Location: The Sealed Space — The Implosion Aftermath — Trench Ground
The trench was a wound in the earth.
Not deep—just enough to provide cover. Just enough to shield the figure from the implosion that had swallowed the altar and everything around it. The ground was scorched, cracked, the stone still radiating heat from the blast. Dust hung in the air like a second skin, thick and suffocating, catching the pale light that filtered through the ruptured sky above.
The figure crouched low.
Its body was still Elijah's—but the presence within it was not. The eyes were pale gold, slitted, inhuman. The breathing was slow, deliberate, the rhythm of something that had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. The fingers, curled against the scorched earth, were steady. The heartbeat, slow and measured, was not the heartbeat of a man who had just survived an implosion.
The implosion roared behind it.
Light. Sound. Hunger.
The figure didn't look back.
---
Inside the orrhion chip world, Elijah stood.
His consciousness had been thrown back again—not violently this time, but deliberately. He was standing on a platform of pale light, Wonko beside him, both of them staring at the horizon. The world around them had changed, the familiar holographic expanse of code and light replaced by something else entirely.
A landscape of red dust and jagged rock stretched to the horizon. The sky above was a bruised purple, pulsing with veins of sickly green and crimson, like arteries in a dying heart. The air was thin, cold, heavy with the weight of something that had been sleeping and had just woken up. The ground beneath their feet was solid, real, and yet not quite real—a simulation that had become something more.
"What is this place?" Wonko whispered.
His voice was shaking.
"I don't know."
Elijah's voice was quiet.
"But I think we're about to find out."
The figure appeared.
Not fast. Not slow. Just there. It stepped out of the red haze, its form shimmering with pale gold and deep crimson light. It was not solid—not entirely. It was a specter, a wisp, a consciousness given form by the frequency of Mars itself. Its body was tall, lean, its features sharp and angular. Its hair was long, silver, flowing down its back like a waterfall of moonlight. Its eyes were pale gold, slitted, vertical—the eyes of something that had never been human.
It was beautiful.
It was terrifying.
Wonko took a step back. His hand shot out—not to attack, to point. His finger was trembling, his arm shaking, his entire body coiled with a tension that bordered on terror.
"You—"
"You—"
"You—"
He couldn't finish the sentence.
The figure's eyes moved to Elijah.
"So," it said.
Its voice was calm, almost amused. The voice of something that had existed for millennia and had seen empires rise and fall.
"You're the one."
Elijah's expression didn't change. But something behind his eyes did—a flicker of recognition, of understanding, of the dawning realization that he was standing in the presence of something that had been waiting for him.
"Who are you?"
---
The figure smiled.
Not a kind smile. Not a cruel smile. Something in between. Something that looked like recognition, like the acknowledgment of a connection that had been waiting to be made.
"I have many names," it said.
"But you can call me Ares."
"Ares?"
"Yes."
"That's one of them."
Ares's eyes moved across the chip world—the red dust, the jagged rock, the bruised sky. Its expression shifted, the amusement fading into something heavier.
"I can't believe it," it said.
Its voice was quiet.
"The very thing I and my siblings fought hard to ensure—that it wouldn't descend and infest our mother's womb—apparently long succeeded."
It shook its head.
"And in the end, our efforts were just futile."
"Vain."
It sighed.
"All of it."
Elijah stared at him. Through his perception, he saw the truth. Not the figure—the presence. The aura of Mars itself, the chaotic energy of storms and thunder, the red dust of a world that had been dead for millennia. It was overwhelming, suffocating, the weight of a god pressing down on his consciousness like a hand on his chest.
"You're—"
Elijah's voice was quiet.
"—the one who created the Severance."
"Yes."
"You're the one who—"
"Yes."
"You're the one who—"
"Yes."
Ares's eyes were cold.
"And I'm warning you—stop trying to do what you're doing. At your pitiful level, it will cause your consciousness to fade."
Elijah's hands clenched.
"Then what should I do?"
"Listen."
"To what?"
"To the truth."
---
Wonko's voice was shaking.
"Why would you—"
"Why would I be in the boy's body?"
"Yes."
Ares's eyes moved to Wonko.
"You're not one of those engineered creatures, are you?"
Elijah's breath caught.
"You mean the orrhions?"
Ares's expression shifted. Not much. Just enough. Something flickered behind its eyes—something that might have been disgust, might have been pity.
"Orrhions," it repeated.
"That's what they're called now?"
"Yes."
"Those lifeforms aren't organic."
"The Aervas—the ones I and my siblings have battled for cycles—are the real threat."
"Those bugs are only their pets."
"They're trying to empower them."
"To turn them into an armada force."
"And humans—"
Ares's voice dropped.
"—are just like before."
Its expression turned bitter.
"What birthed the world—the mother—she blessed humanity with her spiritual energy."
"And I and my siblings were the guardians of all that were in the firmament."
"The Aervas did appear."
"But we managed to keep them in check."
"We—"
It stopped.
Its eyes found Elijah.
Its composure shifted.
Rage. Not the hot rage of a child—the cold rage of something that had been betrayed.
"Everything would have continued being simple," it said.
"If it weren't for that warrior."
"The one entrusted not only by us, but by our mother."
"You mean the one with the Mandate?"
"No."
Ares shook its head.
"Another one."
"One who existed long before the Mandate became an idea."
--
Elijah's voice was quiet.
"Who was he?"
"He was—"
Ares paused.
"He was the one who betrayed all of us."
"When our guard was down."
"He defected to the other side."
"He was—"
Its voice dropped.
"—the one with wisdom."
"And tactical awareness."
"And strategy."
"He knew all of our secrets."
Ares's hands clenched into fists.
"The war between us and the Aervas—it took place in the outer barrier of the firmament."
"And the Aervas—they descended in numbers."
"They wrecked havoc."
"They almost wiped out everything."
"Those that got protected—they were the ones we managed to keep in check."
"But that bastard—"
Its voice was raw.
"—he took what gave us form."
"Our unity roots."
"Underground."
"In our respective orbital bodies."
"He took them."
"And because of that—"
"We could not maintain our forms for long."
---
Elijah's voice was quiet.
"And because of that—"
"The Mandate was born."
"And only through it—"
"Could your legacies live on."
Ares's expression didn't change.
But something behind its eyes did.
"That's right," it said.
"One chosen for that was an Asurim-born princess."
"Asha."
"And she—"
"She became the most powerful of all the Asurims."
"Through her."
"She kept the real threats from the Aervas—their offspring, the Proto-Aerva—in check."
"She killed many of them."
"With her Asurim warriors."
"She—"
It stopped.
Its eyes were distant.
"She was—"
"She was—"
"She was—"
It couldn't finish the sentence.
---
Elijah's voice was quiet.
"What did you mean when you said I have her scent?"
Ares's expression shifted.
Not much. Just enough.
A smile.
"Forget I told you that, boy."
"Some things follow the order of cause and effect."
It paused.
"Your journey with the Mandate—"
"Might not be so fruitful."
"What do you mean?"
"Unless—"
Ares's eyes were cold.
"—that fellow who made you acquire the Mandate decides otherwise."
"You mean Azaqor?"
Ares's expression shifted again.
"Azaqor?"
"So that's what he calls himself now."
It laughed.
"Oh, Chronos."
"You really outdid yourself, didn't you?"
It was talking to itself.
---
Ares's form began to flicker.
Not violently—gradually. Its edges became soft, indistinct. Its glow dimmed.
"It seems I can project myself for you for shorter periods," it said.
Its voice was distant.
"Boy—"
"What you're up against isn't some kiddish game."
"The stake of billions of lives is in your coat."
"Have that in mind."
It vanished.
---
Elijah stood alone in the chip world.
His voice was quiet.
"Billions of lives."
"In my coat."
"Have that in mind."
He didn't have an answer.
---