Edenfall Alpha: Birth among Ashes
The sky above Edenfall Alpha was a soft, metallic hue, as if the atmosphere itself knew that what was being born there wasn't natural... but it wasn't a mistake, either.
The city wasn't a structure. It was a network.
Streets connected by neural resonators. Buildings that reacted to the emotions of their inhabitants. Children playing in parks designed to adapt their surroundings to their vital pulses.
Edenfall Alpha was the first human settlement built from the Akasha Code , a combination of technology, genetic legacy, perfected duplication, and emotional freedom.
And yet, not everyone was ready for the change.
The divided council
In the deliberation chamber, Akihiko summoned the new council.
Everyone was present:
Sael (although silently, sitting near his mother).
The topic: how to implement the Akasha network without causing mental breakdown in those who weren't prepared.
Marek was the first to speak: "Not everyone has the inner structure to withstand multiple echoes.
Some may lose their emotional core. Become beings with borrowed memories that cannot distinguish reality."
Juno supported caution. Riva, on the other hand, advocated a controlled opening: "Akasha isn't imposed.
It's sown. It's activated in those who request it. The rest... is accompaniment."
Akihiko listened without interrupting. Then he said, "We don't want a new world with old mistakes.
So we'll start with a single district. A single street. And we'll see if it flourishes… or collapses."
III. The first chosen ones – Estela Street
The first 12 citizens were called to volunteer to activate the full connection with Akasha.
They were humans, duplicates, and clan descendants, all without rigid affiliation.
Estela Street was adapted for them:
The walls had sensory receptors. Each house had emotional stabilization nuclei. And the ground… was covered by a biocompatible layer that pulsed to the collective rhythm.
For the first few hours… everything was harmonious.
Until one of the twelve, a young man named Kheril, began to speak as if hearing voices from centuries past.
—"They…
the founders… are still here. And they don't want to see us mix what they divided with their blood."
An archaic symbol appeared on his arm: the original seal of the Ebon Shadow.
Kaelis' active memory
Riva identified a hidden fragment in Kheril's core:
"Latent Code K.01 – Persistent mind meld permission without authorization."
It was a seed left by Kaelis in some genotypes.
Dormant. Invisible.
But now, the awakening of the Akasha had reactivated her.
Akihiko ordered Kheril to be isolated, but before he could be restrained, the young man shouted, "Balance does not exist.
The soul is not shared. Only perfect design must reign!"
And he collapsed in psychic convulsions. He didn't die. But he remained… connected to something beyond reach.
The Noyra Clan – The Judgment of the Broken Waters
Taking advantage of the distraction on Edenfall Alpha, Clan Noyra , manipulators of liquid density, attacked an allied settlement in the Sheer Delta.
Their leader, Venmara Noyra , possessed the power to solidify liquid emotions , creating shields, weapons or traps from tears, sweat or other people's blood.
Juno and a hybrid squadron from the Aether Circle arrived to respond. The fight was brutal:
Venmara summoned spears formed from the enemy's desperation. Juno echoed inharmonious notes, causing vibrations that shattered the weapons.
But as he touched the central shield, Venmara said, "Your song smells of fear.
And fear… is drunk."
Juno was wounded, but managed to activate an echo of Akasha within her, causing an emotional dissonance that rendered the enemy unconscious.
Sael and the Map of the Forgotten
During the events, Sael began compulsively drawing.
Circles. Paths. Symbols.
Riva recognized the pattern:
it was a complete brain map of individuals who had not yet awakened.
The boy… could sense minds that were on the verge of breaking or blossoming. And in one of the drawings, he pointed with his finger:
—"Here… there is someone who remembers things that have not yet happened."
VII. Akihiko and the pact of what does not yet exist
Akihiko took the information and traveled alone to an abandoned temple in the east of the continent,
where according to records of the ancient clans, there was a "portal of inverted thought."
There he found a woman. White hair.
Skin marked with fractals. The same one from Sael's dreams.
She spoke: "I am not an enemy.
I am a mistake. The first one Kaelis made when he tried to duplicate himself… into a woman."
Her name: Veyra. And she offered something unexpected: "I want to help.
But not as a soldier. As a witness. Because what's coming…is something you can't yet understand."
Akihiko didn't respond immediately. He just looked down and said, "Then stay.
But if you lie to us...I'll be the first to confront you."
END OF CHAPTER 158