The checkpoint gates creaked open with mechanical reluctance, revealing a courtyard of rusted platforms and armored barricades. Beyond them, the full expanse of the Sentinel Warden base emerged: a sunken fortress carved into the skeletal remains of a pre-collapse satellite silo, half-swallowed by the earth. Enormous antennae jutted out like broken spears, their tips flickering with dormant power.
Kael stood still, Core pulsing quietly within his chest. The taste of the earlier conflict still lingered on the air — the quick clash, the smoldering ground, the recognition in Commander Veyra's eyes.
Veyra's voice broke the silence as she walked ahead. "You're lucky I believed you. If you'd lied about that Core resonance, I'd have dropped you where you stood."
Kael matched her pace. "You still could."
She glanced at him, then looked away. "If you knew what we gave up to contain these things, you'd understand."
Aren, walking behind, muttered, "Starting to get the impression the Wardens are more than border guards."
"You'd be right." Veyra led them through a narrow passage into the heart of the base.
---
The interior was unlike anything Kael expected. Instead of cold military uniformity, the walls were etched with murals — ancient, near-religious depictions of glowing cores, titanic figures, and what looked like humans being torn apart by beams of light. In one image, a group of figures resembling the Wardens stood between two worlds: one crumbling, one seething with life and chaos.
"These are echoes," Drex said quietly, eyes scanning the walls. "Old records from the collapse."
"Not just records," Veyra said, pausing before a mural where a glowing, crystalline figure reached toward a bound human host. "Warnings."
---
She took them into a domed chamber where a holographic globe hovered in the center, flickering with live feeds of distant zones. A translucent projection of the world spun slowly. Veyra dismissed the others with a gesture, leaving only Kael's group and a few guards.
"You said you're looking for Tasha Elen," she said. "She's not just a gene-scribe. She's the last living Warden researcher who interfaced with a stable Core."
Kael's breath caught. "Where is she?"
"She left us six months ago. Said she had a vision — one she couldn't ignore. Something about a new Core waking up that didn't belong to the old systems. A rogue signal, sent not to destroy, but to… bond."
Kael felt the Core inside him stir at her words.
"She said if it bonded right, it could create something new. Change the game."
"And if it bonded wrong?" Lira asked.
"She didn't answer."
---
Veyra walked to the center console and tapped in a sequence. A burst of static preceded a flickering video feed: a woman with short silver hair, fierce eyes, and hands stained with bio-ink was speaking into a recorder. Tasha Elen.
"…Core resonance is growing unpredictable. But I saw him — the boy in my vision. Core inside, yet unburned. He doesn't just wield it — it responds to him. Like it's… learning. Like it's alive."
Kael's throat tightened.
"I'm going south. The ruins at Silerath contain the schematics for Talent Transferal. If the boy finds me… I'll know it's real."
The feed cut out.
"She's headed for Silerath?" Kael asked.
Veyra nodded. "It's an old research trench. Deep, flooded, mostly collapsed. No one goes there except scavengers and death cults."
"We'll go," Kael said.
Veyra narrowed her eyes. "If you do, know this: you carry a Core signature we've seen only once before — and it destroyed half a continent."
She stepped closer. "But maybe this time, it's different."
---
Outside, as the team prepped for departure, Lira joined Kael by the edge of the collapsed courtyard.
"You okay?"
He didn't answer at first. "Every time I get closer to the truth, it gets darker."
She nudged his arm. "Then we light it up ourselves."
He managed a smile. "Yeah."
Above them, the sky rumbled with distant thunder. South, past the rusted hills, lay Silerath — and with it, answers.
But the Core inside Kael beat like a second heart, and it wasn't just responding anymore.
It was… waiting.
---