They kept Mirror-Toren in the vault under civic watch—chained, guarded, and silent.
But he didn't struggle.
Didn't beg.
Just stared at the ceiling like it held secrets even the stars couldn't read.
Mira entered first.
She pulled up a chair. Sat across from him.
"You don't seem afraid."
"I wasn't made to be," he said quietly.
She studied him. "You lost. Why not end it?"
He turned his eyes to hers.
"Because losing here was part of their plan."
Mira froze.
He leaned forward.
"Do you think they only made one of me?"
At the outer edge of Aurex space, a signal blazed through deep hyperspace.
It was brief.
Coded.
Imperial.
Arven stood in his tower, watching the holomap as multiple dots lit across the Unknown Regions—beacons activated in unison.
Mirrorhand Protocol: EscalateProject Final Phase: InitiatedMultiple Units—Deployed
"This," Arven murmured, "is what happens when you deny the future."
He turned to his aide.
"Tell the moth fleet to prepare. I want a squadron en route. No more testing. This time—we take the throne."
Toren and Mira stood atop the ridge where the clone had first left his message.
Now, there was only a cairn of stones.
No ceremony. No name.
Just warning.
Toren placed one hand on the marker.
"He wasn't just made to copy me. He was made to outlive me."
Mira stepped beside him.
"But he didn't. And you're still here."
Toren didn't smile.
"They'll come now. All of them."
She touched his hand.
"Then we light the fires first."
Kora's voice echoed across Aurex's core.
Civic Protocol: Evacuation Readiness – Level 2Civic Protocol: Civil Defense Expansion – Level 3System Message: BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED – Outer Orbital Defense Halo (Prototype)
Toren stared at the console.
The reward was clear.
The system had accepted his act of defense as worthy of escalation.
Blueprints unspooled.
A new ring of satellites, cloaked and silent, powered by combined crystal fusion—a wall of light hidden in the dark.
Mira walked in.
Saw the schematics.
Said only:
"Now we build."