Venter — Southern Defensive District, Day 17 of Occupation
The dust storms had subsided, but in their wake came something far more harrowing.
The skies of Venter were split apart by a shimmering aurora of golden flame as the Cradle of Stars descended—a living relic from the early age of the Zelith Empire. A ship rarely seen beyond ceremonial purposes, and never during wartime.
The descent was a message to all: Elder Xiran had arrived.
As the Cradle touched down within the citadel's courtyard, its defense pylons snapped outward and locked into place with glacial slowness. Cloaked figures—members of the Praetorium Guard, their visors polished obsidian, their robes stitched with runes of deterrence—marched down the golden causeway.
At their center stood Xiran, high of brow and long of stride, draped in shimmering thought-silk and leaning on a staff that thrummed with void resonance. His arrival was as silent as it was devastating.
Commander Vekra saluted stiffly.
"My lord, we weren't informed—"
"You are informed now," Xiran intoned, voice like crackling frost. "Where are the suspects? Where are the civilians? Where are the warriors you trust least?"
Vekra gestured toward the subterranean sector. "The Inferno Squad has already begun interrogations."
Xiran's lip curled into the faintest smirk. "Good. I wish to see what they see."
Sector D-9 Interrogation Chambers — The Inferno Squad Investigates
The chamber stank of nervous sweat and recycled air. A trail of silent, hunched civilians was being dragged one by one into the Inferno Squad's temporary staging area. Screams—brief, sharp, and final—rang out at irregular intervals.
Inferno Commander Sahrak, helm removed to reveal a face tattooed with flame-runes, stared at a shimmering data-sigil projected by a field technician.
"Two outliers," he muttered, tapping the images of Tamun and Je'ka. "Medical scans are clean. But blood stress levels don't match memory logs. Speech pattern variances. Too… perfect."
His lieutenant leaned in. "Spies?"
Sahrak's eyes narrowed. "Or something worse."
Meanwhile, Tamun and Je'ka, deep in the barracks with lower-ranking officers, were playing their roles with needle-fine precision. Je'ka laughed when expected, Tamun remained modest and alert—always helpful, never suspicious. But the eyes of soldiers lingered. A corporal whispered that they "weren't like the rest." A tech noted Je'ka's unusually fast reaction time.
It wouldn't take much longer before someone decided to test their story harder.
Ruthen's Hideout — Preparation for Blood
Down in the shadow-choked canyons of Sector Theta, Ruthen stood before Esh'tal, now fully awakened. Its eight segmented limbs flexed soundlessly. The shimmering black of its chitin rippled with faint glyph-light. Its breath hissed like escaping gas through an unseen vent. Eyes—too many, too aware—blinked in slow synchronization.
Ruthen, her massive frame framed in flickering command-lights, had donned her war harness. Ritual scars traced her jaw, her left arm now fully bonded with the Neural Gauntlet, pulsing with command threads linked to Esh'tal's cerebrum.
"They are closing in," she murmured, speaking more to herself than her bioweapon. "The Inferno Squad will uncover the twins soon. If they fall, you will wipe their memory cores from the debris."
She keyed a secure channel.
To Tamun and Je'ka: "Phase Two is compromised. The Inferno Squad is circling your scent. You are to divert suspicion immediately. Leak fabricated intel about a false Mahasimu enclave beneath Venter's western ridge. Keep their gaze there. If they bring you in for direct interrogation… delay at all costs. Understood?"
Tamun replied coldly: "Understood, Ruthen. We'll hold the thread."
Northern Observation Deck — Elder Xiran Watches the Fire Below
High above the chaos, Elder Xiran stood at the edge of the citadel's observation deck. Beneath him, anti-orbital turrets and deep-sensor pylons spun in perfect rhythm, while the chaos of an escalating siege bled across the horizon.
He turned to his Praetorium Guard.
"If they are truly here," he said, "we are already too late."
A subordinate approached. "Shall we begin excavation of the Great Crypts?"
Xiran's gaze turned to the hollow mountain in the far distance—the sealed vault, encased in layer upon layer of psionic plating, unbroken since the empire's founding seven million years ago.
"Not yet. But prepare the Cipher Keys. If the Mahasimu pierce Venter's core, we unleash what lies beneath."
Voidspire – En Route Communication with Admiral Kia
Within the icy shadows of Voidspire's sanctum, Vaelora sat with legs crossed, her armor adorned with flickering rune-threads as she activated her secure transmission link. Admiral Kia's crimson-hued face appeared moments later, dark and simmering with tension.
"They're closing in on your agents," Kia said without preamble.
"I know," Vaelora replied. "I need them to buy me another rotation. Once the Inferno Squad is misled, we'll strike."
Kia leaned forward. "Xiran is on the surface now. That changes everything."
"I'm counting on it," Vaelora said. Her voice dropped. "If he opens the Great Crypts… we may not need to conquer the Zelith. They'll destroy themselves for us."
Vice General Tano, who loomed behind Kia, offered a rare comment: "And if they control what lies within?"
Vaelora smirked, leaning into the shadows. "Then we learn from the ashes."