Episode 54: Ghost Syntax

Marked to Vanish – Part XXI

Darkness didn’t return right away.

First came a cold shimmer, like frost crawling over thought. Then the Archive rebooted—not with a bang, but with the delicate tick of spinning drives finding their place in a new universe.

Lina stood alone. Juno was gone.

Or—more accurately—integrated.

The stacks rose again, but different. Leaner. Hungrier. A compressed co…