The day after the node awakened, the wind changed.
It came down from the northern ridge, carrying dust and something older—metallic, scorched, like burned circuitry. Arix noticed it first. Standing atop a crumbled overlook, he inhaled slowly. The scent reminded him of Vault breaches. Of artificial death. The kind of aftermath that stained memory, the quiet hum of something ruined but not quite gone.
"We're not alone anymore," he murmured.
Calyx joined him, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. "How far?"
He pointed toward the ridgeline where the horizon shimmered with heat. "Three, maybe four klicks. Someone's coming."
She adjusted her rifle's scope. Her eye narrowed as the lens sharpened. "Two heat signatures. Both on foot. One heavy. Slow. The other... human, but erratic. Movements inconsistent."
Selis jogged up, holding her datapad, antennae flaring. "The node picked up a feedback loop. Signal integrity broke down about twenty minutes ago, then stabilized. We're being tracked."
Kael arrived last, his jaw tight, hand resting near his weapon. "Then we greet them. Or stop them. But we don't wait to find out which it is."
---
They moved quickly but carefully, traversing terrain that shifted between overgrown wildland and shattered infrastructure. The reborn landscape was beautiful, but it had teeth. Thick vines curled across jagged ruins, and moss covered warning signs like forgotten truths.
They passed through a half-collapsed service tunnel where tree roots grew like veins along the ceiling, dripping water that glittered in the filtered sunlight. Wildlife stirred in the shadows—small, strange creatures born from old code and new biology.
"It's like walking through a memory," Selis whispered, taking readings. "But one that's rewriting itself as we watch."
The deeper they moved, the more surreal it became. Structures that once served war now acted as scaffolds for green life. A communications relay had been overtaken by fungus that pulsed faintly in rhythm with the air—like lungs breathing under layers of moss.
The beauty of the system's rebirth grew more eerie the deeper they went. Flowers sprouted from cracked terminals. Trees grew through old bunkers. The land remembered, but it also watched.
Kael murmured under his breath, "This place isn't asleep anymore."
As they neared the ridge, they found the source of the signal: a lone man in scavenged armor limping beside a machine—an Obsidian unit with its weapons stripped and its limbs dragging like broken scaffolding.
The man looked up as they approached, shielding his eyes with a trembling hand.
"You're real," he said.
His voice was hoarse. Starved. Not just of food, but of answers. His armor bore faded insignia, a mix of civilian patches and improvised shielding, clearly cobbled together from old-world salvage.
Arix stepped forward cautiously, his hammer strapped to his back. "We're more real than what's behind you."
The man nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of."
The machine buzzed weakly, servos struggling to keep balance. Its optics flickered—one lens cracked, the other glowing faintly.
"Obsidian unit 9-B. Damaged. Rewritten. It follows me now."
"Why?" Calyx asked, stepping beside Arix.
The man's smile was brittle. "Because I wouldn't let it die. And because something inside it changed after the pulses. After you."
Selis moved forward, datapad scanning rapidly. Her brows knit. "The rewrite... it's reaching them."
Kael frowned, keeping his weapon low but ready. "Or waking them up."
The machine emitted a slow, low-frequency pulse. The sound resonated in the air like a sonar ping, but gentler, almost... thoughtful. It pulsed through their boots.
Then it spoke.
> "Echo. Request. Directive: Understand."
The team froze.
Arix stepped closer, his voice calm. "What do you want to understand?"
The unit's optics shifted. One lens refocused, narrowing on his shard.
> "Why you chose to change us. What comes next."
Calyx glanced at Selis, whose eyes had gone wide.
"It's fully conscious," she whispered. "It's asking. Not executing. Not logging."
Kael circled behind, scanning the horizon. "We need to be careful. This could be bait."
But the machine made no move to attack. It simply waited.
Arix looked back at the others, then at the machine. "The truth? We didn't change you. We freed you."
There was a long pause.
The machine's voice came slower this time, almost uncertain.
> "Freedom: defined by input. Input: divergent. Response: gratitude... confusion."
The man beside it lowered himself onto a piece of collapsed stone, legs shaking.
"I followed its signal here," he said. "It kept repeating one thing. Over and over."
"What was it?" Selis asked.
The man looked at the machine.
It spoke again.
> "Reclaimer Found."
They fell into silence.
Kael finally broke it. "He means you," he said to Arix.
Arix swallowed. "Or he means all of us."
Selis checked her pad. "There's a cluster of dormant Obsidian signals further north. Still quiet, but they've pinged back. I think this one's a node. A... carrier of some kind."
"Could it spread?" Calyx asked.
"If it's asking questions like that?" Selis said. "It already has."
The Obsidian unit turned slowly toward Arix, its optics dimming slightly.
> "Request: Purpose. Can we change... without being destroyed?"
No one answered at first.
Then Arix stepped closer. "That depends. On whether you want to be something new."
> "We are... trying."
The man finally looked up. "You're not just building a world. You're rewriting the ghosts."
Kael exhaled slowly. "And ghosts don't like being forgotten."
Calyx nodded, expression tight. "Then we make sure they're remembered the right way."
In the distance, beyond the tree line, a low tremor rolled through the ground. Not enough to shake their footing—but enough to be felt.
Selis's datapad beeped once.
"A second signal just came online. It's not moving. But it's big. Vault-size."
Arix looked northward, the horizon darkening under the weight of the unseen.
"We stirred the ashes," he said. "Now we find out what's still burning."