Chapter 36 – Firebreak
The storm had not yet passed.
Even as the ash-laden winds howled through the shattered ruins of what had once been Meridian Outpost 09, Aaron Velcris stood amidst the carnage with his cloak torn and his gauntlets bloodied, eyes glowing like twin embers locked in the twilight between sanity and fury. Reality twisted in spirals around him—energy pulses thrumming from the RS-I interface floating near his vision.
> Reality Sync Interface (RS-I): Combat Sync Level: 58.97% Cognitive Fusion: Active Symbiosis (Stage II): Stable New Skill Gained: "Firebreak Pulse"
It was far from over.
"Aaron!" Major Kiera's voice broke through the mental fog, blood trailing down the side of her temple as she sprinted across the cratered battlefield. "The underground arc core—it's destabilizing. If we don't stop it now, it'll take out half the basin!"
He turned his head slowly, gaze locking with hers as the system pulsed against his spine like a heartbeat from a different world.
"Then we stop it," Aaron said, his voice low, firm.
"No. You stop it," she insisted, placing a shaking hand on his chest. "You're the only one the RS-I will let near it. We can't interface with the energy node since your Symbiosis fused with the Arc structure."
He could feel the truth in her words before she even finished speaking.
Ever since his Symbiosis with the Fragment of Vel—the hidden code buried in the depths of the ruined Velcrian archives—the very laws of energy manipulation had become fluid under his touch. Where others saw chaotic plasma and unstable currents, Aaron saw purpose. Order. Control.
And the core was calling to him.
He dropped into the underground corridor without another word, the scent of ionized dust and scorched synthetics filling his lungs. His boots crunched on shattered ferroglass as he passed melted security drones and flickering emergency lights.
> Warning: Core Destabilization Reached Critical Threshold. Estimated Detonation in 14:22… 14:21…
The AI voice was eerily calm, far too clinical for what felt like impending annihilation.
Aaron reached the arc core chamber. Blue light pulsed erratically from a spherical engine wrapped in layers of crumbling alloy and twitching containment rods. Inside, a vortex of fire, ice, and raw void crackled like a barely-restrained star.
His RS-I HUD flared.
> Interface Detected: Central Arc Node Direct Symbiosis Link Required Proceed? Y/N
"Yes," Aaron whispered, and placed his hand on the pulse chamber.
Time shattered.
---
Symbiosis Lock Engaged. Reality Anchor Sync Initiated.
Suddenly, he wasn't standing in a collapsing base.
He was drifting.
Drifting inside a memory coded by an alien intelligence—some echo left behind in the Arc system. He saw civilizations devoured by their own greed, starships cracked apart by the very engines they built, and survivors choosing to imprison power rather than use it.
It wasn't just energy—it was will. A living thing. A sentient force seeking a host strong enough to command it without being consumed.
The Firebreak.
That was what it had always been called. Not a name, but a burden. A responsibility. The Firebreak didn't destroy. It severed. Cleansed. Created distance between annihilation and redemption.
"Who are you?" a voice boomed through the data storm.
"I am Aaron Velcris."
"Then prove it."
The next instant, pain surged through every nerve as tendrils of the arc core's mind wrapped around his consciousness like molten vines. It tested him. Probed him. Showed him his fears. Liam's betrayal. Kiera's near-death. His mother's screams during the Velcrian purge. Every doubt, every shame, amplified tenfold.
But Aaron didn't fall.
He reached inward, not just for strength, but for purpose.
"I'm not here to run. I'm here to change everything."
---
Arc Core Interface Synchronized. Energy Realignment: 94%... 97%... 100%.
A deafening surge of light burst outward.
The core stabilized.
When Aaron opened his eyes, the chamber lights had dimmed, and the tremors were gone. He staggered out of the corridor and emerged into the broken sky above.
Kiera gasped when she saw him. "You did it?"
He nodded, collapsing to one knee as his body shuddered.
> New Title Acquired: "Bearer of the Firebreak" Skill Gained: Firebreak Pulse (Class-Ω) Description: Releases a purging wave that severs enemy energy connections while shielding allies from overload. Can only be used when Symbiosis exceeds 60%.
"It's not over," he said, standing up slowly. "This was only one node. There are more... all across the sectors."
Kiera narrowed her eyes. "You mean these weren't isolated?"
He turned to face her, eyes lit with new understanding. "No. This is a grid. Someone—something—is reactivating the old Arc network."
And they weren't the only ones who knew.
---
Far above, in orbit above the planet, aboard a cloaked command vessel forged in the Void Sectors, an obsidian figure watched the scene unfold through a crimson viewport.
"Subject Velcris has awakened the Firebreak," the figure intoned. "Phase II can commence."
A second voice—mechanized, cruel—responded, "Shall we begin mobilization?"
"Not yet. Let him think he has time. Let him rally. It will make his fall... poetic."
---
Back in Meridian, Aaron and Kiera regrouped with what remained of Fireteam Nexus.
"You're not the same," said Omar quietly, staring at Aaron's burning gaze.
"No," Aaron said. "And I don't intend to be."
---
>End of Chapter 36-