For a long moment, no one moved.
The air between the two groups was thick with tension, saturated with the low hum of the crystalline artifact still pulsing on the pedestal. The glow reflected off the strangers' armor—sleek, blackened suits etched with sigils that flickered with blue lightning. Their leader, tall and gaunt with a shock of silver hair and eyes like molten clouds, took another step forward.
"I am Veyr," he said, his voice both soft and commanding. "Bearer of the Third Storm and Seer of the Path. You should not have touched the prism."
Kael narrowed his eyes, instinctively stepping back, shielding the artifact with his body. "Then you should've arrived earlier."
Veyr's expression didn't change. "The Core inside you—how long have you had it?"
Drex drew his axe in one slow, threatening motion. "Why do you care?"
Veyr's gaze flicked to him, then back to Kael. "Because if he loses control, the rest of us don't survive."
"Define 'control,'" Lira muttered, slowly positioning herself behind a column, one hand inching toward her sidearm.
Veyr sighed, almost regretfully. "The Core you bear is a fragment of a god-talent—a piece of the ancient synthesis. It cannot be housed within a mortal body for long unless properly tempered."
"I've had it for months," Kael said, his heartbeat rising again. "And I'm still here."
"For now."
Lightning crackled faintly around Veyr's gauntlet as he gestured to the artifact. "That crystal is a stabilizer—one of the last in existence. You awakened it. That means your Core is entering its next phase. If it breaches containment, it will devour you from the inside out."
Kael's hand unconsciously tightened around the pedestal. "And I suppose you came to help."
"No." Veyr raised his hand. "We came to contain you, if necessary."
That was the only warning before chaos erupted.
Aren barely had time to blink before the floor between them erupted in a spray of stone and light. Veyr's people moved fast—almost too fast. Like they were dancing through air currents, their movements fluid and precise. One woman, her long hair bound in wires, dove for Kael with a blade of shimmering plasma. Lira tackled her mid-air.
Sparks flew. The pedestal shattered. The crystal launched upward like a shooting star—and Kael leapt.
His fingers brushed the artifact just before it could vanish into the gloom. The moment his skin touched its surface, a torrent of images screamed through his mind: swirling stars, collapsing cities, voices chanting in an ancient tongue, and a single, blinding word—
"Axioma."
Kael hit the ground hard. Something inside him pulsed like a second heartbeat, and this time, he screamed.
The room exploded in light.
---
Drex slammed into the ground, rolling to his feet, eyes stinging from the flare. "Kael!"
No answer—just a maelstrom of wind and light erupting from the center of the room. The Storm's Chosen were thrown back, slamming into walls, groaning in pain. Lira shielded herself behind a toppled console, dragging Aren down with her.
Kael floated three feet off the floor. His eyes glowed with the same storm-like intensity as Veyr's. The Core had awoken.
Then, he dropped.
Lira was the first to reach him, shouting his name again and again until his eyes blinked open.
"What… was that?" he rasped.
"You tell me," she said, trying to steady her voice. "You just went nuclear."
He sat up with effort. The crystal had embedded itself into his chest, right over the spot where the Core resided. The two were no longer separate—they had fused.
"I didn't even try," Kael whispered. "It just… reacted."
Veyr stood again, blood trickling from a cut above his eye, eyes wide not with anger—but reverence. "You've bonded with the prism. That hasn't happened since the Collapse."
Kael pushed himself upright. "So now what?"
Veyr paused. "Now you leave. Before the others find you."
"Others?" Drex echoed, brushing dust from his armor.
"You think we're the only ones watching the old world?" Veyr glanced upward, as if he could see through the layers of stone. "The Archivists. The Core-Eaters. The Echo Purists. They all want what you have."
"We can't run forever," Kael said.
"No," Veyr agreed. "But you can run now. You need time. The synthesis inside you is changing. You'll need a guide."
"Are you offering?"
"I'm not qualified." Veyr looked grim. "But I know someone who is. There's an outpost, west of the Shatterfields. A woman named Tasha Elen. She was one of the original gene-scribes before the war. If anyone knows how to train a Core-bearer, it's her."
Kael hesitated. "Why help me?"
Veyr finally allowed a thin smile. "Because I saw what you saw. Axioma. The final protocol. It's not just inside you—it's waking."
---
They left Velhym Station in silence, Kael walking slower than before, his hand occasionally touching his chest, where the crystal still pulsed softly. The air outside had grown colder, the fog lifting as if the station itself had finally exhaled.
As they crested the ridge, Aren glanced back.
"We survived a death cult, a collapsing station, and a group of thunder-powered weirdos. What's next?"
Drex cracked his knuckles. "Hopefully something I can actually punch."
Lira didn't laugh. "You heard him. Core-Eaters. Echo Purists. Whatever's coming, it's big."
Kael nodded. "And we're going to need more than luck to survive it."
---
That night, as they made camp in the hollow of a broken tree near the edge of the old rails, Kael sat apart from the others, staring at his hands. The crystal glowed faintly beneath his skin now, the lines of his veins lit like circuitry.
He remembered the voice that had echoed in his mind when he touched the crystal.
You are the Key.
But a key to what?
And what would happen when the door opened?
---