SYSTEM: System Loading…SYSTEM: System Failure Imminent…SYSTEM: System Reboot — Architect Override: Lizma…
Lizma sat in the very center of the room, furiously swiping with both hands across the shimmering interface. The small chamber, once a palace to them, now felt suffocating with all five of them huddled so close.
Behind her, someone cleared their throat, but she didn't pause.
"I tried patching our Cradle," a male voice said, weary. "No luck. They've taken too much this time. I can't restabilize it..."
The walls seemed to shudder as if the world itself were bracing for collapse. They all held their breath.
Then the tremor passed. Lizma wiped sweat from her brow and resumed her frantic dance over the console.
"Fools," she muttered under her breath. "Stealing pieces of living code…"
In the corner, a soft whimper rose, then the hushed lullaby of her best friend. Caedra had always been the only one who'd cared for the arts, and now her quiet song seemed to be the only thing keeping the room from unraveling. Lizma knew Tyrix would be beside her soon enough, silent and unmovable as stone.
"Lizma," Kaelith's voice came closer. He slid across the floor until he was kneeling beside her. "There's no use, not anymore… Even if the system restarts, the damage we've suffered—"
"Is irreversible." Lizma's fingers faltered. She shook her head. "This is the day."
A gasp rippled through the room.
Caedra's lullaby cracked. "There has to be something we can do!"
"There's nothing left to save," Kaelith said softly. "We all knew this day would come."
"But we need more time!" Caedra clutched the tiny girl in her arms tighter, rocking her gently. "She's not old enough—"
"I told you and Tyrix the risks when you had her," Lizma said, voice harsh but her eyes soft. "We all knew it was the end days."
Caedra's shoulders shook. She cradled her daughter close, her voice cracking as she rocked back and forth. "So today is the last?"
"Yes," Kaelith whispered. He reached to brush Caedra's hair back. "Today we'll rejoin the code. This is our last day."
Silence settled over the circle — Lizma, Caedra, Tyrix, and Kaelith: the strategist, the dreamer, the protector, the genius. The last Architects.
Today they would all die.
"We've had good lives," Tyrix said quietly. He rested a hand on Caedra's shoulder and projected a tiny flickering hologram above them — an image of their younger selves on the day they'd first stepped into this Cradle. Four bright-eyed minds, brimming with hope.
"But what about Chloe?" Caedra whispered hoarsely. The little girl whimpered, as if sensing her mother's fear. "She's not even three… can't we do something?"
"This is our duty," Lizma replied sharply, then softer. "It's our destiny. Have pride in it."
She couldn't bear to see Caedra's face crumble any longer. Lizma turned back to her interface, fingers moving slower now.
"I can hold it off a little longer," she murmured. "Enough for you to say goodbye."
Caedra only rocked the child and wept. Chloe giggled, oblivious to the storm about to swallow her world.
SYSTEM: System Failure Imminent…SYSTEM: Lizma: Activate Codewright Sequence.SYSTEM: Activating…
Her friends pressed closer, drawn together like the last warmth in a dying sun.
"Do you think it'll hurt?" Tyrix asked softly.
They all leaned in, wrapped in a tangled, desperate embrace around the console. Chloe reached out, placing her tiny hand on Lizma's head. She laughed, a bright spark against the coming dark. Caedra's tears stopped at last.
"You three were the best friends I ever could have asked for," Kaelith whispered.
"I love you all," Caedra said in a ragged voice.
The walls seemed to dissolve. Code peeled away from reality like old paint. Lizma felt her body flicker, her mind tearing loose.
"Chloe De Aura, be good for Mommy," Caedra breathed, pressing her child's face to her dissolving chest.
Lizma blinked back tears. She embraced her friends as the light took them, their bodies shattering into streams of flickering data.
SYSTEM: FAILURE.SYSTEM: Lizma: Entity Code Activated…
Darkness. And then nothing.
The Architects were no more.