At dawn, I stood before the gate.
The stone around it had collapsed long ago, vines grown thick with time and ash. The vault's doorway was fused shut, cracked down the center like the ribcage of something long dead.
But it was still humming.
The mark on my chest answered in kind, glowing faint beneath my armor.
Ka'lenna approached, silent beside me.
"You really think this one will open?" she asked.
"I don't think it has a choice."
I reached out and placed my palm to the center seam. Heat bled from my skin into the metal, the mark thrumming faster with each second.
Then—
RECOGNITION: VALID CANDIDATE // PRIME LINK CONFIRMEDSTATUS: SUBSYSTEMS DAMAGED – PARTIAL SYNC ENABLED
Welcome back, Warden.
The door groaned. Dust shook loose from the mountain. And then, with the deep rasp of moving stone, the gate opened.
We stepped into the dark.
This vault was different.
Older. Deeper.
The last one had been clean and controlled, pulsing with regulated heat and polished alloy. This one was raw—half its systems exposed like nerves, wires stretched like sinew across broken consoles. Roots hung from the ceiling where BABEL's growth protocols had once tried to simulate a biosphere.
I walked down the main corridor and activated the uplink through my gauntlet.
INTEGRATION READY // Do you wish to proceed?
[Y/N]
"Yes."
The system answered with fire.
My body locked.
Heat poured into my spine. Not burning—but reshaping.
I saw numbers. Symbols. Memories that weren't mine. Diagrams of vault pathways and skeletal schematics of this planet's old terraformers. Then something deeper:
Power Channel Unlocked: Emberform // Ash Mantle Initiation
You are now linked to Subsurface Node G-04: FLAME COHORT VAULT.
Gene-Sync: 39%
Ability Manifestation Unlocked: "Ashstep"—Instant directional burst using residual flame. Range: 10 meters. Cooldown: 15 seconds.
I staggered forward as the integration stopped.
Ka'lenna caught me.
"You're shaking."
"I'm fine," I muttered. "Just… updated."
I tested it.
Flicked my wrist and focused on a point ahead—then activated the pulse in my palm.
Flame coiled around my boots, and in a single blink, I vanished—
—and reappeared ten meters forward in a burst of scorched dust.
Ka'lenna's eyes widened.
"You just—"
"Moved through fire," I said, exhaling hard. "Not just speed. It burns space between."
I could feel it: flame not just as destruction, but as transition. The vault had reshaped how I interacted with this world.
I wasn't just connected now.
I was becoming part of it.
Deeper in, I found a terminal still running. Flickering, half-cracked, but active.
I uploaded my Warden credentials and decrypted what I could.
BABEL NETWORK FILE 12X: SOVEREIGN INITIATIVE
– Observation complete. Subject worlds entering collapse phase.– Only Prime Candidates may stabilize or rewrite root protocols.– Full planetary authority may only be granted through trinary integration:
Heart Core
Ash Mantle
Crown Node
– Contenders must rise. Only one may ascend. Balance demands judgment.
There it was again—ascension through conflict. This planet didn't want peace. It wanted evolution through trial.
Through pain.
Through fire.
When I emerged from the vault hours later, I stood straighter.
Taller.
My veins shimmered faint gold beneath the skin. I felt faster. Clearer. Hungrier.
Ka'lenna watched me with a look I hadn't seen before.
Not reverence.
Not doubt.
But awareness.
"You're changing," she said.
"I have to," I replied.
She looked at me a moment longer. Then nodded.
"Then I'll change with you."
The sky above was no longer still.
Dark clouds were gathering.
And from the far edge of the canyon, a distant light flickered—a red flare pulsing like a heartbeat.
Not ours.
They were coming.
And now?
I was ready to burn everything in my path.