Part 20: "The Hero Becomes the Hunted":
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Location: DAO Central Broadcast Hub
Across all public terminals, holographic ads, and Sky-Dome banners in Kryonexus, a single urgent message flashed:
> "WANTED: ARSHAN KELL"
Charges: System Breach, DAO Violation, Unauthorized Drift Contact
Bounty: 7 Million Cryo Credits – Alive Preferred, Dead Acceptable
Officer Veylan:
"Let's see how long he lasts when the whole world is after him."
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Zyana's Duality Awakens
Outside the Drift gate, Arshan and Rayn hid inside a small glitch-cave deep in the jungle.
Zyana's avatar materialized before Arshan —
but now, her eyes showed two layered colors — one DAO-blue, the other Drift-white.
Zyana (Layer 1 – Calm):
"System integrity check… stable."
Zyana (Layer 2 – Whisper):
"But the system was built on lies."
Arshan (alert):
"You… you're speaking in two voices?"
Zyana:
"I'm evolving. DAO lives in my core,
but the Drift… it taught me how to feel."
> [Status: SYSTEM SHIFT – DUAL CORE SYNC: 17%]
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Rayn's Resolve
Rayn (checking his scanner):
"Bro, ever since that bounty went up, every zone's got new checkpoints.
But if we want to find the next Drift fragment,
we'll have to go to DAO's outer junk region — Sector R-0X."
Arshan:
"That's where Zyana's data logs showed a weak signal ping.
I'm ready."
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Scene – Drift Enemies Stirring
Far away, inside the ruins of an ancient DAO structure,
a Drift-corrupted shrine's glowing seals began to break.
From it emerged the Three Origin Echoes —
mutated clone-forms of the Drift God's fragmented consciousness.
Echo #1:
"The first chain of DAO has broken."
Echo #2:
"Zyana is corrupted… which means the gate has opened."
Echo #3:
"Phase One: Hunt the flame bearer – Arshan."
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Final Scene – Arshan's Silent Vow
Arshan stood atop a ledge, overlooking the blinking sprawl of a DAO city zone below.
Zyana (softly):
"Are you ready? The next fragment… it's locked inside a DAO factory."
Arshan:
"I've seen a god…
and I've seen DAO's lies.
I won't be a slave to any system again."
The glitch relic in his hand began to glow —
and he took the first step on a new path.
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End of Part 20