Location: Northern Outskirts, Veiled Ones EncampmentTime: Three Days After the Council's Division
The wind carried a strange frequency that morning.
Kaelen had felt it in his dreams—like a voice submerged beneath a frozen lake. Familiar, and yet unplaceable. He stood beneath the withered tree at the edge of the encampment, eyes closed, listening to the static pulses behind his thoughts.
Then he felt it.
A ripple in the neural stream.
Someone was calling him.
The Message Arrives
In the center of camp, a glowing sphere drifted down from the sky—small, silver, humming with ancient code. The Veiled Ones raised their weapons instinctively.
Kaelen stepped forward, hand raised.
"No. This one… it's not a weapon."
He placed his hand on the sphere.
It unfolded like petals of light—projecting a holographic image into the air.
An Isu stood before them.
Older than the rest. Cloaked in ancient ceremonial garb faded by time, their skin etched with dormant glyphs. Their voice came soft, deliberate, neither male nor female.
"Kaelen. You do not know me, but I knew him—Vael'Ruun. I stood beside him when the stars turned red. I argued with him when he chose exile over conquest. I watched him vanish... and now I see you, and I know he did not fail."
Kaelen stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The Isu's gaze met his. Even in projection, it carried a strange kindness.
"My name is Orisynth. I was once a keeper of memories. Now I am a traitor twice over. I send this from beneath the Cradle, knowing I may not live to send another."
Kaelen's breath caught.
"The council is no longer divided. Qyretha has betrayed us all. Zarxes marches now. Not just to destroy you—but to erase Vael's legacy entirely."
Kaelen clenched his fists. "Then we fight."
But Orisynth raised a spectral hand.
"Listen first. Zarxes does not come alone. He brings the Obelisks of Binding—devices used during the early rebellions to neutralize hybrid minds. If activated near your Awakened… their thoughts will fracture."
A cold chill ran through Kaelen's spine. "They'll break."
"Or worse," Orisynth said. "They will forget who they are… and remember only what the Isu programmed them to be."
The Secret Code
Before the message ended, Orisynth reached into their robes and pulled forth an object—encoded in light, but ancient in structure. A cube, etched with sigils of Vael's old sanctuary.
"I send you this cipher, hidden in the quantum stream of this projection. It contains the harmonic counter-code to the Obelisks. If deployed at the right moment, it will disable them… and reveal their operators."
Lysara narrowed her eyes. "Why help us? You'll be marked for death."
Orisynth nodded. "I already am. But if Vael was right—if you are his echo and more—then perhaps it is worth dying knowing that humanity will not face chains again."
The projection faded.
The sphere dropped to the ground and dissolved, leaving only silence.
Preparing for the Storm
Kaelen stood still, the image of Orisynth etched into his thoughts.
He turned to Tyreon. "Can you extract the cipher?"
The Isu-engineer nodded. "I'll need time. And absolute focus."
Kaelen turned to Rynn. "Double patrols. Defensive barriers on the southern slope."
Then, to Lysara: "Begin evacuation protocols for the young ones. If the Obelisks breach the ridge, I want every Awakened hidden deep underground."
She didn't argue.
He stepped back, breathing slowly.
The path ahead was growing darker, yes—but now there was light in the shadow. A single voice from the past who believed in him.
Not as a weapon.
Not as a construct.
But as hope.