The Restoration Protocol

46 || the greatest fault

"Alias!! Marbles!! That's not Lotus!!"

A distant cry grips Mariko's ears, and her tightened throat loosens just enough that an involuntary gasp can be drawn. It's Kasey. Even with the sound of his voice muffled, the nickname only he uses would have announced his presence on its own. He comes barging into the Vault not a moment later. Mono and Jugo, too, with all the urgency in the world and then some. Lotus isn't with them. Nor is he right in front of Mariko. He's nowhere — except, perhaps, in New Floravale. But the fact of Jugo having come here by himself isn't an encouraging sign.

Mariko turns sharply to face him again. That is, this facade of a man standing before her, borrowing an identity that didn't belong to him. It fades soon enough. One pixel at a time, flipping like overturned pieces of a puzzle until eventually, the whole picture is clear. And with that robotic smile still planted up his lips, Claude gently sets Pyra's earring atop the final pillar.

Placing the king in check. He plants his piece.

Without delay, a disembodied voice resounds throughout the vault.

"Tokens received. Secondary world database detected within Vault boundaries. Please provide activation code to upload data to the server."

"AB3-5AD4T," Claude says, while everyone else stands in confusion and silence. And the voice speaks once more:

"Activation code received. Vault now entering Overseer mode. Please wait for system to scan backup data. Estimated time: eight minutes."

Mariko throws out her arm in a panic to reach for Alias's gold ribbon, hoping to disrupt the process before it can begin. She's stopped short as the room begins to tremble. It starts with the ground beneath her feet, a violent shake that travels up the walls and to the daunting ceiling above. The Vault of Restoration itself seems to cry out, to groan as it lurches like the disturbed body of a mechanical giant trying to stand after centuries of dormancy. It's far more terrifying than the aerowhale ships. Mariko feels the hand of death itself wrapping around her throat, continuing her voice like a bird in a cage. But she can still move. Kasey, Mono, Jugo, and Alias, they can all move, and they all share the same instinct and compelling desire to check outside for the cause of this intense quake.

Turning her eyes away from Claude helps Mariko's fuzzy vision to stabilize. The man's presence alone seems to have a profound impact on her ability to see clearly.

Mono and Kasey slow their pace a bit until Mariko and Alias catch up to them. Jugo stands by the door like a guard dog, his lethal stare trained on Claude until everyone passes through the door before him. Mariko lingers at the last second. Her pleading gaze catches a glimpse of a raging sorrow behind Jugo's eyes. But there's no time to ask about Lotus. The man seems to convey this as well with the gentle hand that urges Mariko through the windy hallway ahead of them. Another, more demanding storm awaits them outside.

She sees nothing but sky. It wasn't like that before. From the doorstep to the Vault's front entrance, Mariko was able to see Lake Topaz clearly from the platform at the top of the staircase. The Vault was just beyond the bridge which stretched over it, after all. But as she steps onto that platform, all of it is gone, replaced with nothing more than the view of the blackened night sky.

The ground has stopped shaking. Mono and Kasey trip over their feet on their way to the edge of the platform, where a guardrail offers a much-needed support. They peer down at the surface they've left behind.