chapter 8: Un unexpected spark
Kellan's mind raced, despite the lingering fog from the Anchor. They were in a forgotten maintenance chamber, deep beneath Technopolis, with the Enclave undoubtedly searching for them. His friends were severely injured, and he himself was in no condition for a fight. They needed to get out of here, but every option felt fraught with peril.
His gaze fell upon the shattered terminal in the corner. Could it still be functional enough to send a distress signal? Unlikely, given its state, but it was worth a try. Even a fragmented message might reach someone… anyone.
"Stay here," he whispered to Aria and Dex, his voice still rough. "Don't try to move. I'm going to see if I can get a signal."
He pushed himself to his feet again, the pain in his ribs a sharp reminder of his own injuries. He moved slowly, cautiously, towards the terminal, his eyes scanning the small chamber for anything else that might be useful – discarded tools, medical supplies, another exit.
The terminal's screen was cracked, lines of dead pixels marring its surface. But a single red light still blinked stubbornly in the corner. Hope, fragile but persistent, flickered within him.
He knelt before the terminal, his fingers hovering over the cracked interface. It looked ancient, predating even the city's current integrated systems. He ran his hand along the dusty casing, searching for a power conduit or any sign of life beyond the blinking light.
"Dex," he called softly, not taking his eyes off the terminal. "Do you recognize this interface? Anything I can use?"
Dex groaned softly. "Old… pre-Integration… mostly hardwired… maybe a manual override… look for a… panel… on the side…" His voice was weak and punctuated by pained breaths.
Kellan ran his fingers along the side of the terminal, feeling for any seams or hidden panels. His fingers brushed against a slightly raised section. He pressed it gently.
A faint whirring sound emanated from the terminal, and the blinking red light intensified. A section of the cracked screen flickered, displaying a jumble of corrupted text and static.
"Anything?" Aria's voice was weak but present.
"Maybe," Kellan replied, his focus intent on the screen. He tried a few basic input commands, his fingers clumsy and unfamiliar with the archaic interface. Most of the commands returned errors, but one line of text, flickering erratically, caught his eye: EMERGENCY_BEACON.
Hope surged. He tried to select the line, his fingers fumbling over the unresponsive keys.
"Need… direct input," Dex mumbled, his eyes half-closed. "Look for… physical connectors…"
Kellan's gaze darted around the terminal again. On the back, half-hidden by a tangle of frayed wires, he spotted a series of dusty ports. They looked like nothing he'd seen in modern tech.
Then, mind went towards something he'd almost forgotten on something he'd almost overlooked a small, leather pouch that Dex always kept in his jacket. It was Dex's emergency tech kit, usually filled with an assortment of adaptable connectors and diagnostic tools.
"Dex," Kellan said urgently. "Your kit! Do you have any old interface cables in there?"
Dex's eyes fluttered open again, focusing with difficulty. "Yeah… bottom compartment… thin… ribbon cable… with… multi-pin connector…"
Kellan reached for the kit, his fingers fumbling with the latch. Inside, amidst a jumble of tools and wires, he found it – a thin, dusty ribbon cable with a multi-pin connector that looked like it might just fit one of the ports on the ancient terminal.
With painstaking care, Kellan connected the cable to the EMERGENCY_BEACON port. The terminal hummed a little louder, and the flickering text on the screen stabilized slightly. A new prompt appeared: INPUT_COORDINATES.
Kellan's heart sank. Coordinates for where? They were deep beneath the city, in a forgotten sector. He had no idea of their current location.
Then, he remembered Aria.
"Aria," he said urgently. "Can you sense… anything? Any landmarks, any familiar energy signatures?"
Aria closed her eyes, her brow furrowed in concentration. She took a slow, shallow breath. After a moment, her eyelids flickered open. "Faintly… the Spire… to the east… and… something old… a resonance… below us…"
It wasn't much, but it was something. Could he input a general direction?
The terminal's prompt blinked insistently. Time was running out. The Enclave could find them at any moment. He had to try something.
Kellan's fingers flew across the archaic keyboard, inputting the fragmented information Aria had provided.
EAST_SPIRE_SUB_LEVEL
He added, on a desperate hunch:
RESONANCE_PROXIMITY
He hit the ENTER key. The terminal whirred, the red light pulsed, and the screen flickered. A new line appeared:
SIGNAL_LOCK: PENDING...
The silence stretched, thick with tension. Then:
SIGNAL_LOCK: ACQUIRED
TRANSMITTING...
A high-pitched whine emanated from the terminal. Hope flickered, fragile but alive.
Suddenly, Aria stiffened. "They're close."
The clinking of metal echoed from the tunnel entrance. Shadows writhed.
"Damn it," Dex hissed.
Kellan stepped in front of his friends. "Stay behind me."
The Enclave agents glided into the chamber. Kellan stood braced, the obsidian pendant warm against his chest. The Enclave agents glided closer, their static forms radiating an unnatural chill. The first tendril of shadow snaked out, reaching for him.
Instinct took over. A feeling he'd never experienced before, a strange energy thrumming beneath his skin, surged within him. It wasn't a thought, not a conscious decision. It was a primal response, a surge of protectiveness for Aria and Dex.
As the shadow tendril touched his arm, a jolt, not of cold but of pure energy, erupted from him. It wasn't a controlled blast like Aria's magic, but a raw, untamed wave of force that slammed into the lead Enclave agent. The static around its form crackled violently, and the shadowy figure staggered back, its normally fluid movements disrupted.
Kellan stared at his hand, his heart pounding. A faint golden light flickered around his fingertips, then vanished. He felt… different. Charged.
The other two Enclave agents paused, their blank voids turning towards him, a flicker of something akin to surprise in their static.
"What the hell...?" Dex gasped, watching Kellan with wide eyes.
Aria, despite her pain, looked up, her green eyes widening in recognition. "The resonance... it's him..."
The disrupted Enclave agent regained its footing, the static around it intensifying. It lunged again, faster this time.
Kellan didn't think. The same protective surge rose within him. He thrust his hand forward, and this time, the golden light around his fingers solidified, coalescing into a focused beam of energy that struck the Enclave agent squarely in its chest.
The effect was immediate and far more potent than before. The static shrieked, and the shadowy form convulsed, dissolving into a cloud of distorted energy that dissipated into nothingness.
The other two Enclave agents recoiled, their movements becoming hesitant. They had clearly not anticipated this.
Kellan felt drained but also strangely empowered. The raw energy had subsided, but a tingling sensation remained beneath his skin. He looked at his hands, a dawning understanding in his eyes. The Anchor... it hadn't just shown him visions. It had awakened something within him.
He turned to Aria and Dex, his gaze determined. "I... I think I can do something."
Aria nodded weakly, a flicker of hope in her eyes. "The Arcane... it chooses in strange ways."
Dex, despite his pain, managed a grin. "Well, butter my circuits. Looks like our hacker has a few new tricks."
The remaining two Enclave agents, their initial surprise replaced by a renewed intensity, began to advance again, their static crackling ominously. But the dynamic in the small maintenance chamber had shifted. Kellan was no longer just a helpless bystander. The Echo within him had awakened.
The raw energy that had surged through Kellan moments ago felt volatile, untamed. He focused on the remaining Enclave agents, the image of the dissolving figure still vivid in his mind. He lifted his hand again, willing that golden light to coalesce, to strike with the same force.
The energy stirred within him, a familiar warmth spreading through his limbs. He aimed at the closest Enclave agent, a bead of golden light forming at his fingertips. He tensed, ready to unleash it.
But just as the light reached its full intensity, it sputtered. Instead of a focused beam, it fractured, a chaotic spray of golden sparks that dissipated harmlessly into the air. Kellan staggered, a wave of dizziness washing over him. The sudden burst of power had clearly taken more out of him than he realized, and his control was nonexistent.
The Enclave agents, momentarily surprised by the erratic display, seized the opportunity. They glided forward, their movements swift and menacing once more.
Just as the first shadowy tendril reached for Kellan, a sudden, deafening boom echoed from the tunnel entrance. The maintenance chamber shuddered, dust and debris raining down from the ceiling. The Enclave agents recoiled, their static forms flickering violently, momentarily disrupted by the force of the impact.
Through the swirling dust, a figure stood silhouetted in the tunnel entrance. They were clad in dark, utilitarian armor, and a glowing energy blade hummed in their hand, casting an eerie blue light.
"Enclave scum!" a voice, amplified by some kind of vocal modulator, boomed through the chamber. "Your little hunt ends here."
The figure moved with surprising speed, the energy blade slicing through the air. One of the Enclave agents shrieked – a distorted, digital sound – as the blue energy connected, its shadowy form dissolving rapidly, leaving only wisps of static in the air.
The remaining Enclave agent, clearly outmatched by this new arrival, hesitated for only a moment. Then, with a ripple in the air, it seemed to fold in on itself, vanishing as abruptly as it had appeared.
The armored figure lowered their glowing blade, their gaze sweeping over Kellan, Aria, and Dex. The blue light illuminated their helmet, the visor obscuring their features.
"Are you alright?" the figure asked, their voice still modulated but with a hint of concern beneath the metallic edge.
Kellan, still reeling from his own power surge and the sudden arrival of their savior, could only stare, speechless. Help had arrived. But who were they?