Zone 14 was a cratered wasteland—scorched earth, twisted steel, and the faint stink of ozone in the air. Once a thriving outpost, now reduced to rubble and silence.
Russ stepped off the transport shuttle, boots crunching against blackened gravel. He wore his combat gear for the first time—black composite armor reinforced with mana-threaded fibers. It felt too big, like he hadn't earned it.
Meryl adjusted the scanner on her wrist, eyes scanning the wreckage. "Energy spikes all around us. Whatever happened here wasn't natural."
Vareon was already kneeling beside a burned-out security drone, his fingers brushing the edge of a melted emblem: Aegis Corp—the same corporation that once funded his father's missions.
"This place… it wasn't just attacked," Vareon murmured. "It was silenced. As if someone didn't want a single witness."
Russ swallowed hard. "What kind of Nightbeast does this?"
"One that's been bred for more than just killing," Vareon answered grimly. "One that thinks."
Meryl turned, her scanner flashing red. "Found it."
They followed her to the edge of a massive crater. In its center was a glowing glyph—dark violet, pulsing with mana. It wasn't just burned into the ground. It was alive. Breathing.
Russ stepped closer. The moment his foot touched the crater's edge, his system flared.
> System Alert: Bloodline Resonance Detected
Warning: Unstable temporal imprint detected.
Initiating memory sync…
His vision snapped.
---
He was no longer standing in Zone 14. The world shimmered and reformed into a war-torn battlefield under a bleeding sky. In the distance, two figures clashed—Quinn Talen, the original Archon, and something… monstrous.
A figure cloaked in shadows. Black armor. Eyes burning with the same voidlight Russ had seen in the mirror.
The shadow-being lifted its hand—and Russ felt his soul pulled toward it.
> Memory Echo Initiated: Progenitor-Class Remnant Recognized.
The vision shattered.
---
Russ fell to his knees, gasping. Meryl rushed to his side. "What happened?"
"I saw it," he whispered. "My father. Fighting something… something like me."
Vareon's jaw tightened. "A Remnant. A copy, twisted by corrupted mana. The Void doesn't just echo—it fractures."
"Why would it have my father's power?"
"Because someone is experimenting with the Source. Quinn sealed the Void Gate to stop the replication of Archon abilities. But someone reopened it. Illegally."
Russ's stomach churned. "Who would do that?"
Meryl answered for him. "Aegis Corp. They were conducting Progenitor research here—genetic cloning, system copying, mana infusion. This wasn't just a Nightbeast attack. This was cleanup. A cover-up."
Before Russ could respond, a shriek tore through the air—high-pitched, digital and alive.
From the shadows rose a creature—eight feet tall, humanoid, but wrong. Its limbs shimmered like broken code. Its face—a twisted parody of Quinn's. Same eyes. Same hair. But its smile was dead.
Russ froze. "That's… my father."
"No," Vareon said. "That's what's left of him."
The creature charged.