"The hyperlight spike through head and tail of the Ouroboros shatters; and with it, the cycle of [ ARC 2 ] meets a violent end.  Energy blooms from the entity and an ontomorphosis occurs in an instant, within a hyperlight aurora swallowing the Earth and its moon: REALITY decomposes into SUBREALITY, which collapses into ILLUSION: a dream of normalcy.  Humanity is blinded by the dream, and that which waits behind the moon is camouflaged fully, True Reality as its Chrysalis."  - {?}

And [ ARC 3 ]'s cycle begins with a metamorphosis: pseudophysical flesh, bones, blood - unfathomable anatomy tearing, snapping, bleeding.  REALITY, drowning in a sea of churning cosmic ichor, bearing terrible witness to a new form.  SUBREALITY, an abstract superposition of destruction and creation.  ILLUSION, a shuddering mirage reflecting lost reality: the cycle continuing uninterrupted.
		
A triptych, a trifurcation, an existential blasphemy.
		
True Reality hollowed out, scraped raw, transformed into the metamorphic womb - and within: that which hid behind the moon, bloated with consumed consciousness, submerged in the viscera of its transfiguration.  And humanity, reduced to prey: oblivious, milling about their enclosure - the illusion, a lie.
		
As the ontomorphosis completes, ARGOS(C) sees all communication with the entity fall silent.  All Oculus portals disconnect in unison, and lifelines to personnel within are severed.  Radio communication cuts to static.  Telemetry data flatlines.  That which hid behind the moon falls silent, imperceptible.  Ontological ciphers seem to have reduced efficacy, as the department building is still perceptible to holders, but the entity is no longer visible in the sky.  Active cipher holders also report to constantly hear and feel a deep, thrumming "heartbeat", and suffer a piercing, unbreakable paranoia; the feeling of being watched.  The only remaining vestige of the entity is the ARGOS(C) Ouroboros simulation, hosting the consciousnesses contained in Dream Image Disks.
		
The Chrysalis swells, a lesion tearing open on its side, leaking hyperlight.  Entropy spikes in SUBREALITY - and in ILLUSION, under ARGOS HQ, a corpse's mind is filled with visions.  It twitches on the cold metal, eyelids fluttering.  Visions flashing behind its eyes, consciousness bleeds back into its form.  A cave, light streaming through a fissure in its roof.  ( The Earth, seen from space. )  Daybreak in an impossible space, a duality of bloom and decay.  The Moon, in its orbit around the planet.  A narrow alley lined with shop facades and neon, the only luminance in a fog-blighted night.  ( A shape, barely visible behind the Moon, moving sharply out of sight just as the vision ends. )
		
[ VEIL ] draws a ragged breath through cracked lips, post-life numbness giving way slowly to an overpowering full-body ache - and a piercing headache.  The air tastes like blood and dust; smells of formaldehyde, ozone, decay.  A heartbeat pounds in his ears.  More visions: flashes of unknown realms interspersed with impossible perspectives of the Earth and Moon, flicking erratically behind his eyelids --
		
Eyelids.
		
The searing pain in his forehead and right eye trigger life and awareness to finish sinking back into [ VEIL ].  Red-orange bleeds in from the inky black, growing to fill his vision - like someone was shining a light directly onto his closed eye.  Slowly opening his left eye - as his right feels to be sealed shut - he notices the room around him has no external light, but isn't completely dark.  ( A stab of pain. )  Bringing his hand to his face, he recoils as the wound on his face is - somehow - so hot it singes his skin, and seems to be glowing bright enough to illuminate the space around him.  His face and hand are both slick with blood.