Interlude Chapter – Alaric: The Shadow of Origin
The snow came in the night. No sound, no wind – just flakes falling, as if the sky wanted to erase the world to write it anew.
The security light flickered above the barracks. Shadows stretched across metal and concrete. Alaric lay awake, hands folded across his chest, rifle beside the bed, thoughts as loud as the frost in his bones.
"Just one more night," he whispered. "Then you'll be free."
But even he no longer believed the lie.
Malrik was his commander.
His brother, his mirror, his standard.
They had trained together – two orphans of the system, molded from flesh into command.
Malrik had taught him how to survive: Never feel, always act.
And Alaric had obeyed. Because love was luxury, and luxury was death.
They called their unit Project Zero.
Children without pasts, tools of control.
Orders were prayers, execution was salvation.
