The silence of victory was filled with the cries of the wounded and the smell of ozone and burnt metal. In a symbolic, televised gesture, the joint task force's new flag—a green and red banner depicting a dragon coiled around a tree—was raised over the skeletal remains of the Alliance fortress. The battle for the Eye of God was over. The war for its soul was just beginning.
Inside the repurposed, still-scorched command center, the fragile alliance was already beginning to fracture.
"Systematic extraction is the only logical path," Director Chen stated, his voice calm and pragmatic. A holographic projection of the mine's crystalline veins glowed between him and the LAAU leadership. "We will establish a quadrant-based mining operation. Efficient, clean, and secure. This resource is the key to leveling the strategic playing field."
Queen Xhosa, her face a mask of cold fury, stared not at the projection, but at Chen himself. "You speak of this place as if it were a quarry for stones. This is a wound in the Earth, Director. It must be purified, healed. Not carved up and sold for parts. The crystals should be used to restore the lands that have been blighted by the Starfall, not to fuel more of your machines."
The silence in the tent became glacial. The generals on both sides, who had fought a common enemy hours ago, now stood with their arms crossed, their expressions hardening into masks of suspicion.
In a sterile, white EAC medical bay, Lin Feng's eyes snapped open. The last thing he remembered was a universe of white light. Now, his world was a low, steady beeping from the monitors beside his bed and a dull, throbbing ache that seemed to emanate from his very bones.
The first person he saw was not a doctor, but a propaganda officer holding a camera, a man with a slick, insincere smile.
"Commander Lin Feng! A true hero of the Dragon!" the man gushed. "Your sacrifice has become a symbol of our new unity! A brief statement for the people, to celebrate this historic victory?"
Lin Feng slowly sat up. He looked past the officer, through the viewport, and saw the glowing, wounded crater. He saw the political banners fluttering in the wind. Victory? This felt like a desecration. He looked down at his hands. The strange, crystalline patterns on his skin were still there, a faint, silvery tracery beneath the surface. He felt... violated. Not by the enemy, but by his own side, who were so quick to turn his sacrifice into a political slogan.
The camera's flash went off, a small, intrusive star in the dim room.
"Get out," Lin Feng said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. It was not a request.
Meanwhile, Diego stood alone at the edge of the great glass crater, the wind whipping his hair across his face. He felt the land's pain, a constant, agonizing thrum beneath his feet.
He watched the scene below with a growing, sickening disgust. He saw the EAC science teams in their clean, white suits, already setting up sonic drills and geological scanners. But what truly turned his stomach was the sight of his own people, the LAAU leaders, arguing with Chen's diplomats not about healing the land, but about mining percentages and transport rights. They were carving up the corpse before it had even grown cold.
They were swapping one set of vultures for another.
He looked at the crimson crystals pulsing in the depths of the mine. They were not a prize. They were a poison. A beautiful, intoxicating poison that was corrupting everyone it touched.
He turned and began the long walk back to the LAAU camp, his heart a cold, heavy stone in his chest. As he walked, he passed the entrance to the medical tents, just as Lin Feng, now dressed in a simple grey uniform, was stepping out.
Their eyes met across the dusty, windswept ground. The two heroes of the battle. The thunder and the storm. No words were exchanged. None were needed. They both saw the same truth in each other's weary, disillusioned eyes.
"They are celebrating a victory," Diego said, his voice low and bitter, gesturing with his head towards the politicians in the command center. "The desert is still screaming."
Lin Feng did not reply. He simply stood there, a solitary, rigid figure, as the light from the wounded heart of the mine pulsed erratically behind him. The alliance was a lie. And the victory was a handful of ashes.