Day 64 Post-Impact - Dawn
The morning mist clung to the Safe Zone as the reconnaissance team made final preparations.
Ishani checked her gear with the efficiency of someone who'd done this a hundred times before. Light armor, communication devices, emergency supplies. Her ability didn't require weapons in the traditional sense, but she carried a combat knife anyway. Some problems were better solved quietly.
Beside her, Minji was doing a final systems check on the relay stations Jade had constructed. Three small devices that would maintain their network connection as they pushed beyond normal range. Without them, they'd be operating blind once they passed the fifty-kilometer threshold.
"Signal strength is optimal," Jade's voice came through the communication link. She'd be staying behind, coordinating from the war room, her digital abilities extending their reach far beyond what physical presence could accomplish. "I've identified three potential observation points along your route. Elevated positions with good cover."
"Copy that." Ishani adjusted her earpiece. "ETA to first position?"
"Four hours if you maintain pace. Six if you're being cautious."
"We'll be cautious." Sarnav's voice cut into the channel. He stood at the edge of the staging area, watching his wives prepare to venture into danger. The network hummed with his concern, carefully controlled but impossible to hide completely. "No unnecessary risks."
Mythili appeared at his side, a thermos of tea in her hands. "For the road," she said, pressing it into Ishani's hands. Her eyes met her son's briefly. "Bring them back safe."
"We will, Ma."
She nodded once and retreated, but Sarnav caught the tremor in her hands. His mother, who managed hundreds of civilians with iron composure, was scared. For him. For all of them.
Ishani turned to face him, her expression softening slightly. "We've done this before, sayang. We'll be fine."
"I know." He crossed the distance between them, pulling her into a brief embrace. "Just come back to me. All of you."
"Always."
Through their connection, he felt her determination, her confidence, her love. And beneath those familiar emotions, something else. That edge he'd noticed before, sharper now, more defined. She was going into potential combat, and part of her was looking forward to it.
He chose not to examine that too closely.
Mei Lin appeared as they were doing final checks.
The young refugee had become a familiar presence around the Safe Zone over the past few days. Always helpful, always finding reasons to be wherever Sarnav happened to be. Her gratitude was genuine, her admiration obvious, her awareness of boundaries somewhat lacking. She'd volunteered for kitchen duty, supply runs, message delivery, anything that might put her in his path.
The other wives had noticed. He'd felt their awareness prickle across the network whenever Mei Lin appeared, a collective attention that was never hostile but never quite comfortable either.
She approached now with a small package in her hands, wrapped in cloth that looked handmade. "I made something," she said, her eyes fixed on Sarnav with an intensity that probably seemed normal to her but registered differently to anyone watching closely. "For luck. My grandmother taught me, before..." She trailed off, the weight of loss flickering across her features. "Anyway. I wanted you to have it. For the mission."
Before Sarnav could respond, Ishani stepped forward.
The movement was smooth, almost casual, the kind of repositioning that could have been accidental. She simply happened to be standing in that spot now, her body positioned between Mei Lin and Sarnav with the easy grace of someone adjusting their stance. Nothing aggressive about it. Nothing overtly threatening.
But Mei Lin went still, some primitive instinct recognizing danger even if her conscious mind couldn't identify it.
"How thoughtful." Ishani's voice was warm, pleasant, the same friendly tone she used with everyone in the Safe Zone. She took the package from Mei Lin's hands before the girl could offer it to Sarnav directly, her fingers brushing against the younger woman's with deliberate care. "We'll make sure he gets it. Won't we?"
"I... yes. Of course." Mei Lin's eyes darted between Ishani and Sarnav, uncertainty creeping into her expression. She seemed to shrink slightly, her shoulders drawing inward. "I just wanted to say good luck. To everyone. The whole team. Not just... I mean, everyone deserves..."
"And we appreciate that." Ishani smiled, and something in that smile made Mei Lin take a small step backward without conscious thought. It was the kind of smile that showed teeth, that reached the mouth but left the eyes cold and watchful. "He has people to take care of him. Wives who handle his needs. We've got everything handled. But your concern is..." A pause, just long enough to let the silence fill with implications. "Noted."
"Right. Good. I should..." Mei Lin gestured vaguely toward the main compound, her voice smaller now, her confidence evaporating. "There's work. In the kitchens. I should go help."
She retreated quickly, almost stumbling in her haste, glancing back once with an expression that looked almost frightened. As if she'd just realized she'd been standing too close to something dangerous without knowing it.
Sarnav watched her go, then turned to Ishani. "What was that about?"
"Hmm?" Ishani was examining the wrapped package with apparent disinterest. "Oh, just accepting her gift. She's sweet. A little overeager, but sweet."
"She looked scared."
"Did she?" Ishani handed him the package, her expression innocent. "I can't imagine why. I was perfectly friendly."
Via the network, he searched for deception and found none. Ishani believed what she was saying, or at least believed it wasn't a lie. The distinction troubled him.
"Ishani..."
"We should finish prep." She was already turning away, the moment dismissed. "Minji, status on those relay stations?"
He let it go. For now.
But he didn't forget.
The team departed at full dawn, moving south through the jungle that had reclaimed much of what civilization abandoned.
Sarnav remained at the command center, monitoring their progress through the network and Jade's surveillance feeds. The connection stretched as they traveled, thinning like a rubber band pulled taut. He could still feel them, all three of them, but the sensation grew more distant with each passing hour.
"First relay station active." Jade's voice was flat, professional. "Connection stabilized."
On the main display, three dots moved steadily toward their objective. Ishani on point, Minji covering their rear, and Jade's digital presence extending through whatever infrastructure still functioned in the area.
"How long until they reach observation range?" he asked.
"Two more hours to optimal position. Three to the secondary site if the first is compromised."
He nodded, settling in for the wait. Jiyeon sat beside him, her strategic mind working as she analyzed the data streams. Nisha had brought tea, her presence a comfort even in silence. Ananya was handling morale duties elsewhere in the compound, keeping the civilian population calm during an operation they couldn't be told about.
And Sana...
Sana was in the medical bay, preparing for casualties that might not come. He could feel her anxiety pulsing across their connection, her fear for the wives in the field mixing with that darker undercurrent he'd noticed yesterday.
"She'll be fine," Jiyeon said quietly, reading his concern. "They all will."
"I know." He didn't say which 'she' he'd been thinking about.
The scouts found them before they found the scouts.
Three figures emerged from the treeline as Ishani's team crossed a clearing, their movements coordinated in the mechanical way that marked Ascendancy converts. Whatever humanity they'd possessed before conversion had been stripped away, leaving only purpose. Their eyes held that distinctive flatness, that absence of individual will that made converts so unsettling to face.
Ishani reacted before either enemy could raise a weapon.
Her ability flared, bending light around her form until she seemed to shimmer and blur, becoming a distortion in the air rather than a solid presence. She crossed the distance to the first scout in a heartbeat, moving faster than unconverted eyes could track. Her knife found the gap between armor segments with surgical precision. The convert dropped without a sound, his nervous system severed before his brain could register the attack.
The second scout managed to raise his weapon, but Minji's illusion hit him before he could fire. Suddenly he was surrounded by enemies, dozens of them, appearing from nowhere, each one reaching for him with grasping hands. He spun, confused, disoriented, firing at phantoms that dissolved on contact. And then Ishani was there, materializing from the light like a vengeful spirit.
This one, she didn't kill immediately.
"Hold," she commanded, pressing her blade against his throat hard enough to draw a thin line of blood. "This one talks first."
The third scout tried to run. Tried. Ishani's light manipulation caught him before he'd taken three steps, a blinding flash that seared his retinas and left him staggering blind. Minji's follow-up illusion convinced him he'd fallen into a pit, an endless void that swallowed everything, and he collapsed, screaming at nothing, clawing at ground that his mind insisted wasn't there.
"Secure him too," Ishani said, her voice calm despite the violence she'd just committed. "We'll want backup for the interrogation in case the first one proves... uncooperative."
Through the network, Sarnav felt something that made him pause. Ishani's emotions during the combat had been controlled, professional, exactly what you'd expect from a trained warrior executing a tactical objective. But underneath that control, barely visible, he detected something else.
Satisfaction. Not just at the successful ambush, but at the violence itself. A pleasure in the efficiency of her kills that went beyond professional pride. The way a predator might feel after a successful hunt, that primal joy in being exactly what nature designed her to be.
It was there and gone in an instant, smoothed over by her usual confidence and competence. But he'd felt it. Definitely felt it.
And he wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that it didn't disturb him as much as it probably should.
The interrogation was brief.
Ascendancy converts retained fragments of their former selves, enough to be interrogated if you knew how to ask. Ishani knew how to ask. Her methods weren't gentle, but they were effective.
"The force numbers two hundred and eighty-seven," she reported via the communication link. "Four B-rank commanders, plus someone they call 'The Herald.' S-rank, according to this one."
"S-rank?" Sarnav leaned forward. "Did he describe this Herald?"
"Vaguely. Female, apparently. Doesn't speak much. When she does, people convert." A pause. "Not through combat. Through words. She talks, and they become hers."
The war room went silent.
"That's not a combat ability," Jiyeon said slowly. "That's conversion through influence. Persuasion or mind control at a level we haven't seen."
"It gets better." Ishani's voice was grim. "They're not just heading for the rift. They're heading there because she told them something is waiting. Something that called to her. Something that wants to be freed."
The S+ entity. It wasn't just sealed. It was somehow communicating, reaching out to those who might release it.
"Timeline?" Sarnav asked.
"Eleven days at current pace. Maybe nine if they push."
"Understood. Complete your sweep and return. We need to discuss this in person."
"Copy that. Ishani out."
The connection dimmed as she focused on the mission, but didn't disappear entirely. The relay stations held, maintaining their link across the distance.
They returned at dusk.
Sarnav met them at the staging area, relief flooding through him as he confirmed all three were unharmed. Ishani looked energized rather than tired, the combat having awakened something in her that desk work and training couldn't satisfy. Minji was already chattering about the mission, her enthusiasm undimmed by the violence she'd witnessed.
The debrief happened in the war room, all relevant personnel gathered around the tactical display.
"The Herald is our primary concern," Jiyeon summarized. "An S-rank with conversion abilities leading an army toward a sealed monster that's apparently calling to her. This isn't just an invasion. It's a pilgrimage."
"Can we intercept before they reach the rift?" Chen Wei asked.
"With what forces?" Jade's voice cut through the discussion, sharp and practical. "We have maybe forty combat-capable awakened. They have nearly three hundred, plus an S-rank we can't even approach safely."
"Then we delay. Disrupt. Buy time to find another solution."
The discussion continued, strategies proposed and discarded. Sarnav listened, contributing when needed, but his attention kept drifting to his wives.
Ishani, who'd enjoyed the killing a little too much.
Sana, whose fear masked something darker.
And now Jade, who chose this moment to make a casual observation.
"By the way," she said during a lull in the conversation, "I've updated the internal monitoring protocols. Standard security sweep of new arrivals."
"Anything concerning?" Chen Wei asked.
"A few flags. Nothing major." Jade's eyes flicked to Sarnav, then away. "One repeat visitor to restricted areas. Pattern suggests intentional positioning rather than coincidence."
"Who?"
"Mei Lin. Refugee from the recent rescue." Jade's voice was utterly neutral. "I've had her flagged since day three. Her movement patterns show consistent attempts to be in proximity to high-value targets."
"You think she's a spy?"
"I think she's a girl with a crush who doesn't understand boundaries." A pause. "But I'm monitoring her anyway. Standard protocol."
Sarnav felt ice settle in his stomach.
Standard protocol. The same words Ishani might have used to describe her "friendly" conversation with Mei Lin. The same casual dismissal of behavior that was anything but casual.
His wives were watching the people around him. Tracking them. Flagging potential threats.
And the definition of "threat" seemed to be expanding.
"Keep us informed," Chen Wei said, oblivious to the undercurrents. "If she's compromised, we need to know."
"Of course." Jade returned to her tablet, the matter apparently closed.
But Sarnav caught the brief glance she exchanged with Ishani. The small nod. The understanding that passed between them.
They were coordinating.
His wives were coordinating to protect him from people they perceived as threats. And they were doing it without his knowledge or consent.
He should address it. Should confront them, establish boundaries, make clear that this behavior wasn't acceptable.
But another part of him, a part he wasn't entirely comfortable acknowledging, wondered if he really wanted them to stop.
That night, he found himself on the balcony again, staring at stars that seemed dimmer than they had before the impact.
The network hummed with the presence of his wives, all seven of them settled into their evening routines. He could feel their love, their dedication, their willingness to do anything for him and for this family they'd built.
Anything.
The word had taken on new meaning over the past few days.
[SYSTEM OBSERVATION][Host emotional state: Conflicted][Query: Does the protective behavior of bonded wives concern Host?]
He almost laughed. The System, asking about his feelings.
It's... complicated.
[Understood][Note: Protective instincts are common in bonded individuals][The Harmony Cultivation System amplifies existing traits][Traits present before bonding may intensify after]
You're saying the system made them this way?
[Negative][The system revealed what was already present][The capacity for protective violence existed in these individuals previously][Bonding simply removed inhibitions against expressing it]
That wasn't comforting. If anything, it raised more questions than it answered.
His wives hadn't changed. They'd simply become more themselves.
And apparently, the truest versions of themselves were willing to track, intimidate, and potentially worse, anyone who got too close.
"Sayang?"
Nisha appeared beside him, her presence warm and grounding. Of all his wives, she seemed the least touched by whatever darkness lurked in the others. Sweet, gentle Nisha, whose love was pure and uncomplicated.
Or was it? How well did he really know any of them?
"Just thinking," he said.
"You do a lot of that." She slipped her hand into his. "Want to share?"
He looked at her, at the woman who'd been with him since the beginning. The first wife. The anchor.
"Do you track people?" he asked. "People who get too close to me?"
Her brow furrowed. "Track? Like Jade does?"
"Like Jade does. Or like Ishani. Or..." He trailed off, not sure how to finish.
Nisha was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft.
"I notice them. The ones who look at you too long. The ones who find excuses to touch you." She squeezed his hand. "I don't track them. That's not my way. But I notice."
"And?"
"And I trust you." She looked up at him, her eyes clear. "I trust that you chose us. That you keep choosing us. I don't need to track anyone because I know you're mine. Ours." A small smile. "The others... they show their love differently. More actively. But it comes from the same place."
Love. That's what it was. Love expressed through surveillance and intimidation and violence held barely in check.
He should be disturbed.
Part of him was.
But another part, the part that had built an empire from nothing and would do anything to protect it, understood completely.
[DAY 64 COMPLETE]
[WIFE COUNT: 7/32]
[ESSENCE: 696,300 / 1,000,000]
[HARMONY SAFE ZONE STATUS][POPULATION: 758][WESTERN EXPANSION: 82% COMPLETE][CIVILIAN EVACUATION PLANS: DRAFTED BY MYTHILI]
[NEW THREAT: THE HERALD (S-RANK)]
[ASCENDANCY ETA: 11 DAYS]
[NEXT: PREPARATION]