The Architect’s Regret

Silas watched, a helpless architect of ruin, as Aria moved through the corrupted code of the sanctuary. She was not the woman he had once known, the quiet scholar who had been his partner. This Aria was a predator, her focus absolute, her every action precise and deadly. He had created this digital Eden, but it was Aria, the ghost he thought long dead, who was now the only one who could put it down. He had built the prison, and she had become its warden.