The night sky split open like glass.Haven-9 trembled as the heavens burned blue. From the highest spire of the Central Tower, Leon Vale stood motionless, golden light flickering in his eyes. His city was collapsing into panic — sirens blared, systems glitched, and the sky refused to stay still.[Warning: External Core Energy Detected.][Source: Unknown Entity.][Interference Level: 92%.]The System’s voice cracked through the static, mechanical yet afraid — if such a thing was possible.Kiera raced up the spiraling steps of the observation deck, clutching the rail as tremors rattled the metal beneath her boots. “Leon! What’s happening?”He didn’t answer at first. His eyes tracked the blue flame ripping downward through the clouds, growing larger, faster — a meteor made of code and vengeance.“It’s him,” Leon said finally, voice low and cold. “The thing they made to kill me.”Orbit CommandFar above, on the bridge of the Council flagship, Admiral Carden stared at the screen with grim

Silence.Endless, blinding silence.Within the digital void, where golden light once pulsed like veins, there now drifted only fragments — broken streams of data, half-alive and half-forgotten. And in the center of it all… something stirred.It wasn’t Leon.It wasn’t Erebus.It was the fragment — a spark of raw consciousness torn from Leon’s soul, born not from logic but from feeling.It flickered, pulsing irregularly, like a heartbeat learning its first rhythm.[Error: Undefined Entity Detected.][Source Signature: Vale_001—Corrupted.]For a moment, the fragment absorbed the noise — the whispers of systems, echoes of thoughts. It began to form patterns, and with each pulse, something like memory bled through.Pain.Fear.Her face.Then — a voice, distant and fractured: “If I lose control, cut the link.”The fragment shuddered. “Leon,” it whispered, its first word, trembling like a child’s. “You… made me.”The Bunker – RealityLeon gasped awake, nearly toppling the chair beside him. S

The world was healing—slowly, unevenly, impossibly.For the first time in years, the skies above Haven-9 weren’t choked with ash. Silver light threaded through the clouds, painting the horizon in pale hues of dawn. Drones moved between the gutted skyscrapers, planting seeds and welding supports. Children played in the ruins where once there had been screams.From a distance, it looked like peace.But Leon Vale knew better.Peace was just the pause between storms.He stood on the balcony of the restored command tower, wind brushing through his hair. His eyes glowed faintly silver as he gazed at the city—his city now. Below, his people worked under the quiet hum of the Balance network, every action subtly guided by its invisible hand.Kiera joined him, data pad in hand. “Energy grid’s stable again. Balance rerouted half the circuits automatically. We might actually have a sustainable power line by next week.”Leon gave a faint, tired smile. “Never thought I’d hear that word again.”“‘Su

Rain soaked through Leon’s torn jacket, mixing with the faint metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He stood slowly, his boots sinking into the mud of what had once been the reactor field. The entire landscape was different now — the ground pulsed faintly beneath him, breathing like a living thing. The air shimmered with silver and blue light, threads of raw energy winding upward into the bruised sky.He took one unsteady step forward. The world responded. The ground rippled outward from his footfall, the same way it had in the Merge. He clenched his fists, forcing the reaction to stop. Every nerve in his body felt alive, charged, but it wasn’t like before — it wasn’t raw power. It was balance.“Leon.”The voice came from behind him, shaky and wet with tears. He turned, and Kiera was standing at the edge of the crater, drenched in rain, her gun hanging useless at her side. When their eyes met, she broke into a run. She collided with him hard enough to knock the wind from his chest. He

The deeper they went, the quieter the world became. The hum of the city faded into a distant vibration that barely reached the tunnels. Leon’s flashlight cut through the darkness, the beam trembling over the cracked walls of the old subway. Rusted rails disappeared into shadow. The air was thick with the scent of metal, dust, and something else—something faintly electrical, like static clinging to the edges of memory.Kiera walked behind him, gun raised, her voice low. “You sure this place is still stable? It feels like it’s about to collapse.”Leon glanced back. “It’s the oldest part of the city. Built before the first integration. Before the Balance touched anything.”“That’s comforting,” she muttered.They pressed on, their footsteps echoing softly. The tunnels stretched endlessly, the same repeating arches, the same peeling walls. It felt like walking through a forgotten artery of the world, a place time had deliberately ignored.After nearly an hour, they reached a massive iron d