The sirens wailed like dying beasts, echoing through the corridors of Bastion Theta as chaos erupted on every level. Red lights stuttered above steel walls. Armored soldiers scrambled to their stations, boots pounding like war drums.
Kael stood calmly inside the isolation chamber, staring through the reinforced glass at Commander Elira.
Outside the chamber, her earpiece crackled. "Commander—hostiles breached the outer perimeter! Four squads down. They're… not human."
Elira didn't blink. Her eyes stayed on Kael. "You brought them here."
"They followed the signal," Kael murmured. "I didn't call them. But I think I understand them now."
"Understand them?"
"They're not invaders. Not yet. They're waiting. For me."
The air around him shifted, grew warmer. The lights above his chamber flickered, then stabilized. A humming noise, low and steady, vibrated through the room like a distant heartbeat. His.
And then—
CRACK.
The ceiling over the west wall shattered as something monstrous slammed into it.
A soldier screamed over the comms: "It's not just one! They're replicating—adapting!"
Kael moved.
Not panicked. Not fearful. Just… certain.
"Open this door," he said.
"Not a chance," Elira snapped.
"If you don't, they'll tear through the command deck. You need me."
"You're infected."
"I'm transformed. There's a difference."
She hesitated. Her instincts screamed no.
But the base was falling.
She pressed a code into the panel.
The seal hissed. The door opened.
And Kael stepped out.
---
Outside — Gate 3 Breach Point
They weren't human. Not anymore.
Once, maybe, they had been—soldiers or civilians caught in the old world's final moments. But now? Their flesh writhed like molten rubber. Their limbs bent the wrong way. Bone spears jutted from knotted spines. Their eyes glowed with the same dim gold as Kael's—only twisted.
The lead creature stood seven feet tall, a shifting crown of ash and bone embedded in its skull. It turned as Kael stepped onto the battlefield, flanked by a stunned Elira and two gunners.
And then… it knelt.
So did the others.
More than fifty of them.
Silence fell. Every weapon lowered. Every breath held.
Kael's voice cut through the air, low and sharp. "Why are you here?"
The crowned creature didn't move its lips. Instead, a ripple of sound passed from its body to Kael's mind.
The Seed awoke. The Cycle begins.
"I didn't ask for this," Kael said.
It doesn't ask. It chooses.
Behind him, Elira lifted her rifle. "They're talking in your head?"
He nodded. "They're part of the Echo."
"What is the Echo?"
Kael stared at the creature. "Tell her."
The Echo-creature turned its empty eyes toward Elira.
We are the remnants of what was once the world's immune system. Created to devour threats. Then left to starve.
Until him.
Kael clenched his jaw. "I don't want to lead you."
Then you will become what we were made to stop.
And with that, the creature stepped forward.
Elira raised her rifle—
"Don't!" Kael barked.
But it was too late.
BANG!
The bullet pierced the creature's neck.
It didn't fall.
Instead, it smiled—just barely—and then split.
Its body unraveled into tendrils of liquid obsidian, slashing outward in a spiral of destruction.
Kael's reflexes activated.
He moved faster than he'd ever thought possible—reaching Elira, shielding her, weapon drawn from his back.
The bone-tech blade unfolded like a blooming flower and sang—a sound that vibrated reality itself.
He swung.
BOOM.
A shockwave erupted. The creature's body shattered mid-lunge, breaking into a thousand glassy shards that rained down like black snow.
Elira stared up at him.
"You're not human anymore," she whispered.
Kael exhaled. "No."
---
Bastion Theta — Hours Later
Half the base was wrecked. Dozens dead. Hundreds injured.
But the Echo? Gone.
At least for now.
Kael sat in a secured briefing room, guarded by ten soldiers with trembling hands.
Elira paced in front of him. Her tone was sharp, military-cold. "You have two choices. Work with us. Or be put down like a rabid weapon."
Kael tilted his head. "You think you can kill me?"
"No," she admitted. "But I don't need to. There are people who can."
Kael leaned forward. "And what do those people want?"
"To study you. Control you. Use you to end the war—and maybe burn what's left of the world in the process."
He smirked. "Sounds fun."
"Not if you care about what's left of your humanity."
That silenced him.
Because the truth was—he didn't know if he was human anymore. His thoughts felt clearer. His vision sharper. His strength—limitless. But emotions? Weaker. Fading. Like echoes of an old life.
"I'll work with you," he said. "For now. But only on my terms."
Elira arched a brow. "Which are?"
"We find out what the Echo is. Where it came from. What it wants. And how far it'll go to get it."
She nodded. "Deal."
Kael stood.
And outside the reinforced walls of the base, the dust parted once more.
---
Elsewhere — The Silent Parliament
Deep beneath the abandoned city of Lys, a black cathedral pulsed with light. Inside, nine figures in faceless masks sat in silence, watching a floating hologram of Kael's face.
One spoke.
"He awakened the Crown of Ash. He survived the ritual. He commands the Echo."
Another replied, voice feminine, ancient. "He is the fifth."
"But he should not have been born," a third hissed. "The timeline was broken. Someone interfered."
"They always interfere," the feminine voice said. "And still… the world bleeds."
A long pause.
Then the lead figure leaned forward. "Send the Ascendants. If Kael Renn refuses to kneel…"
"Then he must burn."
---
Back at Bastion Theta, Kael lay awake in the dark, eyes open.
And in the silence, a voice—not his own—spoke inside his skull.
The Parliament watches. The game has begun.
Kael whispered back: "Then let them come."
And across the sky, the stars flickered—one by one—like someone was watching from the other side.