Kael's world was reduced to steel.
Steel walls, steel chair, steel cuffs biting into his wrists. The room smelled faintly of ozone, like every trace of humanity had been scrubbed out.
A single light hung above him, humming faintly. Its glare made shadows stretch across the walls, as though even they were being interrogated.
The door slid open with a hiss.
A figure stepped in, dressed not in armor, but in plain black. No insignia, no rank—just the Accord's silence given shape. Their face was hidden behind a visor, smooth and blank.
They spoke with a calm voice, almost soothing. "Kael."
Hearing his name unsettled him more than the restraints. He had never registered, never been part of their records. And yet—they knew.
"You've been hearing… something, haven't you?" The figure circled slowly, their boots clicking against the floor. "The others call it Resonance. But we know it by another name."
Kael's jaw tightened. He said nothing.
The figure leaned closer, the reflection of the light glinting off their visor. "It isn't rebellion, Kael. It's infection. A flaw in the system. And we cleanse flaws."
A cold device was placed on the table—a sleek, needle-tipped machine that pulsed faintly, as though alive.
"Tell us who you heard it from," the interrogator continued softly. "Give us names, and we can cure you. Freedom. Silence."
Kael's pulse hammered. His mind flickered to Mira, to Daren, to the rebels still hiding in the tunnels. To betray them would be to sever the very sound that had woken him.
But then—something strange.
The hum of the machine shifted. At first faint, then unmistakable—the rhythm of the Resonance itself.
Kael's eyes widened. Could it be reaching him even here, within the Accord's iron walls? Or was this some trick, a test to shatter his trust in himself?
The interrogator tilted their head, as though hearing it too. For a flicker of a second, their hand trembled. Then they stilled, mask unreadable.
"Do you hear it now?" they asked, voice lower, almost urgent. "Because if you do… you're already lost."
Kael's breath caught. For the first time, he wasn't sure if he was resisting them—or if something within the Accord itself was resisting too.