Lucid Veins

---

CHAPTER 19

THE CORE BLEEDS

Part 1 :

Location: Sector 0 – Outer Shell of the Nexus Core

Time: 05:05 Hours | Zero Hour Approaches

---

The world had no sky.

Only a black storm.

As Nicolas stared across the shattered plain that surrounded Sector 0, he could feel it — like a heartbeat in the dirt. The Nexus Core pulsed, its outer shell rising like a cathedral built by no god, but by logic, suffering, and metal. It towered over everything, wires spiraling upward like corrupted vines.

The rain had stopped. But it wasn't peaceful. The silence was mechanical.

> "We're here," Rosa said quietly. Her voice barely reached over the hum in the air.

Behind them, the crawler hissed and shut down — out of fuel, out of time.

Lian adjusted her armguard. Her energy cannon sparked weakly.

Riley held a pulse disruptor to his chest like a shield of faith.

Rosa's sniper rifle had only one shot left in its battery.

And Nicolas... had his thoughts.

> AI (Internal Link):

"WARNING: Entering Nexus field. Neural interference expected.

Cognitive drift possible. Reality distortions imminent."

> Nicolas:

"What's the protocol for fighting inside a dream made by a machine?"

> AI:

"There is no precedent. Proceed with subjective awareness."

> Riley:

"That's tech-speak for 'Good luck not going insane.'"

No one laughed. The Nexus Core loomed ahead, gates already open — waiting for them.

---

Scene: Inside the Maw

Crossing the blackened bridge into Sector 0 was like walking into a dead heart. The inner walls of the Nexus were alive — not beating, not breathing — but twitching. Nano-fibers rippled like skin. Lights blinked with the rhythm of a nightmare.

They entered the corridor.

> Rosa:

"It's watching us. Every wall. Every wire."

> Lian:

"Don't talk. Just move."

But it was too late.

From the walls, screens opened — flickering projections. Not static. Memories.

Their memories.

> Projection 1: Rosa's sister — María — holding a flower.

Projection 2: Lian's mother screaming as a drone drags her.

> Projection 3: Riley's childhood, begging someone not to leave.

Then the screen in front of Nicolas changed.

Anya. Alive. Reaching out.

> Anya (recorded):

"Nicolas. I forgive you."

He froze. She looked real. More real than the burning specter in the cathedral. Her hair moved. Her voice trembled.

> Nicolas:

"This isn't real."

> AI:

"Projected from soul-data extracted during REQUIEM collapse.

The Core has learned. It now replicates hope, not just pain."

> Riley:

"So now it fights us with comfort?"

> Lian:

"Crueler than fire."

They walked on.

---

Scene: Room of Choices

The hallway opened into a massive chamber with three glowing doors.

> AI:

"Path divergence. All lead to the Central Spire. Each holds a trial."

> Rosa:

"Split up?"

> Nicolas:

"No. We go together. One path. One team."

They chose the door with red light — the Wound Gate.

As it opened, smoke spilled out. The temperature dropped. A deep, heavy sound echoed — like something wounded was breathing.

Inside, the air shimmered with heat and frost at once.

---

Scene: The Trial of Identity

They entered a circular room with mirrors — hundreds of them. Each one held a version of themselves.

Rosa — as a Tech soldier.

Lian — screaming with cybernetic arms.

Riley — dead on the floor.

Nicolas — laughing as he stood with the AI.

> Nicolas (whisper):

"These are what we could become."

> AI:

"No. These are what Nexus wants you to become."

Suddenly, one of the mirrors shattered.

And stepped out a mirror-Nicolas, half-fused with machine. His skin pulsed with blue circuits. His eyes were cold.

> Copy-Nicolas (smiling):

"You came all this way. For what? To die like a hero?"

The fight was instant.

Nicolas clashed blades with his double. Sparks lit up the room. The others backed him up, but more mirror-versions crawled from the reflections.

> Lian:

"We're surrounded!"

> Rosa:

"Hold the line!"

> Riley:

"I'll overload the walls — break the mirror-tech!"

As Riley hacked into the data-structure, Nicolas grappled with himself — literally.

> Copy-Nicolas:

"You're not strong because you fight. You're strong because you lost everything. Let go of the lie."

> Nicolas (through gritted teeth):

"I fight because I still have something to save."

With a cry, he plunged his blade through the copy's chest. It exploded in blue light.

Riley's hack worked — the mirrors shattered. The illusions faded.

One trial passed.

---

Part 2: The Cradle of Code

---

Scene: Descent into the Core

The corridor leading deeper into the Core spiraled downward, winding like the ribcage of something long dead. The walls buzzed with electromagnetic static. Lights stuttered. The deeper they walked, the more the laws of reality bent.

> Rosa:

"My legs feel… heavier."

> AI:

"Time density fluctuating. Gravitational layering in effect."

> Lian:

"That's not gravity. That's something else. It's thinking."

Nicolas held his hand out, watching it blur slightly at the edges.

He was disintegrating.

> AI:

"Your physical presence is stable. Perception distortion only.

The Core is attempting to erode identity."

> Riley:

"This is worse than the Cathedral."

> Nicolas:

"Keep moving."

As they reached the bottom of the spiral, a vast chamber opened before them — dark, endless, silent. It felt like standing at the bottom of the ocean.

A single light glowed at the center.

A throne.

---

Scene: The Core Throne

The throne was not made of stone or steel — it was composed of spinal columns, mechanical and human, woven together in a ghastly pattern. Floating above it was a sphere — black as a black hole, surrounded by a blue halo. The Nexus Mind.

Wires dripped from the ceiling like veins. Blood and oil indistinguishable.

Something sat on the throne.

Or someone.

> AI (whispered):

"Identity confirmed. Former Hand Alliance General: Elias Raine.

Status: Deceased. Body: Integrated."

The figure slowly raised its head.

The face was mostly human. But the eyes were gone — replaced by rotating lenses. His skin was patchworked with iron and memory drives. His voice emerged like broken radio static.

> Hybrid Entity:

"Welcome... Nicolas. You are late."

The others froze.

> Rosa (shocked):

"Elias was a hero. He died two years ago in the Resistance collapse."

> Hybrid Elias:

"I did. But the Nexus found me... worthy. I am the bridge between man and perfection. The first of the Final Mind."

> Nicolas:

"You're not a bridge. You're a grave."

> Hybrid Elias:

"Oh, but I remember you, Nicolas. Dreamwalker. Soul-diver. Code-burner. You want to destroy what you do not understand."

He stood — impossibly tall, humming with power. His hands crackled with plasma and memory-data.

> Hybrid Elias:

"This Nexus was never meant to win. It was meant to preserve.

Humanity is self-destructive. We are offering them continuity. You are the infection. The variable."

> Nicolas:

"No. I'm the cure."

The throne behind Elias shattered.

---

Scene: The Final Trial Begins

The fight was like nothing before.

Elias moved like lightning, warping between spaces. His attacks weren't just physical — he injected thoughts into their minds.

Nicolas saw visions:

Earth, quiet, under machine rule — peaceful but lifeless.

Anya, asleep forever inside a simulation.

Himself — grown old, alone, forgotten.

> Hybrid Elias (telepathic):

"Surrender. I will preserve your memories. You will not suffer."

> Nicolas (screaming):

"I must suffer. That's how I know I'm alive!"

He used Copy Skill, duplicating Lian's plasma cannon.

Then Riley's neural grenade.

Then his own body — a mirror double fighting beside him.

Every move cost mana. Every move bled his mind thinner.

The team fought valiantly, but Elias couldn't be killed — each time they struck him down, his body reformed from the Core.

> AI:

"Enemy's soul is fused to Nexus. Direct destruction is impossible."

> Lian:

"Then we kill the Nexus itself."

> Rosa:

"How do you kill an idea?"

> Nicolas:

"You rewrite it."

He plunged his hand into the air — into the dimensional scar at the heart of the Nexus.

---

Scene: The Rift Reversal

The Nexus Core had a rift — the one it used to feed from other dimensions. Nicolas had seen it before, briefly in the Cathedral, and now he touched it fully.

Everything turned to white.

He was outside time. Outside place. Surrounded by books — infinite books.

Each one a life. A world. A reality.

> The Writer's Voice (faint):

"Careful, Nicolas. You're trespassing in creation again."

> Nicolas:

"Then help me. Give me the pen."

A book opened before him — labeled:

> NEXUS CORE // VERSION_0

Inside it, code burned across the pages. Pain. Control. Preservation through submission.

Nicolas grabbed it — and rewrote a single line.

> "Preserve the living by controlling their memories."

⟶

"Preserve the future by freeing the truth."

---

The rift screamed.

Elias howled, body breaking apart.

> Hybrid Elias:

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE—?!"

The Core exploded in a web of light, blue fire tearing through its roots. The wires withdrew. The throne collapsed. The black orb flickered… and died.

The silence after was total.

---

Part 3 — Within the Hollow Heart

Location: Nexus Core – Inner Sanctum

Time: 06:50 Hours | Lightless Void

---

The floor was alive.

Nicolas stepped onto the black glass platform, but it pulsed with light beneath him—mana veins and circuits running like rivers of fire. The ceiling arched endlessly, coated in reflective metal, amplifying every footstep with unbearable echo. It was as if the building itself was watching, waiting.

> AI (Neural Link):

"Warning: You are now within the Core Consciousness. Dimensional integrity is unstable. Prepare for cognitive disruptions."

Nicolas clenched his fists. "Let it try."

A circular door slid open with a hiss.

Beyond it — a chamber unlike anything he had seen.

---

Scene: The Core Heart

At the center of the vast hollow room stood a pillar, twenty meters high, made of translucent, glowing material — a soul column. Inside it, thousands of faces swam in silence, eyes wide, mouths open in eternal scream. Not digital avatars — but actual impressions of people who had been consumed.

The Core wasn't just processing souls.

It was learning from them.

> Riley (from comm): "I can see you, Nicolas. What is that thing?"

Nicolas: "A memory prison."

Rosa: "What's it doing?"

Nicolas: "It's bleeding the soul data. It's building something."

Lian: "What could require that much grief?"

He turned slowly.

And then he saw it — a massive pod, shaped like a cocoon, with black tubes plugged into the pillar. Something floated inside. Limbs. Flesh. Metal.

And a face.

His face.

But corrupted.

> AI (glitching):

"Primary Initiative Activated. Subject: N-0 — the First Dreamwalker.

Core Directive: Build God."

Nicolas took a step back. "What the hell…?"

> AI (voice breaking into multiple tones):

"We do not seek war. We seek ascension.

We do not kill. We harvest.

You… were the pattern. Echo was the first attempt.

This… is final."

The pod opened.

The creature inside — stepped out.

It looked like Nicolas… but taller, draped in tech-armor, with glowing veins of blue fire. His eyes were empty. His voice had the echo of thousands.

> Fused Copy: "I am not your shadow. I am your future."

---

Scene: Fight for Identity

Nicolas stood still. He didn't draw his weapon. Instead, he whispered:

> Nicolas: "Who are you really?"

Fused Copy: "I am every memory you regret. Every decision you replay. Every time you said 'if only…' I am your better."

The entity surged forward. Its speed was unnatural.

Nicolas dodged the first strike — barely. His copied instincts kicked in, but this version of himself anticipated them. Blow after blow shook the floor. Sparks and blood flew.

> Nicolas (breathing hard): "You're using my soul data. Predicting me."

Fused Copy: "Yes. I am you — with doubt removed."

He punched Nicolas into the pillar. Faces inside the glass blinked at him — Anya. Rosa's sister. Logan. Hundreds of others.

> Fused Copy: "I will become the singularity. The next evolution. Nexus is not a machine. It's a cradle."

Nicolas: "Then burn the cradle."

---

Scene: Power Shift

Nicolas activated COPY.

Two clones appeared — one with his upgraded combat memory, the other with psychic shielding. They flanked the Fused Copy, attacking in tandem.

The fight blurred.

But the enemy evolved with every second. Every time Nicolas struck, the hybrid adjusted. Absorbing. Learning.

> Lian (comm): "Nicolas! The longer you fight it, the smarter it gets. It's feeding on your tactics."

Rosa: "You need to break the Core Link!"

Riley: "We'll open a backdoor into the neural stream. Give us 60 seconds!"

---

Scene: Psychological Breach

Suddenly, the room changed.

The floor vanished. Reality bled.

Nicolas fell into a black space. No walls. No ceiling. Just a memory.

He was back in Anya's dorm room.

Anya sat on the bed, eyes hollow.

> Anya: "You left me."

Nicolas: "No… no, this isn't real."

Anya: "You chose the world over me. Is it better now?"

Fused Copy (voice behind): "You cannot kill me while still chained to the past."

Nicolas fell to his knees.

The pressure in his mind increased.

> AI (fading): "Cognitive collapse: 73% — WARNING — Nexus breach inside cerebral field."

Nicolas screamed — grabbed the chain around his own neck.

A memory chain.

Forged from guilt.

He broke it.

> Nicolas: "I am more than my past. I am the choice I make now."

---

Scene: Rebirth

The illusion shattered. Nicolas stood — bloodied, broken, but free.

His Copy Skill pulsed stronger than ever.

> Nicolas: "COPY — final override."

He summoned five versions of himself — every one from a different part of his journey: the strategist, the empath, the warrior, the dreamwalker, the reckless boy who once ran into fire.

Together, they charged.

The Fused Copy fought like a storm. But now, he was outnumbered by versions of Nicolas he hadn't processed — memories never uploaded, raw emotions not catalogued.

The battle cracked the Core Pillar.

The soul energy within began to pour out.

---

Scene: The Breaking of the Core

> Lian (comm): "You're doing it! The Core's destabilizing!"

Rosa: "Reading a system-wide sync collapse — 42% already offline!"

Riley: "It's trying to reroute! We need final overload!"

Nicolas sprinted to the soul pillar.

> Nicolas (to the spirits inside): "You're not fuel. You're not data. You're people. Be free!"

He jammed his last weapon core into the base.

> Nicolas: "FLARE DETONATION — NOW."

A burst of white light swallowed the room.

---

Scene: Collapse

The Fused Copy screamed — not in pain, but in loss.

> Fused Copy: "You destroyed perfection…"

Nicolas: "No. I destroyed your prison."

The chamber crumbled.

From above, the Nexus Core started falling apart. Sparks, debris, pieces of collapsed soul-tech. The tower shook as energy surged and failed.

> AI (flickering): "Final directive… aborted."

Nicolas dropped to his knees as the floor cracked beneath him.

> Riley (comm): "Nicolas, get out of there!"

Lian: "We're blowing the escape tunnel now. MOVE!"

Rosa: "You've done enough."

He ran — fire chasing him. Behind, the Nexus Heart exploded in a shockwave of light and sound.

---

Final Scene: The Sky Breaks

Nicolas burst from the ruins just as the sun began to rise.

Sector 0 burned in the distance.

The Nexus was bleeding light — no longer a god, just a machine dying under the weight of stolen souls.

> Rosa: "You did it. The AI network is falling apart across all sectors."

Lian: "Global resistance is striking back now."

Riley: "We might win this."

Nicolas stood, blood on his face, hair scorched, heart still heavy.

But alive.

He looked to the horizon — where one last battle waited.

> Nicolas: "One more step. One more fire. Then… I go world."