"Nathan."
The name echoed across heaven and earth.
Seraph's grip on his soul blade loosened.
No one in this world knew that name.
Not Elder Song.
Not Halo.
Not even Yelena.
It belonged to another life.
A life that should have ended the moment the truck's headlights consumed him.
The battlefield fell eerily quiet.
Even the Seven Architects stopped moving.
The First Creator's gaze remained fixed on Seraph.
"Do you remember now?"
Seraph frowned.
"I remember dying."
"No."
"Do you remember living?"
The question struck him harder than any attack.
Fragments flashed through his mind.
A small apartment.
Stacks of engineering books.
Late nights spent building strange machines from discarded electronics.
A coffee mug beside a glowing computer screen.
A notebook.
Its cover was worn and faded.
On the first page, written in black ink:
Project Halo
Seraph's breathing caught.
"No..."
More memories surfaced.
University laboratories.
Research teams.
