Yanis stood alone at the edge of an ancient faultline: the ruins of Lazrith Sector, long sealed by the Authority, marked as cursed ground. No Reclaimer dared enter. No Gravepath survived long there.
But she wasn't here for either side.
She was hunting a myth.
> [Objective: Locate "Forgemother" – Status: Last Known Coordinates Logged 4,206 Cycles Ago]
[Access Level Required: PRIME-BRANCH / HERETIC CODE]
Her implants hummed as she bypassed the memory gates.
Dead walls whispered — flickers of past conversations looping endlessly in fractured data.
> "She tried to remove it."
"No one severs a Seed from a host and lives."
"She nearly did."
"She almost killed the King."
---
Underground Facility – Lazrith Core
A rusted steel door opened with a psychic push.
Inside, Yanis found bones that still glowed. Machines that looked alive but didn't move. And in the center, on a massive wall-screen:
Her face.
A woman with gray braids, sharp eyes, and a mechanical crown fused into her skull. One arm was missing. One eye was replaced with an echo crystal, still blinking.
> "Hello, Yanis Drae," said the pre-recorded voice.
"You've come far… and late."
Yanis drew in a breath.
> "Forgemother."
---
> "If you are hearing this, I am likely dead. Or worse—unlinked."
"I tried to save the King. I tried to cut the Seed from him before it took root in his soul."
The screen flickered. The woman leaned closer.
> "But I failed. Because I made the same mistake you are making now."
> "You believe he can be saved."
Yanis clenched her fist.
> "He can. He just purified the third fragment."
> "So did he… once."
"That's what the Seed does, child. It lets you believe you're winning… until it's too late."
---
The screen shifted to show a diagram: Kael's brain—his past version. Twelve fragments wrapped like vines around his consciousness. At the center: a black node labeled "Origin Core".
> "The King never held the Seed. He was its first body."
"He didn't choose the Seed. The Seed chose him."
Yanis staggered.
> "If that's true… if he was born from it…"
> "Then removing it will kill him."
The Forgemother paused.
> "Or worse—it will set the Seed free. No host. No control. No emotion to bind it."
---
Suddenly, the facility's lights flared.
> [LIVE SIGNAL DETECTED – Echo Core Awakening]
[Voice Recognition: ACTIVE ENTITY — "FORGEMOTHER"]
Yanis turned fast, blade rising.
A mechanical limb twitched from the shadows.
A metallic voice rasped.
> "You brought the Tyrant back... didn't you?"
From the dark stepped the Forgemother herself — ancient, partly machine, barely alive… but not dead.
> "Then I'm not here to help you save him."
"I'm here to help you end him."
---