Lena smiled faintly. "So the download was useless?"

Aris pulled up his terminal. The log showed a download request from an IP address routed through three continents. Then another. Then a hundred. The Codex was bleeding into the wild.

Dr. Aris Thorne believed some things should remain sealed.

"Some things are not meant to be broken," he said. "Not because they are weak. But because they are entrusted to us for a reason."

Not Meant to Be Broken