POV: Audrina Cromwell
Location: Sector 13 – Abandoned Relay Vault 7B (beneath fractured rail transit)
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Audrina crouched beside the burnt-out terminal, knees on the dust-stained floor. The air down here stank of burnt and iron rot. Her fingers swept over the cracked relay slot like she was brushing aside the bones of the machine's last memory.
The locket at her throat pulsed—once.
Not a warning.
A breadcrumb.
Beneath her collarbone, a violet glyph shimmered—soft and uncertain, like it hadn't yet decided if it belonged there.
The relay stuttered, then coughed to life. Old power. Old tech. Older secrets.
A flicker of static. Then a ghost-glyph burned across the screen:
[FORGET WHAT YOU WERE TOLD. READ WHAT WAS ERASED.]
Her locket pulsed again. Deeper, heavier this time. Like a heartbeat caught mid-regret.
The relay interface cracked open with falsified federal protocols—secure archive headers, recursion-locked IDs—but underneath, the real formatting bled through like threadbare camouflage. Bone Market coding. Whisper-tier.
[Not authorized for Tier 3 access.]
But the locket didn't care. It wasn't reading her clearance. It was reading her.
Lines of redacted code scrolled past, most corrupted or encrypted into silence. Then—
[ACCESS PARTIAL FILE: AURA TIER CATALOGUE – DECLASSIFIED FRAGMENT]
Federation-Flagged // Bone Market Copy (Red Null Circulation)
Audrina Cromwell: Clearance Denied (Auto-Sync Override via Relic Anchor)
:: Proceeding with visible entries only. ::
Known Public Aura Tiers (Authorized Range: Tier 1–4)
Tier 1 — Spark (First Ignition)
Aura awakens under trauma or emotional rupture.
Instinctive. Dangerous. Unstable, untrained.
Symptoms: Pulse surges. Muscle tension. Pressure flicker.
Recognition: Scannable only under field duress.
No control. Often mistaken for anomaly symptoms.
Tier 2 — Flare (Kindled Core)
Aura flow begins to align with breath and intent.
Controlled bursts possible. Flares seen during stress.
Circulatory stabilization. The user can focus aura into bursts, defense reflexes, and directional flaring.
Visible Trait: Pressure flickers in breath-rhythm.
Recognition: Federation classifies as low-tier viable operative.
Tier 3 — Ember (Burning Vein) Trait manifestation.
Aura gains shape. Emotional affinity defines function (e.g., kinetic, shadow, fire).
Trait-linked aura style begins to form.
Symptoms: Combat instincts sharpen. Aura trails visible in motion.
Recognition: Traceable glyph. Aura rank unlocked.
Tier 4 — Core Bound (Soul Forge) Symbolic resonance.
Vowline carves a mark into the user's Core.
Body begins adapting to persistent aura strain—resilience, speed, precision.
Effect: Glyphs may manifest beneath skin during combat.Internal glyphs may emerge under duress.
Recognition: Internal glyph-anchoring confirmed.
Federation notes "operational viability" but limits access to further tiers.
[Notice: Further Access Restricted]
:: Classified clearance Tier_5+ required.
:: Attempting override via Locket Anchor…
[OVERRIDE DENIED — ACCESS LIMIT REACHED]
[VOW ANCHOR TOO FRAGILE FOR FORCED READ]
:: Suggest Disengagement::
Audrina hissed and pulled her hand back from the screen as a static shock bit her fingertips.
The file didn't explode. But it didn't stay passive either. The vault air thickened. Her locket buzzed with a low warning tone, and for a moment… she felt it.
Something watching.
A presence behind the data.
Behind the glyphs.
Behind her.
Not an AI.
But not a memory, either.
She whispered, "Then what comes after?"
The screen didn't reply.
But the pressure in her chest did.
Like a door waiting to be opened—if she was willing to burn what came before to find it.
[Session Terminated — Anchor Stability Uncertain]
[Relic Sync Delay: 3.7s]
[Thread Access Locked]
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"Aura is not a weapon. It is defiance made visible."
— Unknown, Vault Echo 3-B
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