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Home / Urban / The Inheritance Protocol / 13. The Black Ring
13. The Black Ring
Author: Achie Ver
last update2025-08-05 23:56:01

The sun over the Sahara was like fire in the sky. It burned without mercy, painting the endless sand gold and white.

The heat shimmered, turning dunes into waves. The wind whispered dry secrets across the desert floor.

Kai Everhart stood at the edge of the helicopter ramp, looking out over the empty land. He wore black, his jacket flapping in the wind.

Beside him, Nova wiped sweat from her brow. Thorne stood behind them, arms crossed, squinting against the glare.

In the distance, there was nothing. No trees. No roads. No ruins. Just sand. And yet, beneath it, buried for decades, was The Black Ring.

A Lazarus site so secret it didn’t even appear in their oldest files. Oracle had only found it by chance, hidden in the corners of the Genesis Ledger.

It wasn’t marked as a vault. Not even a lab. Just one word: Sanctum.

“Are we sure it’s here?” Nova asked, her voice dry and low.

Kai nodded slowly. “Oracle tracked energy pulses from the last fragment. It’s underground. Deep.”

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  • 26. The Silence in the Signal

    The capsule hummed softly as it cut through the void, Earth’s blue curve growing larger in the porthole. But no one inside moved. No one spoke.Kai sat rigid in his seat, eyes fixed on the floor. The words gone, no trace still rang in his head.Linh’s breathing was unsteady, her hands still locked around the glowing tether that kept Amara alive.Nova finally broke the silence. “Oracle, explain away.”“The Mongolia signal cut out abruptly,” Oracle said. “Not like when the Gardener hides one. There’s no interference, no false echoes. It’s like?”“Like they stopped existing,” Dax muttered.“Yes,” Oracle admitted.Kai’s jaw clenched. “We were supposed to protect them.”The capsule entered the upper atmosphere, the hull rattling with the force of reentry. A glow built outside the porthole, turning from white to deep orange.Amara stirred weakly, whispering something Kai couldn’t catch. Linh leaned closer to her. “You’re safe. Just stay with me.”Nova’s eyes stayed on Kai. “We can’t save ev

  • 25. Flight Through the Green

    The ground shook harder, like a giant heartbeat thudding beneath their feet. The burning green eyes grew brighter, moving closer. The trees bent away as if bowing to whatever approached. Branches snapped, vines recoiled, and the air thickened with that sweet, choking scent.Kai felt the vibration through his boots. “Everyone move! Now!”Nova grabbed Dax’s arm and shoved him toward the nearest path. “Run!”Linh stood inside the sphere, holding Amara’s arm. A web of faint blue light stretched from her fingertips to the sphere’s surface, keeping Amara tethered to life. “I can’t move fast,” Linh warned, voice tight. “If I lose contact?”Kai cut her off. “Then you stay between me and Nova. We’ll clear the way.” The massive shape stepped into view, and the garden itself seemed to shudder.It was like nothing human eyes should see. A towering form of twisted bark and steel, draped in vines that pulsed with green light. Its head was a crown of jagged branches, and from its back grew dozens

  • 24. Garden in the Void

    The roar swallowed every other sound. The capsule shook so violently Kai thought the bolts would shear loose. Straps dug into his shoulders. The seat’s vibration rattled his teeth. Outside the narrow porthole, the launch tube blurred in streaks of black and steel, then faded to darkness.Nova’s voice was steady in his ear. “Pressure holding. We’re on track.”Dax was not steady. “We’re going up too fast. My stomach is somewhere down there.”Linh sat perfectly still, eyes half-closed. She didn’t seem to feel the shaking at all.Kai gripped the armrest. “Eyes open, everyone. We don’t know what’s waiting.”The pressure eased suddenly, and the roar faded. For a moment, silence. Then, a faint hum. Light spilled through the porthole, harsh and silver-white.They had broken the atmosphere. Kai leaned forward to see. Below them, Earth curved away, blue and white and alive. Above, the black stretched forever.Dax let out a slow breath. “I didn’t think I’d ever see this.”Nova was already check

  • 23. The Signal Beyond the Sky

    The SUV’s tires hissed over the damp road as the city of Buenos Aires faded into the distance. The morning light was brighter now, but inside the vehicle, everything felt darker.Kai’s hands were locked on the steering wheel. His eyes stayed on the horizon, but his mind was spinning. “Repeat that,” he said finally.Oracle’s voice crackled through the comm. “I said the heir’s signal split. One trace is still here on Earth, in Mongolia. The other is, registering from orbital coordinates.”Nova leaned forward from the back seat. “Orbital coordinates? As in space?”“Yes,” Oracle confirmed. “About thirty kilometers above Earth’s surface. Too low to be a natural satellite. Too high for any regular aircraft.”Sofia, still catching her breath from the escape, frowned. “So, one of your little special people is in space now?”“No,” Linh said softly. “Not in space. In orbit. There’s a difference.”Dax shifted uneasily. “Can the Gardener even reach that far?”Linh’s gaze didn’t leave the window.

  • 22: The Vanishing Signal

    The hum of the jet engines filled the cabin. Outside, the dark sky stretched endlessly, the stars cold and distant. Inside, the tension was thicker than the air.Kai sat in the forward seat, elbows on his knees, staring at the faint blinking dot on the screen before him. Or rather, the place where the dot had been. The signal from the heir in Argentina was gone. Not faded. Not scrambled. Gone. “Still nothing?” Nova asked from across the aisle.He shook his head. “It’s like she doesn’t exist anymore.”Dax leaned forward, restless. “That’s what the Gardener did to me. Only I could still feel it, like a shadow in my head.”“This isn’t a shadow,” Kai said quietly. “It’s a hole.”Linh sat silently by the window, eyes fixed on the night sky. She hadn’t spoken much since Hanoi. But now, she turned slightly toward Kai. “If the signal is gone, it means one of two things. She’s dead… or she’s been taken so deep into the Gardener’s network that not even Genesis can find her.”Nova crossed her

  • Chapter 21. The Roots of War

    The wall behind Kai erupted in a wave of dust, smoke, and splintered brick. The force threw him forward, his shoulder slamming into the table. Nova rolled to the side, pulling Linh down with her. Thorne was already on his feet, gun drawn, firing into the cloud of debris before shapes could fully emerge.The air filled with the high-pitched whine of drones. Dax coughed, clutching his ears. “It’s in my head again!”“Stay down!” Kai barked, dragging him behind the overturned couch.Through the swirling dust, shadowy figures stepped inside — tall, armored, their movements unnervingly smooth. Their helmets had no visors, just smooth black surfaces with faint green pulses running down the sides.“Gardener units,” Oracle said through Kai’s earpiece, her voice sharp. “They’re not standard drones. They’re hybrids, machine and human. Aim for the central chest plate.”Nova popped up from cover, firing two clean shots. The first figure staggered, its chest plate sparking, but it didn’t go down.

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