System: Sins of the Dead

> "It's been thirty days since the throne burned."

"And he's still gone."

Harper's voice trembled as she recorded another private log, sitting alone beneath a shattered monument in the remnants of Layer 6. The Root was gone. The flames had carved a hole through reality itself.

No system gate remained.

No throne.

No Kai.

> Just… echoes.

She stared at the Fragment of Guilt he left behind—charred and cracked, but still humming faintly.

---

> [System Log:

Kai Turner – Status: DELETED

Bond Link: Harper Rowe – Anchored

Sin Link: Purged

Soul Path: ASH CLASS – UNKNOWN

ERROR: USER NOT FOUND BUT MEMORY ACTIVE

ERROR: TRAIL FOOTPRINTS DETECTED BEYOND ROOT ZONE]

---

Somewhere far from her—on a forgotten level the system had abandoned, a man rose from black ash.

Naked.

Eyes burned.

Heart still beating.

He didn't know his name.

Didn't know his past.

But the wind whispered something as it moved through the scorched trees:

> "Kai…"

He clenched his fists.

And felt the heat still inside him.

Not fire.

> Ash.

---

> [SYSTEM BOOT FAILURE]

Attempting Reconnect…

User: ???

Classification: LOST HOST

Origin: ROOT DELETED

Status: UNTRACKABLE

Assigning New Title…

> ASHWALKER

"The One Who Rejected the Code"

Path Access: NONE

Memory Shards: 4%

Traits: Broken | Boundless | Buried

System Integration: REFUSED

Control: 0%

Resistance: MAXIMUM

🔥 You are outside the laws now.

🔥 They don't see you coming.

🔥 You are a sin the system couldn't cleanse.

---

Somewhere else…

Adrian jolted awake from a nightmare.

Blood in his mouth. Fire in his lungs.

He clutched the small device Kai had tossed him before the throne burned.

A cracked system shard.

On it, one message played again and again:

> "Don't let them forget me."

---

And far beyond even that…

Deep in the Administrator Levels, a figure in a red cloak frowned at her terminal.

> "This can't be right…"

> "The Ashwalker survived?"

Behind her, more cloaked beings gathered.

One stepped forward.

Voice flat. Cold.

> "Initiate purge protocol.

If the code doesn't kill him this time…

we send the Hollow Ones."