> [Fragment Detection: Confirmed – Class III]
[Current Host: Biological – Age 9 – Human/Enhanced Hybrid]
[Location: Sector ██, Gravepath Outpost: "Iron Spire"]
[Protective Status: LEVEL RED – Host Not to be Touched]
Kael leaned against the wrecked wall of an old transport rig, staring into his own reflection on the fractured glass.
His face… kept changing.
Flashing between his own, and a colder, sharper version.
The King's.
Behind him, Yanis spoke softly, "You said we wouldn't hurt children."
Kael didn't turn. "That was before I knew what I was. Before I remembered what I did to the last one."
> "You're not him anymore, Kael."
> "Aren't I?" he growled.
---
Inside Iron Spire – Retrieval Mission
Yanis, Kael, and two exiled Reclaimers breached the lower decks of the Gravepath base. It was quiet—too quiet.
Then Kael felt it.
> [Fragment Sync Pulse – 14 Meters]
[Host: Subject #014 – Name: Kiren]
[Emotion Read: Afraid… and familiar]
Kael moved ahead—ignoring Yanis's protests.
He found the room. Found the child.
A boy, no older than nine. Wired to a monitor. Breathing shallow. In his chest: a glowing fragment, barely stable.
The boy looked at Kael.
> "You… feel like her."
Kael flinched.
> "Who?"
> "The girl in red. She used to scream in my dreams. But when you woke up… she stopped screaming."
Suddenly, everything around Kael twisted.
---
The Memory Surge
Kael wasn't in Iron Spire anymore.
He stood on a field of white ash.
His blade buried in a dying city.
Blood on his hands.
A child sobbing beneath him.
Twelve fragments—crying out.
He looked down at the boy.
His own voice echoed in his ears—not now, but then.
> "No more carriers. Let them burn with me."
> "One child more or less…"
Kael screamed.
---
Back in reality
He grabbed the boy's neck.
Yanis shouted, "KAEL, NO!"
His fingers tightened.
The Ashwake Tyrant flared across his body.
The boy gasped—fragment reacting.
Yanis dashed in, psychic blades flashing.
She knocked Kael back with a wave of force, slamming him into the steel wall.
Kael's head cleared—barely.
He looked down at his hands. Trembling. Burned. Red with blood.
> "I didn't mean to…"
Yanis stood between him and the child, blade drawn.
> "Say that again when it's your sword in someone's throat."
---
> [Corruption: 36.8% – Unstable]
[Seed Personality Sync Breach Detected – Countermeasure Required]
[NEXT FRAGMENT MUST BE PURIFIED… OR YOU WILL CEASE BEING YOURSELF]
Kael turned and left the room.
Behind him, the child whispered, "She's not gone. She's just watching now."
---