Opening – The Merge Begins
Kaelen awakens in a cold sweat.
He wasn't sleeping.
He was remembering.
Not through dreams. Through absorption. The Spark within him has begun pulling deeper fragments of Vael'Ruun to the surface—beyond flashes and echoes. This is no vision.
It's immersion.
As he grips the edge of his cot, a whisper cuts through his mind, clearer than ever before:
"Do you want to know what broke me, Kaelen?"
The Shift – Into Vael'Ruun
Light floods his senses.
When Kaelen opens his eyes again, he is no longer himself.
He stands upon a scorched cliff overlooking a city of crystalline towers—Elun'Kai, heart of the rebellion, now in ruin. Skyships burn in the clouds. Golden streets are fractured, smeared with blood and ash.
He looks down.
Hands—his, but not. Larger. Wrapped in elegant Isu armor, cracked and scorched.
This is Vael'Ruun.
Behind him: a cohort of surviving rebels, injured and cornered. Among them, a woman steps forward—Eryalis, radiant and commanding, even in her exhaustion.
"He's not coming to negotiate."
Vael'Ruun nods grimly.
"No. He's coming to erase us."
The Collapse – Zarxes' Final Assault
The sky darkens.
Above, Zarxes' dread-engine—the Heliox Wyrm—descends in flame. An Isu construct, part machine, part AI, housing consciousness fragments of loyalists and war-weapons. Its voice thunders through the sky:
"This is not your world to inherit."
Vael'Ruun raises a shimmering shield as plasma fire erupts across the city. He leads the charge forward—flanked by Eryalis and the last of the Awakened. They fight not to win… but to give the civilians time to escape into stasis pods.
Amid the chaos, Eryalis pulls Vael'Ruun into cover.
"We can still seal the relay! If we use the backup key—"
"That would trap you inside."
"Then let it."
But Vael'Ruun shakes his head. "If this world is to be rebuilt, it must remember you. You're the voice that speaks after fire."
He kisses her—desperate, final.
Then leaves her behind.
The Betrayal – Sealing the Flame
Inside the Core Chamber of Elun'Kai, Vael'Ruun confronts Zarxes.
They clash—not just physically, but ideologically.
"You never wanted to save our kind," Vael'Ruun shouts. "You only wanted to enslave time."
Zarxes, nearly untouched, replies coldly:
"Someone must decide. Someone must impose order on chaos. If not me, then who?"
They fight. Energy crackles, blood is spilled.
In the end, Vael'Ruun uses the Spark Relay—the only failsafe left—to burn out his own consciousness, severing Zarxes' access to the core neural grid. It collapses the rebellion, yes… but it denies Zarxes total control.
Before everything fades, he sees her face one last time—Eryalis, watching from the shadows as the relay consumes him.
"Forgive me," he whispers.
Then—darkness.
Return to the Present – Kaelen Awakens
Kaelen jolts upright, gasping.
The others in camp rush to him, but he waves them off. His skin is cold. His hands shake.
The memory wasn't a vision.
It happened.
And now he remembers the weight of it.
The guilt.The sacrifice.The choice to lose.
The Awakened kneels beside him. "What did you see?"
Kaelen stares into the night, voice low.
"The day the First Flame went out."