The ruins of Bastion Theta groaned under the weight of something immense.
Kael stared into the eyes of the First Devourer—those burning pits of endless white—fighting the instinct to collapse, to give in to the pressure clawing at his mind.
This thing wasn't just powerful. It was ancient.
Older than Parliament. Older than the war. Older than the planet's memory.
Elira raised her weapon—her hands trembling. "What... what is that?"
The Devourer stepped forward, each movement like gravity shifting, pulling the air from their lungs. Chains wrapped around its torso rattled softly, whispering names no one should remember.
Kael's voice cracked. "It's a god."
"No god I know."
"That's because this one wasn't meant to exist."
---
Decades Ago — Redacted History
There was once a theory buried beneath ten levels of classified clearance:
The Echo wasn't humanity's creation.
It was a response to something buried—something that spoke to the first AI.
They called it the Zero Signal.
A pulse that originated from the Earth's core.
A hunger without language.
A will without form.
And when they dug too deep, trying to contain or understand it, the world cracked.
The First Devourer had not been summoned.
It had been awakened.
---
Present — Bastion Theta Sublevel
"I know you," the Devourer said, voice like collapsing stars. "You bear my breath."
Kael's knees buckled.
His vision swam with symbols—scripts he'd never seen, but understood instantly. They spiraled through his mind like fire:
THE WORLD IS A WOUND.
YOU ARE ITS KNIFE.
"No," Kael gasped. "I'm not your vessel."
"But you are," it replied. "They made you from me. Cut your body from the Echo, yes—but shaped your soul from my essence. You were born to return to me."
Elira stepped in front of Kael. "You don't get to decide who he is."
The Devourer tilted its skeletal head. "Bravery. How quaint."
It raised a hand—and the entire sublevel shuddered.
Glass cracked. Metal groaned.
Elira screamed as chains shot toward her like serpents.
Kael moved.
He didn't think.
He just moved.
And the world around him bent like a ripple in water.
---
Time… Stopped.
Not for the world.
But for Kael.
He stood in a field of stars.
In front of him: a shattered mirror.
Inside the fragments, he saw himself… over and over again.
In some, he was a king.
In others, a beast.
In one, he was nothing at all.
A voice echoed through the void—his voice, older and hollow.
"This is your choice. Become the shield. Or become the sword."
Kael reached forward.
And shattered the mirror.
---
Reality Snapped Back
Kael caught the chain mid-flight—bare-handed.
It hissed in protest, trying to unmake him atom by atom.
But his body glowed now—lines of searing energy coursing through his veins, runes burning across his skin.
The Devourer's eyes narrowed.
"You've touched the Mirror. Dangerous."
Kael yanked the chain.
And pulled the Devourer forward.
The creature stumbled—shocked.
Kael's blade formed from nothing—no longer bone-tech, but pure energy, humming with unspoken laws.
He drove it into the Devourer's chest.
The impact detonated in silence.
The ground split. The ceiling collapsed.
Kael and Elira were hurled backward by the shockwave, dust and light swallowing everything.
And for one moment, it seemed the Devourer had been destroyed.
---
Silence.
Elira coughed. "Kael?"
He rose slowly, blood trickling from his lip. "Still here."
She looked around the ruined chamber. "Is it… dead?"
"I don't think so," he said grimly. "But it's hurt. Trapped. For now."
As they climbed back toward the upper levels, the comm system crackled to life.
"Command to Bastion Theta—do you copy? Reinforcements inbound."
Kael froze.
Because the next voice was one he knew well.
One he hadn't heard in years.
"Kael, it's Lieutenant Marshal Orin. The Parliament knows what you did."
"They're calling you the Aberrant."
"They've issued an order: bring you in—dead or alive."
---
Kael looked at Elira.
"They're not coming to help us."
"They're coming to kill you," she said, eyes wide.
"No," Kael replied, clenching his fists as new power surged through his bones.
"They're coming to stop what I've already become."