Location: Orbit of Vaen Prime
Zone: Null-Time Training Field (Solaris-Class Construct)
---
The sky was wrong.
Kael stood on a floating fragment of what looked like a broken world, orbiting a dead sun that pulsed red every few seconds. Time didn't feel… real here. He blinked, and a second lasted a minute. Blinked again—and hours passed.
> "Where are we?" he asked.
Solaris didn't look up from the floating array of glyphs she was reprogramming midair. Each one flared with radiant logic—pure light woven with code.
> "You call it a battlefield," she replied. "I call it… memory."
She flicked a glyph toward him, and it struck Kael in the chest.
His legs collapsed.
> "Gah—what did you—"
> "Simulated weight. Your soul's not trained to carry Protocol pressure."
"You'll learn. Or break."
---
[Initiating Protocol Compression Training]
> Objective: Survive Solaris's Instruction – Day 1
Penalty: Neural fragmentation / Combat rollback
Reward: Protocol Upgrade
---
The First Hour:
Solaris conjured twin blades made of light. Their edges shimmered like they were cutting across dimensions.
Kael charged her blindly.
She didn't move.
Instead, her presence multiplied. Seven copies blinked into existence, all slashing through him in a blink.
Pain laced his limbs. He hit the ground hard, gasping.
> "Stop thinking like a soldier. You're not in a war. You are the war."
---
The Third Hour:
Solaris pulled energy from nothing and compressed it into a sphere.
> "Collapse this," she ordered, handing it to Kael.
He reached out—his hand cracked.
The orb fought back.
> "This is a micro-realm of data and gravity. The same type you'll face when navigating broken space."
"Feel the pulse. Listen. Sing to the code."
Kael grit his teeth. The orb screamed in pressure and folded violently—
Then imploded, and the shockwave threw him ten meters off the platform.
---
The Tenth Hour:
Sweat poured from his body. His muscles were cut open and regenerated dozens of times. His mind was fighting hallucinations—visions of stars dying, of worlds pleading for salvation.
> "You're fighting the Protocol like it's your enemy," Solaris snapped.
"You need to understand: It wants you to ascend. You're resisting your own evolution."
> "Then help me understand!" Kael yelled.
Solaris approached slowly.
> "Very well."
She raised her palm. A single golden flare danced above it.
> "This is the Flame of Veyra—the first Protocol flame. I was once like you. It broke me before it saved me."
She pressed it against Kael's forehead.
> "Now burn… and rise."
---
[System Update: Cosmic Flame Engraved]
> New Ability Unlocked: Starpath Vision
Description: Allows Kael to predict enemy movement 0.6 seconds into the future within a limited field.
---
The world went dark.
Then—
Kael opened his eyes in another realm. A black sea. Stars spun around him. A massive humanoid construct stood on the horizon—colossal, with Kael's own face on its core.
> "This is your Echo," Solaris's voice echoed. "You must conquer it. Or be erased."
The Echo turned.
And attacked.
---
[Elsewhere – Executor Command Line]
Executor 04 leaned closer to the feed, watching the shift in Kael's aura through raw cosmic scanners.
> "His Echo is forming," they said.
"He's stabilizing too fast."
Executor 07's voice was like electricity.
> "Deploy the first Synthetic Protocol Host."
"Time to test his flame