ouds t

time in my life, I

en taught to fear. No acid rivers.

es. Cracked towers swallowed by ivy. Waterfalls pouring from the skeletons of old

the glass as one might a chi

was uninhabitab

urse they did. That's how control

ened like a wound in the trees, revealing a disguised hangar-old-world tech cloaked in

line I could

filled the cabin. My senses simply consumed it-moist e

Stay close. Some of

Damon Voss'

watched their famili

mach t

s here were massive-thick, ancient, breathing. Resistance soldiers stepped out from the s

age, maybe younger. Not

d to a woman waiting

glowing cybernetic eye and rocker tattoos swirling around her thr

he asked, voice

"Calla Voss

e. She doesn't look lik

"I never a

all play our roles. Come on. Let'

Kael gave me a small look-half warnin

e a choice b

lowing roots. Holoscreens patched into rusted tech. It felt like a body kept al

jections-maps, schematics, data streams. In the center stood a platfo

," he said. "This i

t st

t your father

ystal your mother left-use it here. It's c

d. Every instin

g stronger w

slid the crystal int

thless sec

rld explode

voice fill

"And if you're hearing this, it mea

mother's face bloomed above

e ag

hing

he truth was fi

***************

ice, M

sound of her vo

ection repeated. "And if you're h

through stained glass could. My mother-dead and gone-stood right in front of me,

ame amber eyes. Same de

ore. A sharpness in her v

c interface. A weapon-though not in the way they think. Your father wanted

pped

hispered. "What is

tight. "She's talking ab

e w

nswer. Not

othe

the fabric of consciousness. The human soul, encoded. You were the

ou're saying I'

ping closer. "She's s

bering. The suppression protocols will start to dissolve. You'll begin to see thin

Kael caught me befo

this," I exclaimed. "I d

id gently. "But

me for you. He'll use everything he has. He won't care that you'r

He's my father. He's col

in the eyes. "Then w

estions that were multiplying li

logram

oice the last thread of warmth. "He was th

ection v

apsed around

you," I sai

. "And I

d. "What does t

ss I hadn't seen before; I was both

he said. "You'

g moment. The quiet humm

door bu

mmander-Lira-stro

ched the outer zone," she said

e in your spine. It must've reactivated

So now I'm not just

nd. "Then it's time we

n to stations. Lights flashed. Alarms rang. But in that chamber, with t

ver just ab

was a

ready chos