Chapter 16 – Betrayal in Morsil
The broken skies of Morsil bled with cracks of unstable light, like shattered glass holding back a cosmic storm. The air vibrated with tension, filled with the faint static of collapsing energy veins. This was no ordinary planet—it was a paradoxical graveyard of timelines, and even standing upon it felt like defying the natural order of existence.
The Sentientes had come. Their ships, sleek arcs of steel and light, hovered like looming sentinels above the fractured horizon. Each hummed with an energy that seemed to push back the chaos of the atmosphere. On the ground, soldiers in radiant exo-armor spread into formation, their weapons glowing as they scanned the perimeter.
At the center of it all stood Ren. His fists were tight at his side, his jaw clenched as he stared at the spectacle before him. Just hours ago, he thought he had some grasp of control, some idea of where his decisions might lead. Now, he realized how little power he truly held.
Beside him, Sissy raised her arm. "Hold your positions!" she barked with sharp authority. The Sentiente soldiers froze in perfect synchrony, their rifles humming but unmoving. She turned her gaze on Ren, her eyes sharp and unwavering. "He's agreed to cooperate with us."
Ren's head snapped toward her. "What?!"
The word struck him like a blade to the chest. His breath hitched, his heart hammering in confusion. He hadn't said that. He hadn't agreed to anything.
"Miya—tell her she's wrong," Ren demanded, his voice shaking with disbelief. He looked to Miya, the one he thought still understood him.
But Miya only gave the faintest nod, her pendant pulsing with a quiet light. Her expression was calm but firm. "She's right, Ren. It's the only way forward. You… you need to trust us."
Ren's eyes widened, his throat tightening. "Trust you? After everything?"
His voice cracked, not from anger, but from the sting of betrayal that crawled into his chest. He searched Miya's face for hesitation, for even a flicker of doubt, but all he found was conviction.
Then another voice cut through the tension. Charlie, the Sentientes' second commander, stepped forward, his polished armor catching the fractured light of the sky. His voice was hard and commanding. "Morsil is unstable. The dimensional fractures are multiplying. If we don't secure the situation, this entire world will collapse into paradox dust. Do you want to be erased along with it?"
The ground beneath them rumbled violently, cracks glowing with dangerous light as if time itself was splitting apart. Even the soldiers shifted nervously, their visors scanning the unstable terrain.
But Ren barely heard him. His mind was racing, his instincts pulling him elsewhere. His sharp eyes caught the figure at the edge of the chaos—Marl.
The eccentric man in the yellow shirt, his laugh still echoing in Ren's mind, was striding with purpose toward the gleaming silhouette of the A-Foster. The half-completed vessel pulsed with unstable energy, arcs of lightning dancing across its surface.
Ren's blood froze. "No…"
He broke into a sprint, his boots slamming against the trembling ground. His voice tore from his throat in desperation. "Marl! Stop!"
The man turned, and the look on his face shattered what little faith Ren had left. Marl's lips curled into a smirk, his eyes burning with obsession.
"You're too late, boy."
Ren skidded forward, desperation twisting into fury. "We had a deal! You said—"
But Marl's laughter sliced through him. "A deal? Ha! Don't be foolish. You were never more than a pawn. I needed your genius to complete what I started, and you gave it freely—because you were selfish enough to believe you could outsmart me."
The A-Foster's engines roared to life, its core glowing with an unnatural brilliance. The ground shook violently as reality warped around it.
Charlie shouted, his voice echoing across the battlefield. "All units, target the vessel! Do not let it launch!"
The soldiers obeyed instantly. Energy bolts streaked through the sky, hammering against the ship's shimmering barrier. The blasts curved and dissolved, absorbed into the ship's frame like water into sand. The A-Foster's shields were not just advanced—they were rewriting the rules of interaction itself.
Ren pushed harder, his lungs burning. "Marl, stop this! You'll destroy everything!"
Marl's grin widened, his voice booming with madness. "Destroy? No, Ren. I'll transcend! I'll tear down every boundary until I reclaim what was taken from me. My wife, my life, my legacy! This ship is my salvation, and you helped make it possible. That's your gift to me."
The engines roared again, the ship lifting off the ground, its glow bright enough to blind.
The Sentientes launched pursuit. Their aerial units streaked upward, trying to lock onto the ship's path. But Marl was already shifting dimensions. One moment, the A-Foster was in sight; the next, it flickered out of reality, appearing miles away, then disappearing again. The chase was futile.
Charlie slammed his fist against the ground in frustration. "Damn it! He's phasing through timelines! We can't track him."
Ren reached the launch platform too late. The A-Foster shimmered once more, then slipped into nothingness. Gone.
The silence that followed was deafening. Only the trembling of Morsil's unstable crust remained, a reminder of the price of failure.
Ren dropped to his knees. His heart pounded, his body shaking. He stared at the empty space where the A-Foster had been, his mind unable to process the weight of it.
"I let him use me…" His voice was barely a whisper, but the words echoed with despair. "It's my fault."
Around him, the Sentiente soldiers muttered uneasily, their commander's frustration clear. But none of them stepped closer. They didn't understand the weight of betrayal pressing down on Ren's chest, the way his own brilliance had been twisted against him.
It was Miya who moved. She knelt beside him, her hand resting gently on his shoulder. Her pendant glowed softly, its light steady and warm against the chaos.
"Ren," she said softly. "Yes, he betrayed you. Yes, the A-Foster is gone. But this isn't the end. You're not alone. We will find him. Together."
Ren's lips trembled, his eyes glassy. He wanted to believe her, wanted to trust in her words. But all he could see was Marl's smirk, all he could hear was the mocking laughter that haunted his ears.
His fingers dug into the broken ground. "He used me… and now the multiverse will pay the price."
Miya's grip tightened. "Then let's make sure it doesn't. You can't let this break you, Ren. You're stronger than that."
The Sentientes regrouped around Charlie, their scanners still desperately searching for a trace of Marl's ship. The instability of Morsil worsened, rumbles shaking the ground as time fractures bled across the horizon.
And in the center of it all was Ren—broken, trembling, but alive.
The chapter ended with him staring into the distance where Marl had disappeared, his heart hollow and his mind in despair, as Miya's quiet light tried to hold the shattered pieces of him together.
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