. The days following the meeting between Prime-Dexūs and the other leaders were harsher than anything the soldiers of the Edge had known before. Training drills that once pushed them to their limits now drove them past exhaustion. The training fields rang with marching feet, barked orders, and the low groans of tired bodies that refused to collapse only because collapse meant punishment. The air around the barracks was thick with tension and the sharp scent of coolant from the defense drones that patrolled the perimeter. Lorekeeper Veydrān carried out every order Prime-Dexūs gave, but even he could feel the weight settling over the training yards. The soldiers no longer hid their frustration. Some cursed the day they were born into this world. Others whispered the same name over and over with bitterness. Aēllion. °Aēllion-197. Voidbōrn. The runaway. They spoke his name like a curse and sometimes like a warning, as if he had doomed them all the moment he crossed into the real

Aēllion’s POV I woke to shouting. Not the kind that comes from danger or alarms, but the sharp, irritated yelling of someone who had been awake far too long and had lost all patience with the universe. “You owe me, man!” Threi snapped through her datapad. “I don’t wanna hear any excuses.” There was a pause. I could only hear her side of the conversation, but I imagined whoever was on the other end shrinking with every word. “You don't want to get on my bad side, Lou.” she continued. “Yeah. Thought so.” She ended the call with a sharp tap and muttered something under her breath that I suspected was not polite in any known language. I groaned softly and rolled onto my back. My body felt stiff from sleeping on the couch. Every muscle protested as I sat up. I rubbed my eyes, then stretched my arms over my head until my shoulders cracked. Threi turned toward me the moment she heard the sound. “Well, look who finally decided to wake up,” she said. Her voice carried its us

Aēllion slept on a thin mattress near the wall, one arm thrown over his face. His dreams were restless, filled with moving lights and falling sensations. He was deep in sleep when a light tap landed on his shoulder. He groaned softly and turned his face into the small pillow beneath his head. The room was dark, quiet except for the faint hum of computers coming from another part of the apartment. Another tap came, firmer this time. “Aēllion,” a low voice whispered. “Wake up.” He cracked one eye open, annoyed and confused, ready to snap at whoever was disturbing him. The shape above him shifted, and he recognized Threi’s outline in the dim light. “What?” he muttered. She leaned closer. “Keep your voice down.” Aēllion blinked the sleep from his eyes. Sira was asleep a short distance away, curled on her side, her blue hair spread across the pillow. She looked peaceful, unaware of anything stirring around her. Threi placed a finger to her lips. “Shh, don’t wake her,” sh

.. The last thing Lougard saw before darkness took him was Aēllion collapsing nearby, his body hitting the ground in a limp heap as security drones hovered overhead. Then everything went black Lougard woke with a sharp gasp. Pain flared through his wrists and shoulders as he struggled instinctively, only to realize he was tied to a chair. Thick restraints wrapped tightly around his arms and legs, biting into his skin. His heart slammed against his ribs, fast and uneven. The room was dark and cold. A single bright bulb hung from the ceiling, flooding the space with harsh white light. It buzzed faintly, like an insect that refused to die. And someone was watching him. A man stood just outside the circle of light, his face calm, almost curious. His eyes were sharp and focused, as if Lougard were nothing more than an experiment laid out in front of him. Lougard swallowed hard. His legs began to shake again, the same way they had in the vents, except now there was nowhere

The gun pressed harder against the back of Sira’s head.“Before I fry your brain like I did to your comrades,” the man said coldly, “tell me who you’re all working for. And what were you after in this facility?”Sira’s body shook despite her effort to stay still. Fear crawled through her chest, tense and suffocating, but she forced her voice to remain steady.“Fry my brain all you want,” she said. “I’d never tell you anything.”The man sighed, almost bored. “What a stubborn decision you’ve made.”His finger tightened on the trigger.A sudden burst of laserfire exploded through the room.The security drone Marian had hacked earlier swooped in from behind, firing rapidly at the man. He reacted instantly, twisting aside as shots scorched the air where he had been standing. He rolled, fired back, and barely missed the drone’s core.“Now’s your chance, Miss Sira,” Marian said quickly through the comms. “Push the yellow button at the edge.”Sira didn't hesitate.She spun toward the control