Rome, 1491.
In the catacombs beneath the Vatican, Damien moved like a myth. He bypassed traps meant for grave robbers and deciphered ancient biometric glyphs carved before the Church ever existed.
The Vatican's Chrono Archive was real. It wasn't time travel, but time awareness—coded memories stored in stone and scripture. He found it: a scroll, glowing faintly, quantum-inked with paradox-resistant particles.
RIVEN confirmed it was written by a rogue time agent—someone else had been here before.
As Damien unrolled the parchment, the Latin morphed into binary. Instructions, coordinates, warnings.
And a name: Lyra.
She was already interfering.