Light exploded through the chamber—white, raw, violent.
Aria shielded her eyes with her forearm as the blast sent dust and shards of ancient machinery flying.The metal floor trembled under her knees.Her ears rang.
Behind her, Elias convulsed, back arching, fists clenched, white light flooding from his eyes like cracks spreading through porcelain.
The creature forcing itself through the wall shrieked—a jagged, ripping sound—and recoiled, its limbs twisting away from the flash.
Aria forced herself upright.
Her blade—broken, trembling—rose in her hand.
The creature hissed:
"…A—r—i—a…"
A mockery.A lure.A voice stolen from Elias' lips, twisted through its monstrous throat.
Aria stepped between Elias and the creature, breath shaking.
"You won't touch him."
The creature tilted its head, studying her, those wrong limbs twitching with eager hunger.
It moved—but something else moved first.
The prototype guardian.
It stepped forward, servos whining, armor creaking, blue eyes flickering like unstable cores.
It raised one arm toward the creature.
Not to attack.
To warn.
"Do not approach the Sovereign candidate."
The creature shrieked again, lunging.
Aria threw herself aside—
A massive limb sliced through the air where she'd stood, slashing deep into the pillar behind her.
The prototype guardian intercepted the next strike.
Metal clanged against mutated bone.
Sparks rained.
The creature's claws tore through half the guardian's armor in a single blow.
The prototype staggered—but did not fall.
It turned its head toward Elias, voice glitching:
"Candidate rising beyond allowed parameters… initiating restraint—"
Aria froze.
"Restraint?! No—no, don't touch him—"
But she didn't get to finish.
Elias screamed.
The entire room shook.
He wasn't awake.Not truly.
But something inside him had broken open.
He whispered again, not in human words, not in any known tongue—but in full, coherent lines of the ancient language the Descent obeyed.
The chamber machinery reacted instantly.
Symbols ignited across the floor.Rings of light pulsed from the monolith outward.The ceiling plates folded like petals.
The Descent was opening itself.
Preparing for something.
Jarek collapsed to the ground, grabbing his head.
"STOP HIM! STOP HIM, ARIA, HE'S GOING TO KILL US ALL!"
Aria snapped back:
"He's not doing this on purpose—!"
"Yes he is!" Jarek screamed hysterically."He's one of them!"
Aria moved toward him.
"Jarek—don't—"
But Jarek snapped.
Truly snapped.
His terror turned into something sharp and ugly.
Without thinking, he lunged toward Elias.
Not to help him.
To hurt him.
He grabbed a shard of broken metal from the floor and raised it above Elias' exposed throat.
Aria's vision tunneled.
"NO!"
She sprinted.
The creature shrieked.The prototype guardian turned its head.Elias whispered a word that made the air vibrate.
But Jarek was already bringing the jagged metal down—
toward Elias.
Aria slammed into him with all her strength.
Both of them crashed into the floor.The shard skittered away.
Jarek kicked and clawed like an animal, spitting:
"He's a monster! He's the reason they're waking up! He should DIE!"
Aria pinned him with her forearm across his throat.
"Try that again," she hissed, "and I will break your neck."
Jarek choked but didn't stop struggling.
"He's turning into what THEY are! Can't you SEE IT?! Look at him, LOOK!"
Aria glanced back.
Elias was suspended inches above the floor—not by hands, not by anything physical—but by the pressure radiating off him.
White light spiraled around him like smoke being sucked into a storm.
His voice no longer sounded like a whisper—but like layered tones speaking from different directions at once.
Words that the Descent understood.Words it was made for.
And the monolith responded in kind—gears shifting, rings rotating, energy gathering.
A trial.A Sovereign trial.
Aria's pulse hammered.
"He's still Elias," she said through her teeth."He's STILL Elias."
Jarek shrieked:
"NO HE'S NOT—!"
The creature slammed into the prototype guardian, throwing sparks in every direction.The guardian caught one limb—barely—while another stabbed through its chest plating.
The guardian staggered, systems whining.
The creature forced its head close to the prototype's shattered visor and whispered:
"…Aria…"
Mocking her.Calling her.Wanting her.
Aria shoved Jarek away and reached for Elias—
"WARD—wake up! It's me!"
But the voice answering her wasn't his.
Not completely.
His mouth opened.
The words inside were not meant for human throats.
They vibrated through the metal.Through her bones.
"Ir'val esh tora'n…""Initiate transition…"
The room exploded with power.
The monolith lit up.The symbols flared.The floor formed a glowing ring beneath Elias like a summoning circle.
Aria screamed:
"WARD—STOP—STOP—STOP—!"
He didn't.
He couldn't.
And the Descent answered in a single, earth-shaking line:
"SOVEREIGN TRIAL: PHASE ONE — AWAKENING."
The creature shrieked.The prototype guardian raised its arm.Jarek scrambled away in terror.
Aria reached for Elias—
and the floor under her feet turned weightless.
Everything vanished into white.