That night, Neo did not sleep immediately.
Not because he couldn't—but because something in him refused to.
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The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
Not in the ordinary sense. Not the kind of silence that came from the absence of noise. This silence felt… intentional. As if the world itself had taken a step back, leaving space for something else to emerge.
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Neo sat at his desk.
The small, dark box rested in front of him.
Unchanged.
Unremarkable.
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And yet—
It no longer felt like an object.
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It felt like a presence.
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His fingers rested lightly against the edge of the desk. He hadn't touched the box yet. Not this time.
After what had happened earlier in the training field… something had shifted.
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Before, the box had been a mystery.
Now—
It felt like an answer.
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Or perhaps—
A question he wasn't ready to understand.
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Neo leaned back slightly, his gaze fixed on it.
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"If I didn't awaken…" he murmured quietly, his voice barely disturbing the stillness, "…then what did?"
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The words lingered in the air.
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For a moment—
Nothing happened.
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Then—
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The air changed.
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It wasn't dramatic.
No sudden gust.
No visible distortion.
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Just—
A subtle pressure.
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Like the room had grown smaller.
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Neo stilled.
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The feeling he had sensed all day—the one that followed him even after leaving the training grounds—rose again.
Stronger now.
Clearer.
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Find me.
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His eyes didn't leave the box.
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"I already did," he said.
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This time—
Something answered.
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Not from the box.
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From within him.
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A pulse.
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It wasn't physical.
It didn't move through his body like blood or breath.
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It was deeper.
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A resonance.
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The same resonance he had felt in the training circle.
The same presence he had glimpsed beyond his own awareness.
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Fragments.
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Neo inhaled slowly.
Then reached forward.
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His fingers brushed the surface of the box.
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And the world—
Didn't shatter.
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It sank.
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Like stepping into deep water.
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Sound faded first.
Then sensation.
Then the sense of space itself began to loosen.
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Neo did not resist.
---
He let it take him.
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And once again—
He stood somewhere else.
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But this time—
It was clearer.
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The space around him was still without form, still without boundary—but it no longer felt empty.
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It felt… occupied.
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Fragments drifted all around him.
Countless.
Some glowing faintly.
Some dim.
Some barely there at all.
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But now—
He could feel them.
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Each one carried something.
A weight.
A presence.
A story.
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Neo turned slowly.
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The vastness stretched endlessly.
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"This again…" he whispered.
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"No."
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The voice came from everywhere.
And nowhere.
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Neo froze.
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It wasn't unfamiliar.
But it wasn't the same as before.
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It was clearer.
Closer.
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"You are deeper now."
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Neo narrowed his eyes slightly.
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"I don't understand any of this," he said. "What is this place?"
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A pause.
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Then—
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"Not a place," the voice replied. "A remainder."
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The fragments around him shifted slightly.
As if reacting.
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Neo looked at them again.
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"These… what are they?"
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"Attempts."
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The answer came without hesitation.
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"Lives lived. Lives lost. Pieces of something that refused to end."
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Neo's chest tightened slightly.
---
He stepped closer to one of the fragments.
It flickered faintly.
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"What happens if I touch it?" he asked.
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"Memory."
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Neo hesitated.
---
Then reached out.
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The moment his awareness brushed the fragment—
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It hit him.
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Not gently.
---
Not gradually.
---
All at once.
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A sky filled with burning stars.
A battlefield that stretched beyond sight.
A figure standing alone against something that could not be seen—
Only felt.
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Then—
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Gone.
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Neo staggered back slightly.
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His breathing had changed.
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"That wasn't mine," he said.
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"No," the voice replied. "But it was you."
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Neo looked up.
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"That doesn't make sense."
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"It does not need to," the voice said. "Not yet."
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Silence followed.
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Neo turned slowly, looking at the fragments again.
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"There are… so many," he said.
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"Yes."
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"And all of them failed?"
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A longer pause this time.
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"Not failed," the voice said carefully. "Incomplete."
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Neo absorbed that.
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Incomplete.
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Like what he had seen in the training field.
Like the energy the others were using.
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"Is that what they're doing?" he asked. "At the academy?"
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"They are using remnants," the voice replied. "Diluted fragments of a greater whole."
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Neo's eyes narrowed.
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"So their power…"
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"…is borrowed," the voice finished.
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The fragments around him shifted again.
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"And mine?" Neo asked quietly.
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For the first time—
The voice did not answer immediately.
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The silence stretched.
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Then—
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"Yours is not borrowed."
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Neo felt something in his chest tighten.
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"It is not awakened," the voice continued.
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A pause.
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"It is remembering."
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The words settled heavily.
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Neo looked down at his hands.
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"They said I didn't awaken," he said.
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"They are correct."
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Neo's jaw tightened slightly.
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"Then what is this?"
---
The space around him seemed to deepen.
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"Awakening," the voice said slowly, "is the process of connecting to Primordial Essence."
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Neo listened.
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"But you—"
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The fragments pulsed faintly.
---
"—were never disconnected."
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The realization didn't come as shock.
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It came as recognition.
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Like something he had always known—but never put into words.
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"That's why it feels different," Neo said quietly.
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"Yes."
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"That's why it doesn't move the way theirs does."
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"Yes."
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Neo exhaled slowly.
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"And that's why the system… felt incomplete."
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The fragments around him stilled.
---
For a brief moment—
Everything seemed to align.
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Then—
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Neo asked the question that had been building quietly beneath everything else.
---
"What happens if I keep going?"
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The space darkened slightly.
---
Not in threat.
But in weight.
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"Then you will remember more."
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Neo nodded slowly.
---
"And if I remember everything?"
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Silence.
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Longer this time.
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He almost thought the voice wouldn't answer.
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Then—
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"Then you will become whole."
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Neo's gaze sharpened.
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"And that's bad?"
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The fragments trembled.
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"Not bad," the voice said.
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A pause.
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"Final."
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Neo frowned slightly.
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"I don't understand."
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"You will."
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The answer came gently this time.
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"Not all at once."
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The space began to shift again.
---
The fragments slowly drifting further apart.
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Neo felt it.
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The pull.
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The return.
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"Wait," he said. "One more thing."
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The movement slowed.
---
Neo hesitated.
---
Then—
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"Why me?"
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The question lingered.
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Simple.
But heavy.
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The voice answered without hesitation.
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"There is no 'why.'"
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A pause.
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"Only 'again.'"
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And then—
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The space collapsed.
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Neo gasped softly as he returned to his room.
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The desk.
The chair.
The quiet night.
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Everything was the same.
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Except—
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Him.
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His hand still rested on the box.
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But now—
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He could feel it.
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Not as an object.
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But as a connection.
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A bridge.
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To everything he had just seen.
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Neo slowly pulled his hand away.
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The room felt smaller now.
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Not suffocating.
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Just—
Limited.
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He leaned back in his chair, his mind unusually still.
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"They're learning how to connect," he murmured.
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His gaze drifted toward the window.
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"And I'm learning how to remember."
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The difference was small.
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But absolute.
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Outside, the night stretched quietly.
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Unaware.
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At the academy, students would continue training.
Advancing through stages.
Refining borrowed power.
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Ember Initiation.
Vein Ignition.
Core Formation.
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Step by step.
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But Neo—
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Was no longer on that path.
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He had never been.
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And somewhere deep within him—
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Something ancient stirred.
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Not awakening.
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Not growing.
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But returning.
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Slowly.
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Inevitably.
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Piece by piece.