[ACCESSING MILITARIZED NETWORK: STELLARIS ARCHIVAL NODE 3B-4]
BEGIN AI-GENERATED SUBJECT REPORT
[ EIA's Summarized Report Ready for Retrieval ]
[ SCAN COMPLETE || Subject: Dreyn, Negeim ]
[ DATA RETRIEVAL SUCCESSFUL ]
[ SOCIAL PROFILE ]
[ Age: 16 Solar Years ]
[ Origin: Planet ll Gharst-84 (Currently Uninhabitable) ]
[ District: B-03, Sector: 3, Birth Planet: Nivet ]
[ Parents: Andre Dreyn (Deceased), Sil Dreyn (Deceased)]
[ Siblings: Two (Deceased)]
[ Education: Civilian Academy Completed (Average Performance)]
[ Pre-Military Programs Completed 1 ( Subpar Performance ) ]
[ Imperial Trust Fund: Active, Awaiting Retrieval ]
[ Psychosocial Risks: Past Stability Score — 78%, Current Status: Unknown ]
[ Therapy: Strongly Recommended ]
[Controlled Environment Behavior: (Score 87/100), Disposition: Obedient ]
Social Score { Green }: 178 / 200
[ BODY PROFILE ]
[ Vitality Index: 77%. Multiple fractures identified:
- Sternum
- Skull
- Right Tibia
- Raidus and Ulna ( Both Hands )
[ Combat Potential: Extremely High ( High proportion of Fast-Twicth muscle fibers) ]
[ Ascension Markers: Detected (Early Stage)]
- Training, and meditation recommended
[ Bio-Enhancement Compatibility: High]
[ Ocular System: Exhibiting Unknown Traits ]
[ Recommended Branch Placement:]
- Altherai Strider : Extremely High
- Aegis Concord: High
- G.C.A: Low
- Local Forces: Not Recommended
[ SOUL PROFILE ]
[ Personality Profile: Error, Data Corrupted or Obscured ]
[ Affinity Field: Error. Data Redacted]
[ Value Spike Detected ]
Suggested Follow-Up: Intensive Care
[ Potential Class Estimate: GOLD ]
The scan's glow faded into the gloom.
Shrill stared at the rotating holoscript above the console. He did not blink. He simply smiled.
There was an abundance of data, lines of diagnostics and metrics, but one entry caught his eye. Negiem Dreyn. The boy had never once referred to himself as Negeim. Instead, he kept calling himself Vance.
"A fractured identity?" Shrill said, voice low. "Not surprising. Trauma does that."
He glanced back at the figure suspended in fluid. 8 Days had passed since he had been submerged in liquid. The boys body floated, still and unaware, encased in a chemical concoction. All of the liquid in contact with the boys chest had been slowly evaporating since he had lost conciousness. As Shrill stepped away, the vapors shimmered, interacting with lingering spiritual signatures.
Still, no anomaly had been recorded. No physical trace. Nothing the scan could explain.
Shrill clicked his tongue and turned. He was interested, but the frog had turned into a baby dog in just eight days. Fucking Vanta. Always forcefully seizing the prized subjects.
*****
In the vat, Vance floated beneath the surface, drifting between the edges of dream and memory. He had thought unconsciousness meant silence, meant absence.
But something stirred behind his eyes. A pulse. A rhythm. Something that did not belong to him.
He felt another life pressing in. Familiar in its warmth. Alien in its depth.
It began as a brush of wind against thought. Gentle. Repeating. Then stronger.
After some time. Memories came.
With not just images, but emotions and impressions.
"Negeim, aren't you going to stop staring into the forest?" The voice was warm and teasing. Carrieing the sunlight of spring.
"Yeah, yeah… can you toss me my feyhad first?" A boy's voice, relaxed and easy responded.
"Only if you can catch me big bro! Hahaha!"
The girl bolted. He gave chase.
They ran through grass swaying gold under the sun of Gharst. They laughed. Time slowed. The moment locked itself in Vance's chest, pulling something hidden forward.
Other fragments surfaced.
"Mr. Dreyn, where is your assignment?"
"Sorry, teach… I forgot it." A nervous chuckle ran out.
"Mr. Dreyn! You must think this is funny. To the principal's office. Now."
There was frustration in the teacher's voice, but also something softer. Concern. She had seen this pattern before.Of brilliant children drifting away.
Each memory left a mark. Not just visual, but emotional. Vance could feel them changing him. His body remained still, but his soul leaned forward. As if to embrace the fragments left by negeim. And he did. For he knew he had so much more to gain from it than by rejecting them.
It was dangerous. Too familiar. Too real.
The march of time brought many gifts to Vance as he continuosly lived a life that had once been distant. However the memories were all coming to a end. It was an odd feeling thatnhe couln't quite put his fingure on.
And the memory did come.
Negeim sat high in the branches of a blooming tree on the outskirts of the city. A serein bloom. That's what it was called. It was negeims favourite spot. The bark was of a porcelain white with it's branches curving toward the stars, the leaves constantly shifted between pink and gold with the pressure from the wind.
Seated on a thick bough, legs swinging lazily. His mind constantly wandered. He did not think of glory, wealth or partners like his classmates. He was going to die in a few days after all. What use would any of such thing possible have for him? His lips parted, revealing his perfect white teeth in the process. It was smile filled with more memory than he had hoped. He was ready. There was not much he could do. If only he could have saved his family.
They were by no means perfect, but they were everything he had. In Negeim's eyes, they were the best family he could have asked for.
And soon. They too were going to die.
And in that quiet place, a new belief took root, as a petal Bloomed. Forged deep beneath the skin and soul.
Regarldless of nature, aspirations and resistance. Eventually. All would wither and die. Death was impartial and unjudgemental. It did not have a walking form nor motive but to cradle those in it's embrace.
He just wished he had gotten the oppurtunity to visit one one of the empire's santuaries. The beauty of nature that had long called for his name were not on Gharst. If only the unfortunate victim had not been him.
Jumping down from the low branch he took one last deep look at it. Feeling a lingering sense of loss watching its vibrant branches adorned with leaves stare back.
Shaking his head. He took off towards his home to leave behind a note of what he had seen that night, hidden in the attic.
He knew his body would not remain his. Something else would come. And when it did, it would find the echoes he left behind. It would find his hope. His desire for his families revival. It existed.
If the monster to come could understand. Maybe, just maybe… it could save them.
" I hope this information is enough to please you"
More fragments surged through Vance's mind.
Bang! They cracked and reformed like glass under pressure.
In a palace hallway.
A woman's figure hovered above the granite stones paving the floor. Her form half illusionary in nature.
The only response was silence.
"Ael… are you certain you want to do this?" Her voice trembled. "I gave up everything for this and now you walk away… for the promise of a relic?"
Silence answered her. Her voice fading into the distance along with the vision of the memory.
Vance shuddered. His body shifted in the fluid. This memory was not Negeim's. It was old and ancient.
Another scene unfolded before his eyes.
"Throne!"
The word struck like a lightning bolt. As Everything shattered.
Vance's eyes snapped open inside the vat. He gasped, but the fluid stole his breath. His pulse surged.
He could not name what he felt.
Guilt. Loss. Love. Rage.
They did not belong to him.
But Negeim had felt them. So now they were his.
And they would never leave.