The sky above New Arcadia burned in endless crimson, a wound that never healed after the Solar Collapse. The city was a graveyard of metal towers, half submerged in ash and silence.
Acid rain fell in slow sheets, hissing as it struck the broken glass of an abandoned biolab. Inside, flickering lights struggled to stay alive, their glow revealing rusted machinery and cracked walls covered with old circuitry.
The air was thick with the scent of blood and static.
At the center of the room sat a gravchair, old and barely functioning. Chains of cold nanosteel glowed faintly around a man's body, holding him in place.
His name was Kael Draven. Once he had been the chief engineer of the Eclipse Core Project, the last beacon of hope meant to restore the dying world. Now he was nothing more than a prisoner, bloodied and broken.
His left eye was a shattered cybernetic implant, flickering with dying light. His body trembled with every breath. His lungs felt like fire, and each inhale brought sharp pain from his shattered ribs.
A slow clap echoed through the chamber.
Kael raised his head. He already knew that voice.
Director Soren Vale stepped forward from the darkness. His uniform was immaculate, a black coat threaded with golden circuits, and his eyes glowed faintly with artificial light. He was the Supreme Director of the Council of Dawn, the one who claimed to rule over the remnants of humanity.
"You know, Draven," Soren said, his tone calm and amused, "for the man who built the smartest machine in existence, I expected you to predict this outcome."
Kael gave a rough laugh, his voice low and strained."Forgive me," he said, blood dripping from his mouth, "for not predicting that the woman I loved would sell me to a god wearing human skin."
From the shadows behind Soren, a figure stepped forward.
Lyra Voss.
Kael's partner. His companion. The one who had sworn to build a new world with him. Now she looked at him with eyes colder than the wastelands outside.
"Hello, Kael," she said softly.
Kael smiled faintly. "So it's true," he whispered. "You traded me for power."
Lyra's expression did not change. "You were a dreamer," she said. "You thought the Eclipse Core could save what is already lost. The world does not need saving. It needs control."
Kael stared at her in disbelief. "All those nights we worked, all those promises… were they lies?"
"Not lies," she replied. "Just choices. Necessary ones."
Soren approached, his boots echoing against the metal floor. "You should understand, Draven," he said. "Brilliance without obedience is a danger. You built something too powerful to be left in the hands of a man who still believes in hope."
Kael spat blood at his feet. "You think killing me will give you control of the Core? You have no idea what it really is."
Soren smiled thinly. "We will learn soon enough. And when history remembers this day, it will call you a traitor who tried to destroy humanity."
A metallic hum filled the room as two drones descended from the ceiling, their energy rifles glowing blue.
"Any last words, engineer?" Soren asked.
Kael lifted his head, his single working eye burning faintly with blue light. "Yes," he said quietly. "When the stars fall, I will be waiting in the ashes."
Soren's smile faded slightly. "Do it."
A burst of energy erupted from the drone.
There was no pain. Only light.
Kael's vision dissolved into white, and then into endless darkness.
Lyra stepped back, her voice trembling for the first time. "You got what you wanted. Now release my brother."
Soren turned toward her with a slow smile. He brushed her cheek with a gloved hand. "You will have what you deserve, Lyra. But not yet."
The room fell silent.
Then the world vanished.
Kael's consciousness drifted through a vast void. There was no sound, no form, no pain. Only the endless pull of emptiness.
"Is this death?" he tried to ask, but no voice came out.
A sound echoed in the darkness.
[SYSTEM REBOOT: ECLIPSE CORE ACTIVE]
[ERROR: HOST TERMINATED]
[REVERSING TEMPORAL STREAM]
[INITIALIZING NEURAL LINK]
The void cracked apart.
Light flooded in.
And Kael Draven opened his eyes once more.