2025-06-07 07:22:00The cold was biting, but Ethan didn’t feel it. Not really. The ruins of the Helix Vault stood around him like jagged teeth gnawed by time and fire. Smoke coiled from collapsed walls, and ash rained down like slow, grim confetti. He could still hear the last echo of the explosion reverberating in his ears, but the silence after it felt worse.
“Ethan,” came Isla’s voice, weak but alive, through the comm. “Tell me you made it.”
He staggered to his feet, coughing on soot and adrenaline. “I’m here,” he rasped. “The core’s offline. Repeat—core is offline. The feedback loop neutralized the energy surge before it breached the continental shelf.”
“Copy that,” Isla replied, and the relief in her voice was palpable. “Status on the others?”
He turned slowly. The dust was clearing. Ari was limping out of the smok
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Chapter 94: Breach at the Fjord
The ferry’s engines thrummed beneath their feet as the Oslo skyline glinted across the steel-gray waters. Ethan Cross stood at the prow of the clandestine vessel, the bitter wind whipping ash and spray into his face. Behind him, the rest of the squad—Isla, Ari, Noah, Caulder, and Dr. Nyla Voss—sat braced against the rail, checking gear and finalizing assignments.“Last chance to back out,” Ethan called over the din. “Once we slip through the fjord’s narrows, Voss’s fortress will be ahead. No second chances.”Ari cracked her knuckles. “You know I’m in until my gloves turn red.”Noah grinned. “Wouldn’t miss this for the world.”Caulder offered a curt nod. “Let’s get this done.”Nyla’s eyes gleamed with grim purpose. “Remember, once we’re inside, every second counts.”Serap
Chapter 93: The Light in the Ruins
The cold was biting, but Ethan didn’t feel it. Not really. The ruins of the Helix Vault stood around him like jagged teeth gnawed by time and fire. Smoke coiled from collapsed walls, and ash rained down like slow, grim confetti. He could still hear the last echo of the explosion reverberating in his ears, but the silence after it felt worse.“Ethan,” came Isla’s voice, weak but alive, through the comm. “Tell me you made it.”He staggered to his feet, coughing on soot and adrenaline. “I’m here,” he rasped. “The core’s offline. Repeat—core is offline. The feedback loop neutralized the energy surge before it breached the continental shelf.”“Copy that,” Isla replied, and the relief in her voice was palpable. “Status on the others?”He turned slowly. The dust was clearing. Ari was limping out of the smok
Chapter 92: The Cipher Within
The silence in the hangar was unsettling, thick with the weight of unspoken truths. Ethan Cross stood still, his hand resting lightly on the data core he’d just pried from the hull of the stealth drone. Around him, flickering lights from the exposed circuitry glowed faintly like a heartbeat—a machine’s last breath.“Do you see this, Lex?” Ethan whispered into his comm.Lexi’s voice came in seconds later, crisp and tinged with adrenaline. “I’m patching into the feed now. Holy hell. That’s not just a drone; that’s a vault. We’re looking at a storage node for Project Parallax.”Ethan glanced over his shoulder at the others. Khalid, Mira, and Dr. Nyla Voss were already scanning the perimeter. Tension rippled through their ranks—none of them had expected to find the core so soon, much less without a firefight.“I’m b
Chapter 91: Through the Ashen Gates
The Voidspire loomed like a shard of darkness cleaved from the night sky itself, rising above the deadlands like a monument to everything the world tried to forget. Ethan Cross had stared down death before, but as the wind howled across the ashen valley and the ruins of the pre-collapse city smoldered behind them, this felt different. This was it — the beginning of the final descent.The last echo was buried beneath it, encrypted in layers of memory that predated every war humanity had tried to forget. Now it was controlled by the Consortium, surrounded by automated turrets, psychic interference fields, and something newer, something worse — a temporal lock that looped time inside the structure. No one who entered came out.Ethan’s team huddled behind the broken skeletal frame of what used to be a monorail pylon, the final stretch just ahead. Quinn, wiping blood from her temple, tapped the back of her wrist-mounted device.
Chapter 90 – The Threshold of Memory
The chamber of remembrance was awash in gold as dawn broke over the horizon, its beams refracting through the crystalline dome high above the city. The air was hushed, reverent, thick with the weight of what had just occurred: Seraphina’s return and her decision to transfer the Beacon into Jakel. The Echo Seal had been activated, tethering her final essence into the temporal core of the Archives.Jakel stood at the epicenter of the ritual circle, his arms glowing faintly with the aftereffects of the transference. He didn’t cry. He didn’t speak. But something deep within him had shifted. The child who had once played in the Council gardens was gone; in his place stood the living vessel of the last Great Beacon.Ronan entered the chamber quietly, his usual swagger subdued, replaced by grim purpose. He walked over to Jakel and knelt before him.“She gave you everything,” he said gently. “
Chapter 89: The Last Keeper’s Vow
The dawn broke as if nothing had changed. Gulls called across the dunes. Fishermen hauled in nets heavy with silvery fish. Children ran laughing along the shore. Yet Seraphina stood apart, the weight of solitude pressing upon her chest like a stone.She had returned to the citadel’s Beacon of Unity and found it humming with life. The wards at the vessels’ docks were renewed, the Memory Halls open to a throng of visitors eager to learn of vanished threats. The Council met with cheer, oblivious to the one absence that haunted Seraphina’s every breath.Kael. The name lingered on her lips like a prayer.In the Hall of Unity, under the vaulted ceiling of living crystal, the council assembled for their morning deliberations. Seraphina slipped into her seat beside Riven and Jax. Bryna, Azhar of the desert caravans, and Naiva of the island republic greeted her with bright faces.“Sera
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