The rebel enclave buzzed with quiet urgency.
Word of Eli's survival through the Trial of Resonance spread fast. Whispers rippled through stone halls and hydro tunnels like a current. Some called him a chosen. Others, a risk. But everyone agreed on one thing:
He had changed.
Eli sat alone at the edge of the subterranean garden, surrounded by luminescent vines. The space was supposed to be peaceful—grown to ease the mind—but his thoughts were tangled.
The trial left something inside him. A connection. A low hum beneath his heartbeat. The Thread wasn't just energy—it was alive. Watching.
Waiting.
Mira found him first. Her long coat swept against the mossy floor as she crouched beside him.
"You haven't eaten."
"Not hungry."
She raised an eyebrow. "You just survived a mental cage match with your own soul. You're going to pass out if you don't recharge."
He smirked faintly. "You sound like Jericho."
"Jericho would've just shoved food in your mouth by now."
They sat in silence for a moment.
Then Mira asked the question Eli feared most.
"What did you see?"
He hesitated. "Versions of me. All of them wrong. All of them real."
"And what are you now?"
He looked up at her, gaze steady.
"I'm still deciding."
---
Meanwhile — Proxy District Sigma
The skyline of Proxy HQ shimmered like a diamond fortress under a manufactured dusk. Drones zipped across neon paths, scanning for fluctuations in the Thread. Artificial skies pulsed with synthetic clouds—just enough to simulate weather.
Inside the Nexus Tower, alarms blinked red.
A council of Proxy executives stood around a floating projection.
It displayed Eli's energy signature.
"Unregistered Threadborn," a woman in a silver helmet said. "Classification: Bloom Type."
A man with a monocle and voice modulator leaned forward. "Impossible. All Bloom Types were terminated during the Ascension War."
The system beeped again. A ripple expanded across the map.
The AI voice confirmed:
"Bloom Threadborn: Active. Location: Rebel Enclave. Underground Sector 9."
Silence.
Then the woman in silver spoke one word:
"Activate Unit V."
---
The Black Vault, Hours Later
A small transport ship landed in silence. No welcome crew. No guards.
Just one figure stepped out.
Tall. Slender. Dressed in matte black armor that absorbed light. A helmet like a mirror concealed their face. Across their back—a twin-threaded blade hummed.
The figure raised a hand. Threadroots around them bent.
They whispered: "Eli."
The name itself seemed to burn the air.
And then the assassin vanished into the shadows.
---
Back at the enclave
Jericho threw a flare stick into the air. It exploded in a harmless shimmer of light.
"Okay, team!" he shouted. "Today's training: don't die."
Kaiya groaned. "Can you not be dramatic for once?"
Vega leaned on his staff. "Let him have it. The boy nearly got impaled by a training drone last time."
Eli chuckled from the side. "In my defense, that drone was moving very fast."
"Not as fast as this one," Jericho said with a grin, and hit a switch.
The floor panels split open—and a dozen new drones rose into the air, each glowing with artificial Thread cores.
Training commenced.
Eli moved smoother now. The energy inside him wasn't wild anymore—it listened. Reacted. He dodged a strike, deflected another. Mira watched from a ledge above, arms crossed.
She wasn't watching his form. She was watching his focus.
And she saw it.
Something was coming.
---
That night
Eli couldn't sleep. He wandered toward the edge of the enclave, where the Threadroot wall pulsed faintly in darkness.
There, leaning against the wall, stood an unfamiliar figure.
No one had seen him arrive. No one heard him speak.
He wore no rebel uniform. No Proxy tags.
Just a white coat over layered armor, and eyes like carved stone.
Eli froze.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled faintly. "Just someone who listens when the Thread speaks."
"What do you want?"
The man looked directly at him.
"To warn you. They're coming for you, Eli. One by one. Proxy won't stop. Not until they rip the Thread from your bones."
"Why tell me?"
"Because I've seen what happens if you die."
And then he was gone.