The West Wing was a tomb of glass and shadow. Every click of Sarina's boots against the floor sounded like a countdown, echoing through the air. She gripped her own arms, her mind a chaotic loop of the conversation she had overheard between Nyx and Kael the night before.
She reached the heavy doors of the main conference hall and pushed them open.
Standing by the panoramic window, silhouetted against the sunlight, was Sola. She was tall, her presence radiating a calm that felt dangerously heavy. Her midnight-black hair was cut to a precise medium length, framing a face dominated by iridescent purple eyes. She was draped in her signature white attire—a sharp, high-collared jacket and a simple white scarf wrapped loosely around her neck.
As the door shut, Sola turned slowly. The air around her shifted in rhythmic, jagged stutters, as if reality itself was struggling to render her image.
"Sarina," Sola said, her voice layered with a subtle, melodic distortion. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I..." Sarina started, but the words died in her throat. She wanted to tell her everything, the setup, the "catalyst," the way Nyx had planned the attack on Kenzo. But her throat felt like it was filled with lead. If I say it out loud, it becomes real. If I say it, I can't take it back.
"I saw the reports," Sarina stammered, her heart racing. "I was looking at the energy logs and... there's something about the catalyst protocol—"
The word had barely left her lips when the doors behind her swung open with a violent, pneumatic hiss.
Sarina spun around. The other four Commanders were filing in, led by Nyx. His presence was an immediate weight in the room, his piercing blue eyes narrowing as they landed on her. He stopped, his expression shifting into a mask of silent confusion.
"I... I'm so sorry," Sarina gasped, her face burning. "I just had to speak with Sola about a data sync. I'll leave immediately."
She lowered her head and tried to bolt for the exit. Her mind was screaming. Did he hear me? Was he standing outside the door? Did he hear the word? She reached the threshold, her hand inches from the sensor.
"Stop."
Nyx's voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of a physical blow. Sarina froze. She turned around with agonizing slowness, her knees trembling. Nyx was watching her, his face unreadable.
"There is a matter at the med-bay," Nyx said calmly. "Hans has returned. He is injured, and the doctors are having... difficulties. Go. Oversee the recovery logs."
"Yes... of course," Sarina whispered.
She turned and practically fled the room, the heavy doors thudding shut behind her.
The moment she was in the hallway, Sarina collapsed against the door, her legs finally giving out. She let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.
I'm not dead, she thought, her pulse finally slowing from its frantic pace. He didn't hear. Or if he did... he's playing with me.
She pushed herself off the door, looking back at the wood and steel that separated her from the five most powerful people in District 1.
She thought of Kenzo.
They're the same, she realized, a chill running down her spine. Sola and Kenzo... they both hold that jagged, broken power. If I can't tell Sola, then who is going to help him when the distortion finally takes hold?
With a deep, shaky breath, Sarina turned toward the med-bay. She had a job to do, but the secret was no longer just a burden—it was a ticking clock.
***
The med-bay was quiet, but it wasn't peaceful. It was the silence of a graveyard after a storm.
Hans sat on the edge of the reinforced medical cot, staring at his palms. They were calloused, steady, and utterly empty. Usually, his energy felt like an ocean just beneath his skin. Now, it felt like a dry well.
He made a fist. Nothing. No spark.
I made the stairs, he thought. But a staircase doesn't cost a soul. I've built bridges under fire before. I've held shields against Grade-D swarms for an hour. This wasn't exhaustion. This was... an eviction.
The door swung open. Sarina stepped in, her shadow long and thin against the sterile floor.
"You're awake," she said, her voice small. "How does the shoulder feel?"
"Like a bad memory," Hans grunted, not looking up from his hands. "But the shoulder isn't what's keeping me here, Sarina. My output is flatlined. Zero."
Sarina walked closer, her fingers knotting together. "The doctors said it was over-exertion. Total kinetic depletion."
"The doctors don't know what they're talking about." Hans snapped, finally looking at her. His eyes were tired. "Something happened to the reality in that sector. It didn't just resist me; it drained me. I felt the energy slip away before the Remnant even dove."
Sarina froze. The words 'I felt the energy slip away' echoed in her mind, colliding with the memory of Nyx's cold blue eyes and Kael's flickering shadow.
"The situation required a delicate touch," Kael had said.
She looked at Hans, then at the door. Her mind raced. If Commander Kael was there... if he was the "delicate touch"...
The door slid open again, and the heavy atmosphere was punctured by a familiar, messy shock of dark hair.
"Look at that," Kenzo said, leaning against the frame with a tired, lopsided grin. "They put the big man in a tiny bed. You look terrible, Hans. Truly impressive."
"He looks like he fought a building and lost," Naomi added, walking in behind him. She was already scanning the vitals on the monitor. "You're lucky we moved as fast as we did. Five minutes later and that puncture would have been the least of your problems."
Kenzo walked to the bedside, but he stopped when he saw Sarina. She was standing perfectly still, her fingers gripping the hem of her shirt. She looked like she was vibrating.
"Sarina?" Kenzo's grin faded. "You okay? You're fidgeting like you just stole something."
Sarina didn't answer. She walked past them to the door, peering into the hallway to ensure the corridor was empty. She tapped the console. The heavy pneumatic lock clicked—a final, metallic sound that sealed the room.
"Sarina, what are you doing?" Naomi asked, her voice dropping into a defensive tone.
"Hans. Naomi. Kenzo..." Sarina turned back, her voice trembling so hard it was almost a whisper. She took a breath, forcing the lead out of her chest. "The fight. The Remnant. All of it. It wasn't an accident. It was a setup."
The room went cold.
"A setup?" Kenzo repeated, his brow furrowing. "By who?"
"Commander Nyx," Sarina said, the name sounding like a curse. "And Commander Kael."
Confused glances were exchanged. Kenzo looked at Hans. "Who is Kael? I've never heard that name."
"Rank 3," Hans answered, his voice turning grim. "He's a nightmare in a high-collared coat. He deals in External Energy, like me, but his scale is... different. They call him the Void. He doesn't just build things; he warps them. He can twist a blade mid-swing or teleport across a city block before you can blink."
Kenzo's eyes widened. "Teleportation? And he has the same energy as you?"
"In theory," Hans said. "But comparing my kinetic flow to Kael's is like comparing a puddle to a hurricane. But Sarina, what does a Rank 3 Commander have to do with a Grade-C Remnant in a rookie sector?"
"Everything," she said. "Kael didn't just send the Remnant. He went to that reality himself. He made sure the stage was set."
She looked at Hans, her expression pained. "Hans, the reason you were empty wasn't because of your output. It was Kael. He reached into your flow and drained you from the shadows. He didn't want a team fight. He wanted the others out of the way so the 'bait' would be forced to fight."
Kenzo felt a chill crawl up his spine, settling in the raw, scarred skin of his palms.
"He wanted me alone," Kenzo whispered. "With that thing."
"You weren't fighting for your life, Kenzo," Sarina said, her voice finally turning sharp with the weight of the truth. "You were being calibrated. And Hans was just someone in the way."
Kenzo stood frozen, his head bowed, his shadow stretching long and jagged across the floor. A faint, low hum began to emanate from his frame—the sound of a wire pulled too tight.
"Tested," Kenzo whispered. "Calibrated. Like a piece of machinery."
He looked up. A spark of violent, erratic violet energy flickered across his iris before vanishing into the pupil.
"I'm not a person to them, am I?" He turned his gaze toward the locked door, his fists clenching so hard the skin of his knuckles threatened to split. "If Nyx and Kael were behind it then they all were. Every single one of them, watching us bleed like it was a theater performance."
"Kenzo, stop," Sarina said, her voice urgent. "Not all of them."
Kenzo's head snapped toward her, his purple energy flaring briefly around his wrists, scorching. "How can you be sure? They breathe the same air. They serve the same Overseer. In a cage this small, everyone knows who's holding the keys."
Sarina shook her head firmly, her eyes reflecting a rare moment of steel. "No. There is one who doesn't play their games. Commander Sola."
The name seemed to momentarily dampen the static in the room.
"She's the one who found me," Sarina continued, her voice softening but remaining steady. "She trained me when I was barely old enough to understand what a 'spark' was. Even though I manifest Soul Energy—a frequency that doesn't fit their combat models—she never tried to reshape me. She taught me how to move, how to hide, and how to see the world through the cracks."
Sarina looked down at her hands, her expression pained. "I tried to tell her. I went to the West Wing before I came here. I was standing right in front of her, but the words... they wouldn't come out. It was like the air in that room was made of lead. And then Nyx arrived. It was like he knew exactly when to cut the thread."
Hans, who had been listening in grim silence, shifted on the bed. The sapphire light in his eyes was dim, but his mind was clearly working through the tactical nightmare.
"If Kael is moving in the shadows, then this isn't just a test for Kenzo," Hans said, his voice a low, heavy vibration. "Draining a Candidate like me just to 'clear the stage'... that's a breach of every protocol the facility stands for. This is bigger than a calibration. This is a coup of the soul."
Hans looked at Kenzo, then at Sarina.
"Sarina is right," Hans concluded. "Sola is the outlier. She's the only one with the weight to counter Nyx."
He leaned forward, despite the pain lancing through his shoulder.
"We need to get to her," Hans said, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly serious tone. "Because Kenzo... you need to understand. She isn't like the rest of them. She holds Distorted Energy as well. Just like you."
The room went deathly still.
Kenzo felt his heart skip a beat. All this time, he had felt like a freak—a broken gear in a perfect machine. The idea that one of the Five, a Commander of the highest order, carried the same jagged, "unrefined" poison in her veins changed everything.
"Just like me?" Kenzo whispered. "Then why is she up there, sitting at their table, while I'm down here being used?"
"Because she mastered the storm," Hans replied, his eyes locked on Kenzo's. "If Sola truly holds the same Distorted Energy you do, then she's the only one who can see the 'Invisible Hand' Kael is using to move the pieces. She's the only one who knows the true weight of the power that's currently eating you alive."
"Fine," Kenzo said, his voice flat and cold. "We find the woman in white. But if she's just another player in the game..."
He didn't finish the sentence. The way the air around his hands distorted, bending the light into jagged, ugly shapes, said everything.