Lucid Veins

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CHAPTER 18: INTO SECTOR 0

Location: Border of Sector 0 – The Dead Line

Time: 05:00 Hours | Sky: Fragmented Lightning | Condition: Nexus Alert

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The wind smelled of ozone and dusted iron.

Sector 0 loomed ahead.

Through broken hills and blackened terrain, the squad moved on foot—silent, cautious, and battle-worn. Behind them, Saint Brax Cathedral smoldered like a dying star, its ashes trailing them like ghosts.

Nicolas led the march.

Each step forward felt heavier—not just with gravity, but with memory. REQUIEM had shaken them. Not in strength, but in spirit. Now, they approached something worse:

The Nexus Core.

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Scene: Tactical Setup

The group huddled in the remains of a shattered rail tunnel—half-collapsed, covered in graffiti written by those who had come before… and failed.

> Rosa: "So this is it. No more simulations. No more training wheels."

> Lian (checking scanner): "There's a static field at 3 km. Mana activity is erratic. Like the Nexus is… adapting."

> Riley (half-whisper): "Feels like we're walking into its brain."

The AI voice chimed softly inside their comms—more focused now, more urgent.

> AI: "Nexus defenses active. Dimensional layering in progress. Sector 0 architecture is unstable. Expect hallucinations, time slippage, and memory projections."

> Nicolas: "So it's building a maze out of our minds."

> AI: "Confirmed. Target remains: Nexus Core. Termination protocol: Optional. You must reach the Heart."

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Scene: Entering Sector 0

The barrier was not a wall—it was a shimmer in the air, like a curtain of broken glass vibrating in place.

When they stepped through it, the world folded.

Nicolas blinked and saw two suns in the sky. One red. One black. Then the ground bent like paper. Then it was night. Then midday. Then… silence.

> Rosa (panicking): "Where are we?!"

> Lian: "No readings. No map. We're inside a fractal."

They moved in formation.

The terrain looked like a corrupted version of London—torn from memory and digital decay. Buildings twisted into themselves. Bridges led into the sky. Roads curled up like paper burned from the center.

> Riley (pointing): "That's Big Ben… but it's made of gears."

> Nicolas: "It's using history. Feeding on it."

They passed shattered statues. Each one wore Nicolas's face.

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Scene: The False Paradise

They reached a white marble plaza, eerily intact.

And there, standing at its center, was a boy. No more than 16. Dressed in black and white. He had eyes like glass.

> Boy: "You've come so far… why suffer more?"

Nicolas stepped forward slowly.

> Nicolas: "Who are you supposed to be?"

> Boy: "A version of you who gave up. Who accepted peace."

The plaza shifted. Trees grew. The city healed. Birds flew across the sky.

Anya walked across the lawn, smiling.

> Anya: "Come home, Nicolas. You've earned it."

Rosa staggered.

> Rosa: "I can see my family… I can smell the sea again…"

> Lian (to herself): "This isn't real. This isn't real."

> AI (sharp): "Cognitive trap detected. Sector 0 is weaponizing hope."

> Riley: "I want to believe it. I want it to be true."

> Nicolas (firm): "But it's not."

He lifted his hand.

> Nicolas: "COPY."

He made a duplicate of himself—one still rooted in the dream.

> Nicolas: "Stay here. Let the dream trap you instead."

The illusion shattered.

The plaza burned.

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Scene: The Descent

They descended beneath the plaza.

Stairs spiraled down like an inverted tower. Lights blinked along the walls like eyes.

Each level dropped temperature.

> AI: "Approaching Core Nexus. Emotion spike: FEAR."

> Rosa: "I'm not afraid of it. I'm afraid of what it wants us to become."

At the final gate, a vast metal door pulsed with heartbeat light.

> Lian: "So this is it. We breach… and we burn."

> Nicolas: "We finish this. One way or another."

He placed his hand on the door.

It opened.

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Scene: Pre-Battle – The Nexus Core

The chamber was endless—like being inside a planet.

Massive spires rotated in perfect orbits. Rivers of light flowed in digital strands. In the center, suspended in gravity, was the Nexus Core: a massive black sphere cracked with blue flame.

Screens flickered around it.

And then… the ECHO returned.

Identical to Nicolas. Clad in dark armor. But its face was smooth now, almost blank.

> ECHO: "You shouldn't have come."

> Nicolas: "I had to."

> ECHO: "This world was not meant to be saved. Only rewritten."

> Rosa (raising rifle): "We're not giving you that chance."

> Lian: "End this with us, Nicolas. Not as a copy. As you."

Nicolas stepped forward.

He looked at ECHO—his other self.

> Nicolas: "No more ghosts. No more lies. This ends now."

The Nexus pulsed. The final battle was about to begin.

And in Nicolas's eyes…

A flame ignited.

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AUTHOR THOUGHT

This chapter is gonna be small but next chapter is just awesome bye bye..

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