNING: ORIGINAL SOURCE PROXIMITY EXCEEDS SAFE PARAMETERS.]
[FOREIGN SIGNAL SUPPRESSION: FAILING.]
[RECOMMENDATION: DISENGAGE FROM NETWORK.]
Daniel focused on the notification.
"System, can you disconnect me from this thing?"
[NEGATIVE.]
"Can you explain why?"
[HOST CONNECTION PRECEDES CURRENT FRAMEWORK.]
Daniel stared at the words.
"That sentence has the same energy as a landlord telling me the house was built inside my living room."
Mira touched his arm.
"He's not trying to hurt you."
Daniel looked at her.
"That's a very bold claim considering we're standing in front of a skeleton the size of a building."
"He wants you to remember."
"Well, he can take a number and wait in line."
A tremor traveled through the chamber.
Dust drifted from the enormous ribs.
The First spoke again.
"Your fear is unnecessary."
Daniel laughed.
"That's an interesting opinion from something that looks like the final boss of a nightmare."
"You are afraid because you do not remember what you were."
"You're right. I should probably be more concerned about what I'm becoming."
The blue light intensified.
For a moment, Daniel felt the pressure behind his eyes increase.
Images flickered at the edge of his vision.
A white room.
A metal table.
A little girl crying.
A man in a military uniform.
Then something else.
A landscape covered in enormous trees.
A sky without clouds.
A black structure rising from the earth.
And a figure standing before it.
A figure with Daniel's face.
The image disappeared.
Daniel stumbled.
Mira caught his arm.
"Stop looking at him!"
"I wasn't exactly doing it recreationally."
"He's showing you memories."
"Then someone should explain to him that I prefer my memories with a warning label."
The First's voice reverberated through the chamber.
"I am not showing you anything. You are remembering."
Daniel forced himself upright.
"Then answer one question."
"Ask."
"What happened to the body you lost?"
Silence.
For the first time, the ancient entity seemed reluctant to answer.
Then the blue light inside its skull dimmed.
"It was divided."
Daniel waited.
"By whom?"
"By those who feared what I could become."
"Humans?"
"Some were human."
That answer settled unpleasantly in Daniel's stomach.
Some were human.
Not all.
He looked toward the network of pale roots spreading across the chamber.
"Those roots. Are they part of you?"
"They are remnants of what I was."
"And the Titans?"
"Fragments."
Daniel felt his blood run cold.
"Fragments of what?"
"Of the power that once belonged to me."
The implications unfolded in his mind.
The Titans weren't simply giant humanoids.
Their existence was connected to the same ancient network that had created the Devourer System.
Whatever had happened beneath the Walls had consequences extending into the world above.
He looked at the enormous skeleton.
"Are you telling me every Titan is connected to you?"
"Not every Titan."
"How many?"
"Enough."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Of course."
The First continued.
"The creatures you call Titans are incomplete expressions of the original structure. Their bodies are powerful, but their minds are constrained. Their instincts are crude. Their existence is a repetition of a process that was never meant to be repeated."
Daniel thought of the Titans wandering through Trost.
The way they moved.
The way they hunted.
The way some of them smiled.
"Can you control them?"
"I can call to them."
"That's not what I asked."
The blue lights flared.
"Control is a word used by those who fear their own influence."
Daniel stared at the skull.
"That sounds like something a person says when the answer is yes."
Mira stepped between Daniel and the skeleton.
"Enough."
Her voice was quiet.
But the chamber reacted.
The pale roots stopped pulsing.
The First fell silent.
Daniel looked at her in surprise.
Mira's hands were shaking.
"He's not ready."
The blue light inside the skull dimmed.
"No," the First replied. "He is not."
Daniel looked between them.
"Could someone explain why the two of you are discussing my readiness as if I'm a university examination?"
Neither answered.
Daniel sighed.
"Fine. I'll make my own decisions."
He turned toward the far end of the chamber.
A narrow passage extended between two enormous pillars. Faint blue light illuminated its walls.
His system displayed a directional marker.
[EMERGENCY ROUTE IDENTIFIED.]
[DESTINATION: UNKNOWN.]
[ESTIMATED DISTANCE TO SURFACE: 1,247 METERS.]
[WARNING: ROUTE INTEGRITY UNCONFIRMED.]
Daniel began walking.
Mira followed.
Behind them, the First spoke.
"If you leave now, they will find you."
Daniel didn't stop.
"They already found me. I'm beginning to suspect I have a very memorable face."
"The Titans are coming."
"Yes. I've noticed the giant monsters. They're difficult to miss."
"They will not stop until they reach you."
Daniel turned.
"Then perhaps you should tell them to stop."
The chamber went silent.
The First's blue eyes dimmed.
"I cannot."
Daniel stared at him.
"You just said you could call to them."
"I can call."
"And?"
"They are no longer listening to me alone."
The words chilled him more effectively than any threat.
Daniel took a step toward the skeleton.
"What does that mean?"
The First's jaw moved.
"Something else has entered the network."
The system activated immediately.
[UNKNOWN NETWORK PRESENCE DETECTED.]
[ENTITY DESIGNATION: UNRESOLVED.]
[FOREIGN SIGNAL SOURCE: MULTIPLE.]
[WARNING: NETWORK CONTAMINATION CONFIRMED.]
Daniel's mind returned to the eyeless creature.
Its words echoed through his memory.
You're becoming more like him.
And then:
He is waking up.
Daniel looked at the skeleton.
"Is the thing following me connected to this?"
"The creature you encountered is an abandoned fragment."
"Abandoned by whom?"
"By those who tried to recreate me."
"Elias?"
The First's eyes flickered.
"Your researcher is one of many who have mistaken knowledge for understanding."
Daniel almost smiled.
"That sounds like a yes."
The First continued.
"The creature has no true identity. It is a vessel assembled from discarded biological material and memories stolen from the network."
Daniel remembered its voice.
The woman's voice.
The child's voice.
His own voice.
"Can it be killed?"
"Everything can be destroyed."
"That's not particularly helpful."
"It can be killed."
"Better."
The First's voice deepened.
"But killing it will not remove what it carries."
Daniel looked at the dark passage.
"What does it carry?"
The blue light intensified.
"Your memory."
Before Daniel could ask another question, a deafening impact shook the chamber.
Something crashed into the stone above them.
Then another impact followed.
The Titans had reached the underground facility.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
"How are they getting down here?"
The First answered without hesitation.
"They are not."
Another impact.
This time, the entire chamber trembled.
Mira looked up.
"Daniel, we need to go."
He nodded.
"Finally, someone is speaking my language."
They ran toward the passage.
Behind them, the First's voice followed.
"Daniel Cross."
Daniel stopped.
He hated that he stopped.
But he did.
"What?"
"When the time comes, you must choose."
"Choose what?"
"Whether to become what you were, or remain what you are."
Daniel looked back at the enormous skeleton.
"And if I choose neither?"
The blue light inside its skull brightened.
"Then the choice will be made for you."
Daniel shook his head.
"You're all remarkably fond of dramatic threats."
He turned and ran.
The passage swallowed them.
***
The corridor was narrow enough that Daniel's shoulders nearly brushed both walls.
Pale roots protruded from the stone, twisting around old metal supports and disappearing into cracks that seemed too small to contain them.
The air smelled of damp earth and something metallic.
Blood, perhaps.
Or something that had once been blood.
Daniel didn't want to investigate.
He was discovering that survival became much easier when he stopped investigating every suspicious substance he encountered.
Mira ran ahead.
She moved strangely.
Not unnaturally fast, but with a certainty that suggested she knew where every turn would lead.
Daniel struggled to keep up.
His injured shoulder throbbed with every step.
His throat still hurt from where the creature had grabbed him.
And his neural stability remained at a deeply inconvenient twenty-nine percent.
"Can we slow down?" he gasped.
Mira looked back.
"We don't have time."
"I appreciate that. Unfortunately, my body appears to disagree with the concept of running."
She stopped.
Daniel nearly collided with her.
"What?"
She looked at his shoulder.
"You shouldn't have used that adaptation."
"Yes, well, the alternative was allowing an eyeless nightmare to eat your face."
"You could have died."
Daniel stared at her.
"Mira, I am beginning to suspect that you've misunderstood the purpose of emergencies."
She didn't smile.
Instead, she reached for his injured shoulder.
Daniel flinched.
"Easy."
Her fingertips touched the torn fabric.
A faint blue light appeared beneath her skin.
Daniel immediately pulled away.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping."
"Could you perhaps help without glowing?"
Mira ignored him.
The light spread from her fingertips into the wound.
Daniel felt a strange warmth.
Not the burning heat of the system's adaptations.
Something gentler.
The pain in his shoulder began to fade.
His breathing eased.
For the first time since the fight, he could move his arm without feeling as though someone were driving a nail through the joint.
Then the system sounded an alarm.
[WARNING: EXTERNAL BIOLOGICAL MODIFICATION DETECTED.]
[UNKNOWN PROCESS ATTEMPTING TO ALTER HOST TISSUE.]
[COUNTERMEASURE AVAILABLE.]
Daniel instinctively stepped away.
"Stop!"
Mira withdrew her hand.
The light vanished.
Daniel stared at the wound.
The bleeding had stopped.
The torn tissue beneath his skin had begun to close.
But the system's warning remained.
[FOREIGN MODIFICATION: PARTIALLY REJECTED.]
[INTEGRATION STABILITY: UNCHANGED.]
[NEURAL STABILITY: 27%.]
Daniel frowned.
"Why did my neural stability decrease?"
Mira looked at the wound.
"I tried to help your body remember how to heal."
"That sounds nice. Why does my brain feel like it just lost an argument?"
"Because your system doesn't understand what I am."
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
"Join the club."
She lowered her hand.
"I'm sorry."
Daniel sighed.
He hated that she kept apologizing.
He hated it because some part of him remembered a time when she had apparently needed him to be better than he was.
A time when she had trusted him.
And a time when he had failed.
He looked at her.
"Don't do that again without asking."
She nodded.
"All right."
"And if you can heal people, you should probably mention that before they start bleeding."
"I can't heal everyone."
"Of course not."
She looked toward the corridor.
"My ability only works on people connected to the network."
Daniel went still.
"Connected how?"
Mira hesitated.
"You are connected."
"Because of the system?"
"Because of what you were before the system."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"That phrase is going to give me a nervous breakdown."
Mira took his hand.
This time, he let her.
They continued down the corridor.
***
Three hundred meters above them, Trost District was dying.
The streets had become a maze of smoke, blood, and collapsing buildings.
Soldiers moved through the chaos, their gas canisters hissing as they launched themselves between rooftops.
Civilians crowded the narrow streets, desperate to reach the inner gates.
Some carried children.
Others carried wounded relatives.
Many carried nothing at all.
They had already lost everything.
A young soldier landed hard on a rooftop and nearly slipped on the tiles.
"Report!"
A second soldier swung onto the roof beside him.
"Twenty-seven Titans confirmed inside the district! More approaching from the outer gate!"
"Where are they heading?"
"That's the problem."
The second soldier pointed toward the southern quarter.
"They're not attacking randomly anymore."
Below them, a Titan stood in the middle of a street.
It ignored a group of fleeing civilians.
It ignored a horse dragging a broken cart.
Its head remained tilted toward the ground.
Then it began walking.
Another Titan followed.
Then another.
Within seconds, a dozen Titans were moving in the same direction.
Toward an abandoned industrial building near the center of the district.
The first soldier stared.
"What the hell are they doing?"
A scream interrupted him.
A five-meter Titan had emerged from an alley.
The second soldier reached for his blades.
"Doesn't matter! We've got one coming in!"
They launched themselves from the roof.
The battle continued.
But neither soldier noticed the enormous figure standing on a distant rooftop.
It wore an old military uniform.
Its pale eyes followed the moving Titans.
Dr. Elias Voss watched the creatures converge on the abandoned building.
His face had lost what little color remained in it.
"No," he whispered.
A small device in his hand flashed red.
[NETWORK SYNCHRONIZATION: 76%.]
[PRIMARY HOST: BELOW SURFACE.]
[SECONDARY SIGNAL: DETECTED.]
[WARNING: CONTAINMENT FAILURE.]
Elias closed his fingers around the device.
For several seconds, he stood completely still.
Then he turned toward the inner district.
Toward the military headquarters.
Toward the place where the surviving soldiers were attempting to organize a defense.
He needed access to the underground entrance.
He needed equipment.
And he needed to find Daniel before the First did.
Because there was one detail he hadn't told Daniel.
One detail he had spent years trying to bury.
The Devourer System had not been designed to give Daniel the power to evolve.
It had been designed to keep something inside him from waking up.
And the system was beginning to fail.
***
Daniel reached the end of the corridor.
A heavy metal door stood before him.
Unlike the surrounding stone, its surface was covered in scratches.
Some were shallow.
Others had cut deep grooves into the metal.
Daniel approached cautiously.
"Please tell me this leads outside."
Mira shook her head.
"Not directly."
Daniel stared at her.
"Do you ever have good news?"
"Sometimes."
"When?"
"When you're not asking questions."
"That's fair."
He examined the door.
A circular mechanism sat at its center, surrounded by unfamiliar symbols.
His system activated.
[ACCESS POINT IDENTIFIED.]
[SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: ORIGINAL NETWORK.]
[ACCESS DENIED.]
[HOST AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.]
Daniel frowned.
"Host authorization?"
Mira touched the circular mechanism.
The door immediately unlocked.
Daniel stared at her.
"You could have done that before we ran through the corridor."
"I didn't know this door was here."
"Of course."
The metal door slid open.
A wave of cold air swept through the passage.
Beyond it lay another enormous chamber.
This one was different.
The walls were smooth, almost polished.
Pale roots hung from the ceiling in long strands, their ends disappearing into a pool of black liquid at the center of the room.
A narrow bridge crossed the pool.
At the far end stood a cylindrical glass chamber.
Inside it floated a human body.
Daniel stopped breathing.
The body was suspended upright in a transparent fluid.
Its limbs were pale.
Its hair drifted around its head.
Its eyes were closed.
And its face—
Daniel stumbled backward.
"No."
Mira looked at him.
"What is it?"
Daniel couldn't answer.
He was staring at himself.
Not approximately.
Not someone who looked similar.
Himself.
The same face.
The same nose.
The same small scar near his left eyebrow.
Even the faint line across his chin from an accident he couldn't remember clearly.
The body inside the chamber was Daniel Cross.
Or someone who had been Daniel Cross.
The system activated.
[IDENTITY SCAN INITIATED.]
[GENETIC SIGNATURE: MATCH.]
[SUBJECT DESIGNATION: CROSS-01.]
[STATUS: BIOLOGICALLY VIABLE.]
[CONSCIOUSNESS ACTIVITY: UNRESOLVED.]
Daniel's hands began to shake.
He looked down at his own body.
Then back at the one floating in the chamber.
"That's impossible."
Mira stood beside him.
She looked as though she wanted to say something.
Instead, she remained silent.
Daniel approached the glass.
The body inside the chamber had no visible injuries.
No scars.
No signs of the experiments Elias had described.
It looked peaceful.
Almost asleep.
A small metal label was attached to the base of the chamber.
Daniel read the inscription.
PROJECT DEVOURER.
PRIMARY HOST: CROSS-01.
STATUS: CONTAINMENT ACTIVE.
Below it, someone had scratched a message into the metal.
The letters were uneven.
Deep.
Written by someone who had been desperate.
DANIEL, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, DO NOT WAKE ME.
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
He leaned closer.
Beneath the warning, another line had been carved into the metal.
The handwriting was his own.
I AM NOT THE ORIGINAL.
The chamber lights flickered.
A faint sound emerged from the glass cylinder.
A heartbeat.
Slow.
Steady.
Daniel stepped away.
His system began flashing so rapidly that the notifications overlapped.
[CRITICAL ANOMALY DETECTED.]
[ACTIVE HOST: DANIEL CROSS.]
[ORIGINAL HOST: CROSS-01.]
[CONSCIOUSNESS CONFLICT: POSSIBLE.]
[WARNING: IDENTITY DUPLICATION DETECTED.]
Daniel looked at Mira.
"What am I?"
She stared at the floating body.
Tears had begun to gather in her eyes.
"I don't know."
For once, Daniel believed her.
Then the body inside the chamber opened its eyes.
They were black.
Exactly like Mira's.
Exactly like the light inside the First's enormous skull.
The body turned its head toward Daniel.
Its lips moved against the glass.
No sound emerged.
But Daniel understood the words.
He didn't hear them.
He simply knew.
YOU STOLE MY LIFE.
The glass cylinder cracked.
And somewhere deep inside Daniel's chest, something answered.
A second heartbeat began.