The first soldier died without realizing he'd been the first.
Lysandra moved like a fracture in reality—one moment standing still, the next already inside the firing line. Her blade flashed once, clean and precise, severing power conduits at the joint of the Sentinel's neck. His visor went dark before his body hit the ground.
The rest reacted instantly.
"ENGAGE!"
The chamber became chaos.
Energy bolts tore through the air, scorching ancient stone, shattering Vein conduits that screamed as they died. Lysandra dragged Kael sideways just as a blast vaporized the space where he'd been standing.
"RUN!" she shouted.
They sprinted through a side passage as alarms howled behind them.
Kael's thoughts were fragments—images layered over reality.
Aurelia's face.
His own.
Cities burning.
"I can't—" he gasped. "I can't keep up—"
"You don't get to stop," Lysandra snapped, shoving him forward. "Not anymore."
They burst into a massive junction chamber—one Kael recognized instantly.
The Archive Nexus.
Ancient. Forbidden. Central.
The walls here weren't stone but layered crystal, etched with memories older than nations. Countless Vein strands converged at the center, forming a towering spire of rotating light.
And it was already active.
Kael skidded to a halt.
"Oh no," he whispered.
The Veins had anticipated this.
Lysandra turned, eyes widening. "This is bad. This is very bad."
The spire flared brighter as Kael stepped closer—unbidden, drawn. The relic tore itself from his coat, floating into the air, spinning as if eager.
"No!" Kael lunged for it.
Too late.
The relic slammed into the spire.
The chamber locked.
Vein glyphs flared crimson along every exit. Heavy, ancient doors slammed shut with thunderous finality.
The soldiers poured in seconds later, weapons raised, surrounding the chamber in a perfect killing ring.
"Target contained," a commander said coldly. "Proceed with execution."
Kael backed away, heart hammering.
"This isn't real," he whispered. "This can't be real."
The spire responded.
Light exploded outward—not violently, but deliberately, like a curtain being pulled back.
A massive hologram filled the chamber.
Not fragmented.
Not distorted.
Perfect.
Kael stared at himself.
The figure stood tall at the center of the projection, wearing armor grown directly from the Veins—sleek, luminous, inhuman. His eyes glowed like dying stars. Entire continents burned behind him, breaking apart into spirals of light.
And his expression—
There was no rage in it.
No madness.
Only certainty.
Kael's knees buckled.
"That's… me," he whispered.
Lysandra felt her breath leave her lungs.
The soldiers faltered.
Some lowered their weapons unconsciously.
The hologram spoke.
And the chamber listened.
> "This is the point where denial ends."
The voice was Kael's.
But stripped of warmth.
> "I am what happens when the Veins are allowed to finish their work."
Images flashed faster now.
Cities erased in pulses of white. Oceans pulled apart. Millions of lives ended in seconds.
Not cruelty.
Correction.
> "The First Sundering was not a mistake," the hologram continued.
"It was an incomplete solution."
Aurelia appeared beside him.
Not a monster.
A girl.
Tired. Broken. Crying.
> "I tried mercy," she said softly.
"And it failed."
Kael clutched his head, screaming.
"STOP IT!"
The hologram ignored him.
> "Every cycle produces a Kael," his other self said.
"Some resist longer than others."
The image shifted.
Dozens of Kaels.
Hundreds.
Each dying differently.
Each failing.
Each erased.
Lysandra staggered back.
"This—this is genocide," she whispered.
"No," the hologram corrected calmly.
> "It is maintenance."
The commander found his voice.
"All units," he barked, shaken but resolute. "Do not hesitate. The target is confirmed."
Weapons snapped back into position.
Kael looked at Lysandra.
Her eyes were wet.
Not with fear.
With grief.
"They're right," he said hollowly. "Aren't they?"
She crossed the distance between them in two strides and grabbed his face.
"Look at me."
He did.
"You haven't destroyed anything," she said fiercely. "You haven't chosen anything. That matters."
"But I will," he said. "Won't I?"
The hologram flickered.
> "Yes."
The Veins surged violently.
The soldiers opened fire.
Lysandra moved—deflecting, dodging, dragging Kael behind a Vein pillar as the chamber erupted into a storm of light.
But the spire didn't shut down.
It completed.
The final image burned into the air.
Kael—standing alone at the center of a ruined world.
Raising his hand.
The continents fell.
And then—
The hologram turned.
Looked directly at the real Kael.
And smiled.
> "I'll see you soon."
The projection vanished.
The Veins went silent.
For half a second—
The world held its breath.
Then the execution order resumed.
"Kill him!" the commander screamed.
Lysandra shoved Kael toward a collapsing side tunnel.
"GO!"
"I can't leave you—"
She slammed him through the opening as an explosion tore the chamber apart.
Stone collapsed between them.
Smoke. Fire. Screams.
Kael hit the ground hard, sliding through debris, heart tearing itself apart in his chest.
Behind him—
Gunfire.
Silence.
He screamed her name.
No answer.
Above him, boots thundered.
More soldiers.
More guns.
Kael scrambled to his feet—
And froze.
A red targeting laser burned into his chest.
"Kael Arden," a voice echoed through the tunnel.
"By order of the Sunbound Authority and the Veins themselves—"
The commander raised his weapon.
"—you are to be erased."
Kael closed his eyes.
And somewhere deep beneath the world—
The Veins stirred again.