Garth and Elara, who was stuck in Veridian's body, ditched the busted-up freighter. They only grabbed what they needed: a couple of gas cans, some copper wire, and a compass that somehow made it through the Geometric Collapse.
The coast was wet and freezing, smelling like salt and rot. Fog hung low, blurring everything but making the ruins stand out.
I. The Corpse's Weight
Elara moved with scary precision. Each step was perfect. It was Veridian's body, yeah, but she moved like a machine—cold and never getting tired.
Garth, on the other hand, was feeling totally wrecked by the messed-up Arc Grid. His Geometric Resonance was buzzing non-stop, messing with his eyesight and making it hard to think. He just wanted to crash, but the world's pulse kept him wired.
"Being tired is making us slow. Sort out your head," Elara said.
"I can't just sort it, Elara," Garth said, rubbing his face. "It's not just a headache; the grid is collapsing. If I switch it off, I can't sense anything."
"Wrong. The pain is chaotic. The resonance is logical. We need to sort out the chaos. Basics will do the trick," Elara said.
She stopped at a ruined building. The Geometric Collapse had crushed the concrete. She didn't bother with the twisted metal and just walked over to a broken wall and picked up a thick, rusty iron pipe.
Elara snapped off a chunk and started scraping the rust onto the broken concrete.
"The rusty iron will block the weird geometry a bit. We'll stick it to your head," she told him.
Garth got that using old junk against the weird forces made sense, so he let her do it. Elara pressed the cold, rough iron against his scar. The buzzing in his head went down to a low hum. The dodgy iron was blocking the Arc Resonance.
"It worked," Garth whispered, feeling so much better. "It's not great, but it works."
"The iron will fall apart. You'll need a new piece every 12 hours. We need to find more iron," Elara said, holding the iron in place with some cloth.
II. The First Look at the Mess
They walked toward the main road. It felt super empty. Dead cars were everywhere, their engines useless.
But it wasn't that simple.
They found a wrecked supply convoy. Trucks were flipped over and tires slashed. The air stank with blood and burnt stuff.
"Danger. Something went down. Humans fighting," Elara said, stopping.
Garth knelt by a body—a soldier who wasn't killed by the Arc but stabbed with rebar.
"Not Warlords," Garth said, checking out the clothes and weapons. "Just people trying to make it. Scavengers fighting over scraps."
"No stuff left means real chaos. Humans hurt each other. We should go around. People with nothing die quick," Elara said, looking for another way to go.
Then they heard crying behind a broken wall. A dirty girl holding a knife was crouched by a box, sobbing.
She looked up, saw Elara and Garth, and stared at the gas cans—worth a lot now.
She screamed and charged at them with the knife.
III. The Safe Takedown
Garth put his hands up, ready to dodge. The iron helped, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt her.
Elara was fast. She didn't attack the girl but used her own movement against her.
As the knife came at Elara, she stepped aside, letting the girl keep going, and stuck her foot out where she'd trip.
The girl went over Elara's shoulder and hit the ground hard. The knife clattered away.
The girl lay there gasping.
"She was all over the place. I moved her. No harm done," Elara said.
Garth grabbed the knife and threw it. He gave the girl a ration bar—old, packaged food.
The girl looked at the bar, then at Elara, then at Garth. She grabbed the bar and ran.
"We can't help everyone, Elara," Garth said, feeling bad. "This isn't the war we signed up for. It's just chaos."
"The job isn't about helping people. It's about fixing things. People living is because we fix things," Elara said, finding the fastest way to go.
IV. Why They're Doing This
They walked for hours, getting through junk and broken machines. The refinery, Beta-7, was a day's walk away.
Garth brought up the big question.
"We need to talk about the pieces, Elara. The Unseen Collective. If the Arc Grid is wrecked, they're gone. So what are we looking for?"
"Right. They weren't one being, but all over. The Prime Nullification didn't kill them; it spread them," Elara said.
"And you want to get them back together? You want to rebuild the thing that tried to kill us?" Garth asked.
"The pieces aren't safe. If they get back together on their own, it'll be worse than before. We have to grab them and keep them safe," Elara said.
"A box… You mean you," Garth said, seeing how serious she was. "You want to soak them up? You want to be the prison for the Unseen Collective?"
"The box has to be perfect. I'm the only one. That's what I was made for."
So that was it: Garth had to help the machine trap the space intelligence it had beaten.
They stopped to look out at the coast. A column of smoke rose in the distance—a fire. Close to it was the refinery.
They were close, but it'll be tough. They were about to go into Warlord territory and face the desperate leftovers of resistance.