The storm above Aurion Citadel intensified.
Crimson lightning danced across the heavens while endless waves of corrupted constructs battered the outer defenses.
Steel Crawlers climbed over shattered ramparts.
Memory Reavers phased through walls.
Null Sentinels unleashed cognition pulses that disrupted every machine they touched.
Yet Thomarion no longer saw only the battlefield.
Three names echoed within his thoughts.
Dorion.
Lirion.
Sorion.
His hand tightened around the hilt of his Greatsword.
He knew those names.
He had always known those names.
But the faces behind them remained hidden behind an impenetrable fog.
Mira noticed immediately.
"Thomarion?"
The old warrior lowered his head.
"I remember their laughter."
His voice trembled.
"The forge."
"The training grounds."
"Summer evenings."
"I remember watching them grow."
"But whenever I try to see their faces…"
He clenched his fist.
"...there's nothing."
Mira stood frozen.
Because she understood.
She suffered the same wound.
She remembered making clothes.
She remembered telling stories before bedtime.
She remembered birthdays.
Three growing boys.
Three beloved sons.
But their faces—
Their voices—
Even their smiles—
Were gone.
Not dead.
Forgotten.
Tears slowly formed in her eyes.
"I remember holding them."
Thomarion looked toward her.
"So do I."
"But I can't remember what they looked like."
Neither spoke.
Because some pain was too cruel for words.
Then—
the Orion Star Crest began shining brighter.
Bronze currents spread throughout Founder Hall.
Ancient machines buried beneath Aurion Citadel awakened.
Commander Cassian Rhod rushed into the chamber.
"Master!"
"The Crest is responding again!"
Marshal Helios Varne arrived moments later.
"And something beneath the Citadel just activated!"
Before anyone could react—
a familiar voice echoed through Thomarion's mind.
Not spoken.
Remembered.
A child's voice.
"Father!"
Another.
"Dad!"
And another.
"Look what I made!"
Thomarion staggered.
Fragments surfaced.
Dorion.
Young.
Holding his first hammer.
Lirion.
Laughing while hiding behind Mira.
Sorion.
Reading books far beyond his age.
Then—
everything shattered.
The omission struck again.
The memories vanished.
Thomarion fell to one knee.
Mira caught him immediately.
"Tomas!"
His eyes widened.
"I saw them."
Mira froze.
"What?"
"Our boys."
His breathing became uneven.
"I saw them."
"Just for a moment."
Outside—
the entire Citadel shook violently.
Commander Cassian activated the tactical display.
His face turned pale.
Beyond the storm—
the desert itself was splitting apart.
Something colossal emerged from beneath the sands.
Ancient armor.
Six burning eyes.
A body engraved with omission symbols.
One of the lost Titans of Orinthal.
Designation:
EXECUTIONER UNIT AZRAK-9.
Its voice echoed through every machine system.
"BLOODLINE DETECTED."
"ABSOLUTE DIVISION INCOMPLETE."
"MEMORY RESTORATION PROHIBITED."
"THOMARION MUST NOT REMEMBER."
The giant raised its arm.
The storm answered.
And above Aurion Citadel—
the siege entered a new phase.
Far below the Frontier—
Orinthal Prime suddenly stopped calculating.
The First Mind turned toward the ascending pathways.
"The Devourer has deployed a Warden."
Aurion's expression changed immediately.
"No..."
Even the Steel Sovereign slowly rose from its throne.
Ancient recognition passed through the Machine City.
Commander Varken frowned.
"What kind of Warden?"
Orinthal Prime answered softly.
"The same one that nearly ended the First Civilization."
And without another word—
the three brothers began ascending toward the surface.
Toward Aurion Citadel.
Toward the father who had loved them all his life.
And toward the memory that Nihyros Nullis feared more than anything.
A father remembering his sons.