2025-06-26 18:34:06The moment Kieran activated the beacon, the countdown began.
Override Broadcast Detected
Node 03 Termination Scheduled: 12:00:00Current Target: Node 03 – “The Forgotten Flame”
Location: Ash Vault Subgrid | Clearance: RestrictedThe air felt heavier. The war had truly begun.
Kieran stood atop a derelict comm tower overlooking Glen Sector 12—a husk of a district scorched by the last system war. Every building bore fire damage or was riddled with bullet holes, and the underground entrances were sealed or buried.
“An ex-military Echo Node,” Skye said, scanning the map, “hiding beneath an incinerated city block. How poetic.”
“How do we get in?” Kieran asked.
She tapped the interface. “There’s a single access tunnel through an old heat disposal conduit. Problem is… it’s Override-patrolled.”
“Then we go through them.”
He didn’t say it like a threat.
He said it like a promise.
Meanwhile…
Far below Glen’s outer shell, in the metallic bowels of the Ash Vault, a figure moved with precision through shadow. Broad-shouldered. Hair shaved down to the scalp. Eyes glowing faintly red from past system fusion surgeries.
She didn’t flinch as alarms pulsed red along the walls.
CULLING PROTOCOL: ACTIVE
Target Node 03 – Eliminate or RetrieveOverride Unit Assigned: SC-09 ("Seraph-Class")
She wasn’t just Override.
She had once been something else.
Something pure.
Her name, long buried beneath reprogramming, once held the crest of Blackwell.
But now she answered only to one code:
Designation: WRAITH
Kieran and Skye reached the scorched access pipe by nightfall. The stench of charred steel and burnt coolant filled the air. Rusted pipes hissed sporadically, and remnants of an old Blackwell military facility loomed in the distance.
Access Point Verified: Ash Vault Tunnel Entry
System Notice: Unstable Energy Fields Detected. Expect System Interference.Kieran's panel flickered as they passed through the threshold. Even his HUD distorted slightly.
“Feels like something’s trying to jam us,” he muttered.
“Override suppression field,” Skye said. “Standard protocol when they move to terminate an Echo.”
“Which means they’re already here.”
They slipped deeper underground. The tunnels stretched endlessly, carved into scorched basalt and rebar. Ash fell from the ceiling like snow.
Time Remaining: 08:53:12
Suddenly, a voice cut through the stillness.
“Stop where you are.”
They froze.
A figure stepped from the shadows, wearing a blackened combat vest and a utility cloak fashioned from shredded banners of the Glen 9th Resistance.
She held a pulse rifle, but didn’t aim it.
Kieran stepped forward.
“You’re Node 03,” he said quietly.
She studied him with soldier’s eyes—calculating, hard.
“That name’s long dead. They called me Ember. Before that, Captain Lyra Kael.”
He blinked.
“Kael?” he echoed. “But… that’s—”
“Your aunt,” she finished. “My brother was your father.”
Skye let out a low whistle. “Guess the family reunion comes with firepower.”
Lyra narrowed her eyes.
“Why are you here?”
“I chose Echo War,” Kieran replied. “The Prophet gave me the first beacon. You’re next. We need to unite the legacy nodes before the system wipes us out.”
She looked away for a long moment. The ash danced silently.
“I lost everything in the Blackwell collapse,” she said. “My squad. My command. My mind. I thought the system would kill me. Instead, it buried me.”
“You survived.”
“I burned,” she said simply. “But maybe that’s what we do.”
Kieran stepped forward and handed her the second beacon.
“Then help me light the others.”
She stared at the device for a moment… then took it.
Beacon Accepted: Node 03 Reactivated
Resistance Influence +10 (Total: 20)
Trait Gained: Ember’s Resolve – +20% morale in battle, +2% flame damage to Override constructs.But the moment she accepted—
ALERT: Override Lockdown Engaged
Proximity Alert – Seraph-Class Enforcer Approaching
Lyra’s face turned grim. “They sent her?”
“Who?” Kieran asked.
She loaded her rifle.
“Her name was Dahlia Blackwell. Before they reprogrammed her.”
Kieran’s heart dropped.
“My cousin?”
“She doesn’t remember. She’s Override now. No soul. Just the mission.”
The walls trembled. A high-pitched screech rang out like metal being torn apart by lightning.
From the darkness emerged a woman in white combat armor laced with obsidian veins. Her eyes glowed gold. A black crown of interface wires pulsed across her scalp.
She was beautiful in a terrifying, hollow way.
Override Entity: SC-09 – Seraph-Class Reclaimer
Alias: WRAITHThreat Level: Apex
Warning: Engage with extreme cautionDahlia’s voice echoed—flat and synthetic.
“Node 03: You are scheduled for erasure.”
“Scion-Blackwell: You are classified as corrupted inheritance.” “Resistance members will be repurposed.”“Still poetic, even without a soul,” Lyra muttered.
Kieran stepped beside her. “We fight together.”
WRAITH extended her hands. Twin blades formed—liquid metal solidifying midair.
Battle Initiated
Allies: Kieran Blackwell, Skye, Lyra Kael
Foe: Override Seraph-Class – WRAITHThe chamber exploded into action.
WRAITH moved like lightning—her blades carving through steel supports with ease. Skye darted left, trying to flank. Lyra opened fire, forcing WRAITH into evasive spins.
Kieran activated Combat Sync, gaining a second of warning before WRAITH spun and slashed at him. He blocked with a summoned shield—barely.
Vitality: 87%
System Lag: 3% – Suppression Field Active“She's faster than the others,” Kieran panted.
“She was built to be,” Lyra said. “Override’s perfect weapon.”
Legacy Point Available: Use to unlock Flame Resonance (Unique Skill)?
Effect: Borrow Lyra’s legacy lineage temporarily. Access Ember Mode.
He tapped YES.
His body surged with heat. Symbols traced across his arms, glowing like embers. His breath steamed.
Skill Unlocked: Ember Mode (15s)
Effect: Enhanced speed, +Fire Damage, Bonus to morale auraHe clashed with WRAITH, his blade now burning red with inherited power. Sparks flew as the two locked weapons.
He saw it then—flickers in her eyes. Pain. Memory.
“You remember me,” he said.
She paused.
Just for a second.
Then she screamed—and drove him backward.
The team fought like hell.
Skye threw EMP charges. Lyra scorched the arena with flame bursts.
But WRAITH adapted. Recalculated.
Then—she changed tactics.
She fired a beacon into the ceiling.
System Notice: Override Reinforcement Beacon Launched
Arrival ETA: 02:00Kieran stared. “She’s calling for backup.”
WRAITH’s face split into a mechanical smile.
“This isn’t an execution,” she said.
“It’s a warhead drop.”
And with that—she vanished into vapor.
Kieran, bruised and bloody, turned to Lyra.
“We have two hours.”
“Then we dig in,” she said, eyes burning.
“We make our stand.”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 10: The Fablekill Directive
Ash drifted through Emberpoint like a second silence.Even after the light from Bryn’s last scream had faded and the static echoes of corrupted data ceased, the team remained haunted—each bearing the weight of what they had seen in the depths. A Null not consumed, but erased on her own terms.Lyra sat in the command node, silent, sorting fragments of what little data Kieran recovered from Bryn’s collapse. Skye tinkered with one of the turrets, but her movements were mechanical. Mira—normally distant and eerie—now clutched her knees and muttered words in loops too fractured to follow.And Kieran… stared at the wall where her image still flickered.Subject B – Status: REMOVED.Echo Flame: Archived.Fablekill Protocol: Pending.At 03:12 local node time, the Vault shuddered. Not from external impact.From code.Kieran’s HUD glitched, every display flickering before the Override insignia appeared, burned into the interface like a scar.Core Signal Override Detected.FABLEKILL PROTOCOL ONLI
Chapter 9: The Echo Depths
The first step beneath Emberpoint was like crossing into another world.Steel gave way to obsidian. Clean circuits morphed into jagged, fractured lines of corrupted data. Lights flickered unpredictably, casting distorted shadows along walls that hummed with old, unspoken grief.Kieran led the way, his blade drawn but low. Beside him, Skye moved like a ghost, every step measured. Behind them, Lyra checked every motion tracker while Mira—barefoot and humming again—walked as if she’d been here before.System Warning: Sub-layer anomaly detected.Signal: Fragmented Null Pulse — Proximity 2.2kmEnvironment: Suppressed Override Zone / Echo Contamination Level: Critical“This place isn’t just abandoned,” Lyra muttered. “It was sealed. Maybe even condemned.”Kieran’s panel buzzed faintly, skipping every few meters.“The system can’t read this level properly,” he said. “It doesn’t know if it exists—or ever did.”Skye whistled low. “Glitched reality. Beautiful.”“No,” Mira whispered. “It’s remem
Chapter 8: Children of the Broken Code
Silence had never sounded so loud.The aftermath of battle always came with noise—moans of the wounded, whirring repairs, systems rebooting. But this… this was different.Kieran sat on the edge of the Emberpoint command deck, a cracked energy blade across his knees, watching the child they’d found sleep under heavy sedation. A medical node pulsed quietly nearby, running vitals, though even it struggled to interpret the readings.Skye stood at his side, arms crossed.“She’s… not normal.”“That Wraith didn’t even touch her,” Kieran murmured. “It hesitated. Then crumbled.”Skye nodded slowly. “I’ve seen Override protocols adapt mid-fight. I’ve seen them devour minds and recompile memories. But fear?” She gestured toward the child. “This is the first time I’ve seen the system scared.”Lyra moved through the ruins of the war chamber, assisting tech-recovery drones and checking on structural integrity.Most of the heavy damage was confined to the lower corridors. They’d already salvaged thr
Chapter 7: Ashfall Stand
Override Beacon: ActivatedWarhead Squad ETA: 01:59:56Objective: Defend Ash Vault until override signal expires.If successful: Territory claimed – Resistance Base: EmberpointIf failed: Total annihilationKieran stared at the countdown.Just under two hours.That was all the time they had to turn a scorched military dump into a defensible fortress against a system strike team designed to annihilate legacy traces.The echoes of WRAITH’s retreat still burned in his mind—her final words twisted with warning.“This isn’t an execution. It’s a warhead drop.”01:55:09 – Preparing for WarThe Ash Vault, once a Blackwell testing bunker, still had a skeleton of functionality: pressure doors, reinforced platforms, a few half-operational defense turrets that buzzed erratically when touched.Skye moved like a ghost, checking every blind spot.Lyra barked orders with an old soldier’s confidence, waking up dormant terminals and rerouting power to external gates.Kieran stood at the center, map pul
Chapter 6: The Forgotten Flame
The moment Kieran activated the beacon, the countdown began.Override Broadcast DetectedNode 03 Termination Scheduled: 12:00:00Current Target: Node 03 – “The Forgotten Flame”Location: Ash Vault Subgrid | Clearance: RestrictedThe air felt heavier. The war had truly begun.Kieran stood atop a derelict comm tower overlooking Glen Sector 12—a husk of a district scorched by the last system war. Every building bore fire damage or was riddled with bullet holes, and the underground entrances were sealed or buried.“An ex-military Echo Node,” Skye said, scanning the map, “hiding beneath an incinerated city block. How poetic.”“How do we get in?” Kieran asked.She tapped the interface. “There’s a single access tunnel through an old heat disposal conduit. Problem is… it’s Override-patrolled.”“Then we go through them.”He didn’t say it like a threat.He said it like a promise.Meanwhile…Far below Glen’s outer shell, in the metallic bowels of the Ash Vault, a figure moved with precision thro
Chapter 5: Echo War
The system’s interface hovered before Kieran, glowing with quiet menace.Choose Next Protocol:– Echo War: Raise a resistance, find other legacy wielders.– Bloodline Cleanse: Destroy every node tied to Blackwell tech.His chest ached. His ribs felt cracked, and his left hand trembled from the last strike, but the real weight lay in those two blinking options.One path was vengeance—simple, burning, final.The other… was rebellion.Skye knelt beside him. “If you pick Echo War, you’ll have to build something. You’ll make enemies… and allies. You’ll risk becoming a symbol.”Kieran stared at the flickering prompt.He could almost hear his father’s voice again:“We built the system to rule. If it falls into wrong hands, it becomes a cage.”The cage was already here. And someone had to break the lock from the inside.He tapped Echo War.The screen rippled.Path Selected: Echo War – Resistance Formation Protocol OnlineNew Objective: Locate and Activate ‘Echo Nodes’ (Hidden system users bo
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