The room was dark. Not the darkness of shadows or night—the darkness of absence. Light didn't reach here. Sound didn't travel. Even time seemed to move slower, as if the space itself was waiting for something.
Prime 10 stood in the center of it, her dark grey mask gleaming faintly, her posture rigid. She had been speaking for several minutes, her voice flat, professional, clinical. The figure at the far end of the room hadn't moved.
"All Prime Architect clones are being remade," Prime 10 said. "Their strength level will be upper Prime level. Ten Superior Architects have been chosen. Their strength level will be lower Prime level." She paused. "At your request, the Family was sent a message. They have agreed to your terms."
The figure at the end of the room still didn't move.
"And Asset Zane's updates are progressing. There are flaws, but they are being addressed."
The silence stretched. Prime 10 waited.
The figure leaned forward. Her mask was white—not the grey of Superiors, not the black of Absolutes, but something older. Something that had been white for so long that the color had become more than color. It was bone. It was absence. It was the face of someone who had been making decisions for so long that she had forgotten what it felt like to hesitate.
Her voice was soft. Almost gentle. "What about you?"
Prime 10's hands tightened at her sides. "Ma'am?"
"You're the only Architect who has ever survived the Anomaly. The only one who has fought him head-on and lived." She tilted her head. "He will grow stronger. He always does. And you will need to grow with him."
Prime 10 said nothing.
Prime 1's voice dropped. "It's time for a little power up."
Prime 10 knew what that meant.
The lab. The needles. The weeks of recovery. The months of adaptation. The years of wondering if she would ever be the same again.
She would be broken. Rebuilt. Tested. Pushed past every limit she had ever known.
And then she would be stronger.
Strong enough to kill them all. Every Prime who had ever looked down on her. Every Superior who had ever doubted her. Every Architect who had ever used her as a tool and thrown her away.
She would protect Wolfen. Even if he didn't know it. Even if he would never thank her.
Even if she had to tear the whole world apart to do it.
Prime 1's head tilted. "Do you have something to say?"
Prime 10's voice was steady. "No, ma'am."
"Good."
The room went dark again. Prime 10 turned and walked out, her footsteps silent, her heart burning with something that felt like purpose