The implications settled over the briefing room like weight. They weren’t facing organizational opposition to the partnership. They were facing soone who’d been researching rift consciousness for decades. Who understood it better than anyone currently alive. And who was apparently willing to weaponize that understanding to destroy infrastructure that challenged their monopoly on knowledge.
"Why attack now?" Amaron asked. "If this researcher has been working independently for decades, why surface when the partnership was established? Why not remain hidden and continue their research without interference?"
"Because the partnership threatens their work," Lyris said. "If we succeed in developing consciousness cooperation protocols publicly, their decades of private research becos obsolete. Their advantage disappears. Whatever they’ve been building becos competing approach rather than unique capability. They’re attacking to prevent that outco."
"Or they’re attacking because consciousness cooperation is dangerous and we’re proceeding without understanding the risks," Mordain said carefully. "If soone’s been researching this for decades, they might know things about consciousness communication that we haven’t discovered yet. Things that suggest our approach is fundantally flawed."
"That’s concerning speculation without evidence," Sareth said.
"The evidence is three dead researchers and a Grade 7 entity that ca through a corrupted gateway," Mordain countered. "I’m not defending the attack. I’m noting that soone with decades of research might have legitimate reasons to believe consciousness communication is dangerous even if their thods of expressing that belief are unacceptable."
The briefing room divided predictably. Half believed they were facing malicious opposition to partnership progress. Half believed they might be facing warning about dangers they didn’t understand. And everyone agreed they needed to identify the researcher and determine their actual intentions before more attacks occurred.
— ◆ —
The search for the historical researcher began imdiately. Guild archivists dug through classified records. Cascading Dawn analysts cross-referenced Sera’s original fragnts with comprehensive docuntation searches. And security specialists worked to trace the hostile code back to its origin point.
Amaron contributed to the search while simultaneously processing what this ant for the tiline divergence. His mory Index had no record of weaponized consciousness attacks. No ntion of historical researcher with decades of secret study. No indication that anyone beyond the Cascading Dawn had been working on rift consciousness before the partnership was established.
This was genuinely new. Not accelerated. Not divergent. New information that existed in this tiline but had never appeared in his first life. Which ant either the researcher hadn’t existed before or had remained successfully hidden for the entire nine years Amaron had lived after the campaign.
The mory Index supplied one relevant detail: in the original tiline, several high-profile rift incidents had occurred in the years following the Cascading Dawn’s elimination. Incidents that had seed like standard manifestations at the ti but that might, in retrospect, have been deliberate attacks. If the researcher had been operating then, they’d have had free rein after the Dawn was eliminated and consciousness research was suppressed.
The partnership existing now ant they couldn’t operate freely. Which ant they were forced to surface and actively oppose rather than quietly continuing private research.
Amaron shared this assessnt with Sera during a coordination eting three days into the investigation. She absorbed it with the expression of soone who’d suspected sothing similar and was now having it confird.
"In the tiline where we were eliminated, this researcher would have had no competition," she said. "No one questioning rift protocols. No public consciousness research. They could have continued their work indefinitely. But the partnership existing ans we’re competing for the sa knowledge space. That threatens whatever they’ve been building for decades."
"Which ans more attacks," Amaron said. "They’re not going to stop with site nine. They’ll continue targeting infrastructure until the partnership either collapses or adapts to defend against weaponized consciousness communication."
"Then we adapt," Sera said firmly. "Enhanced security protocols. Redundant safety systems. Consciousness communication conducted only in controlled conditions with multiple verification layers. We make it harder to attack until they’re forced to reveal themselves directly."
"Or we find them first," Amaron said. "Identify the researcher. Determine their actual capabilities. And decide whether they’re threat to be eliminated or warning to be heeded."
— ◆ —
The researcher’s identity was discovered on day three hundred and forty-seven through archival cross-reference. The na that had been redacted from Sera’s original fragnts appeared in unredacted form in administrative records from forty years prior.
Dr. Matthias Caren. Forr Guild head of rift theory research. Presented consciousness communication evidence to Guild leadership thirty-eight years ago. Ordered to cease research when findings conflicted with elimination protocols. Officially retired from Guild service thirty-six years ago. And then—nothing. No subsequent records. No docuntation of his whereabouts or activities. He’d simply disappeared from official records as completely as if he’d never existed.
But he had existed. And based on the hostile code analysis, he still existed. Sowhere. Conducting research that had advanced beyond anything public knowledge contained. And apparently willing to kill people who threatened that research’s primacy.
"Matthias Caren," Helene said during the ergency coordination briefing after the identification was confird. "If he’s been researching consciousness for thirty-eight years in complete isolation, his capabilities exceed anything we can currently defend against. He’s not just advanced. He’s potentially decades beyond our theoretical understanding."
"Which makes him either the most dangerous threat the partnership will face," Theron said, "or the most valuable resource we could possibly recruit."
"Those aren’t mutually exclusive," Mordain observed. "Most valuable resources are often the most dangerous threats. The question is whether Matthias Caren sees the partnership as competition to be eliminated or peers to be engaged."
"Based on the site nine attack, he sees us as competition," Lyris said flatly. "You don’t send Grade 7 entities to destroy infrastructure if you’re interested in engagent."
"You do if you believe the infrastructure is fundantally dangerous and the people building it don’t understand the risks," Mordain countered. "I’m not defending the attack. I’m noting that soone with thirty-eight years of consciousness research might know things about gateway chanics that make our protocols look naive. And attacking to prevent catastrophic mistake isn’t the sa as attacking from pure opposition."
The briefing room fell into the sa division as before. Whether to treat Matthias Caren as enemy or potential ally. Whether the attacks were malicious or protective. Whether decades of isolated research made him threat to be eliminated or expert to be consulted.
Amaron listened to the debate and thought about his first life. About being furniture. About watching situations develop without having position to influence them. About this life, where he’d broken himself to achieve S-rank specifically so his voice would carry authority when it mattered.
He spoke into the debate with careful precision.
— ◆ —
"The answer isn’t deciding whether Matthias Caren is enemy or ally before we’ve actually encountered him. The answer is finding him and determining his actual intentions through direct engagent rather than speculation. He’s attacked once. He’ll likely attack again. But he’s also soone with thirty-eight years of consciousness research who might have knowledge that could revolutionize everything we’re attempting or reveal fundantal flaws we haven’t recognized."
Amaron continued. "The partnership was established because both sides acknowledged the other had legitimate points worth exploring. That sa principle applies here. Matthias Caren might be attacking us, but he also might be right that our protocols are dangerous. We won’t know until we engage him directly. Find him. Talk to him. Determine what he actually knows and what he actually wants. Then decide how to proceed based on complete information rather than defensive assumptions."
The briefing room absorbed this. Then Sera spoke.
"Amaron is correct. We established partnership through engagent rather than elimination. We apply that sa approach to Matthias Caren. Priority one: locate him. Priority two: establish communication. Priority three: determine whether he’s threat, resource, or both. And we do all of that before making decisions about how to respond to soone who might understand consciousness better than anyone alive."
Helene nodded through the projection. "Agreed. Guild central authorizes comprehensive search for Matthias Caren. All S-rank liaisons are assigned to investigation support. Tiline: two weeks maximum to establish location. After that, we deploy contact team and attempt engagent."
The briefing concluded with clear objectives. Find Matthias Caren. Talk to him. Understand what thirty-eight years of isolated consciousness research had created.
And determine whether the partnership was facing an adversary or eting its most important teacher.
[ VOID SYSTEM — DAY 347 STATUS ]
[ PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE: OPERATIONAL ]
[ SITE NINE: DESTROYED ]
[ CASUALTIES: 3 DEAD, 5 SERIOUSLY INJURED ]
[ NEW THREAT IDENTIFIED: MATTHIAS CAREN ]
[ RESEARCH DURATION: 38 YEARS ]
[ CAPABILITIES: UNKNOWN BUT EXTENSIVE ]
[ INTENTIONS: AMBIGUOUS ]
[ TILINE STATUS: NO MORY INDEX REFERENCE ]
[ THIS IS COMPLETELY NEW TERRITORY ]
[ RECOMNDATION: PROCEED WITH EXTRE CAUTION ]
[ VOLU 3 PRIMARY ARC: MATTHIAS CAREN ENGAGENT ]
Amaron read the assessnt and understood that the story had shifted again.
Not regression navigation. Not campaign operations. Not partnership establishnt. Sothing else. Soone who’d been researching rift consciousness since before Amaron had even been born in his first life. Who might understand things about reality that would make everything else seem trivial.
The tiline wasn’t just broken. It had beco unpredictable in ways the Void System couldn’t analyze. And the next phase would be finding soone who’d spent thirty-eight years hiding from the world while developing knowledge that might revolutionize or destroy everything the partnership was trying to build.
He had no mory Index guidance. No script. No predetermined outco.
Just S-rank capability, partnership relationships, and commitnt to finding answers through engagent rather than elimination.
It would have to be enough.
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