The tension of the Monolith Protocol still hung in the air when the frequency chamber flatlined. The holographic files vanished. The red emergency lighting died.
A sterile, blinding white radiance bled from the walls.
The air grew thin. General Varick snapped to rigid attention. Silas lowered his head. Vesper stood beside them. She tightened her grip on the console. Even Kaine, a pillar of stone, tightened his jaw.
Between the Generals, space rippled and tore. A figure stepped out of the vacuum.
One of the Viles.
Vile IV. The Voice. The one who commanded the Generals. He stood with terrifying, motionless grace. His features were obscured by a mask that seemed to absorb all light. His presence was a physical pressure. It made every heart rate in the room spike.
Vile IV didn't speak with a mouth. His voice was a telepathic shockwave. It vibrated through the marrow of their bones.
"I am SEA."
The resonance boomed. The Vile tilted his head. The air grew heavy, like deep sea pressure.
"Why are you standing?" SEA asked. "Show respect."
Gravity shifted. A crushing weight slammed into the Generals. Joints popped. Muscles buckled. Simultaneously, the four Generals dropped. Their knees hit the reinforced floor with a heavy thud. They stayed there. One knee down. Heads bowed.
"Greetings, Lord SEA."
The voices of the four Generals spoke in a perfect, hollow unison.
Vesper's eyes flashed with defiance. She shifted her weight on her knee. "Why do you introduce yourself every time you come around?"
Her voice was sharp, cutting through the heavy atmosphere. Mockery.
SEA turned his masked head. He looked at her. He said nothing. The silence was louder than a scream. The pressure around Vesper's neck tightened for a fraction of a second as a silent warning. The Vile didn't escalate. He looked down at Kaine.
"General Kaine."
Kaine didn't look up. He waited.
"There's a Pressure Leak in Sector 7."
"A Massive Mercury Node's breached the surface. The stability of the local grid's at risk."
"The stability isn't the priority," Vesper thought. "The Kings are bleeding the Borderline dry and the ground's fighting back."
"You'll lead the extraction," SEA continued. "But this isn't a military sweep. To ensure the purity of the node, you'll utilize the Carbonite lineage. Kaelo, Kaeya, and Kaelen are designated as elite oversight."
SEA flickered, his presence rippling.
"Nora will be the brains and the shield. When the mission's done, you'll either appoint her to lieutenant or send her back to Valis as a student."
"Elite oversight," Varick thought. "They're sending children to a Mercury breach? Kaine's being sent on a suicide mission."
Varick grit his teeth. Kaelen was his responsibility. He felt the crushing weight of the Vile pressing into his spine, but he forced the words out.
"Lord SEA." Varick's voice was strained. "Kaelen's incapacitated. His frequency is unstable. He's still recovering."
"His recovery will be accelerated."
The masked head of SEA tilted with robotic precision toward Varick. "A High Frequency Infusion's been authorized. He'll be at peak condition within seventy two hours. He's a tool of the Crown. Tools don't remain broken."
Varick felt a surge of silent fury. "A tool,"
he thought. "He's barely eighteen and they talk about him like a piece of faulty hardware."
"You'll also take Vane," SEA added.
The pressure in the room spiked.
"He's strictly prohibited from engaging in combat. He's forbidden from doing anything helpful. He's there only to watch. He's a spectator to the inevitable."
"A spectator," Silas thought. "They want the anomaly to watch his friend Nora die so they can measure his emotional frequency. He's just another experiment to them. They're sick."
SEA turned his head with chilling precision. His masked gaze locked onto Silas.
"I can hear your thoughts, Silas," the Vile hissed. The telepathic voice became a jagged blade in the General's mind. "Refrain from your comments or lose your brain."
Silas gasped. Blood began to leak from his nose. He pressed his forehead against the cold floor. "I'm sorry, Lord SEA," he thought. His mind was a frantic scramble of terror. "Forgive my insolence."
The Vile flickered like a glitch in reality.
"This is a direct order from the High Kings," SEA boomed. "You've three days to get ready. Don't fail the circuit."
With a silent snap, SEA vanished. The vacuum of his departure popped the ears of everyone in the room. The crushing gravity evaporated.
Varick straightened his tunic as he stood. He looked at Silas, who was wiping blood from his lip. "A cleanup crew and a babysitting gig. The Kings must really trust your patience, Kaine."
Vesper didn't join in. She looked at the spot where the Vile had stood.
"Something's wrong," she thought. "Everything's been unstable since the boy showed up. Why'd the High Kings send Lord SEA just to deliver a message?"