The Erebus Gate pulsed like a living thing, its swirling energy reflecting the ambitions of those gathered before it. Kael could sense the inevitability of what was coming.
Science, military, and industry had converged on this singular point in history—not to advance humanity together, but to stake their claims on the future.
And in that moment, Kael knew he had never truly been in control.
The betrayal began subtly, as all great betrayals do.
The Night of the Silent Coup
It started with Elias Rune. The corporate mogul had spent years funding Element Omega's research under the guise of innovation, but Kael had always suspected his true motives.
NovaCorp wanted ownership over the technology, and Rune had been negotiating in secret with the Unified Earth Directorate's Senate.
General Atticus Ward, ever the pragmatist, saw the inevitability of war. To him, the Erebus Gate was a weapon, and Kael's idealistic belief in shared governance was a liability.
So Rune and Ward struck a deal.
The Erebus gate's research would be seized. Kael would be declared a rogue scientist.
And the Erebus Gate? It would become property of the earths United government.
By the time Kael learned of the betrayal, it was too late.
Harlow, the only one he still trusted, rushed into his lab, breathless. "They've signed the order, Kael. NovaCorp and the government are taking the Gate. And they're coming for you."
Kael felt no shock, no anger—only clarity.
"Then we move forward with the contingency plan," he said.
Harlow hesitated. "You knew they'd do this?"
"I hoped they wouldn't," Kael admitted. "But I planned for it."
As Harlow processed his words, the base shook.
Security alarms blared. Ward's elite soldiers had arrived.
There was no time left.
Kael activated Protocol Exodus.
The Birth of the Imperial House
In the chaos of the takeover, Kael's loyalists—a hidden network of scientists, engineers, and soldiers who had seen the coming storm—sprang into action.
While Ward's forces stormed the facility, Kael and his allies vanished, slipping into hidden transports that took them far from Lunar Station Erebus.
By the time Ward seized control of the Erebus Gate, Kael was already gone.
And with him, he had taken the true secrets of Element Omega.
For months, he remained in the shadows, moving between hidden research facilities, rallying those who still believed in a future not controlled by war and profit.
And from that fractured dream, the Imperial House was born.
Not as a corporation. Not as a government.
But as the last guardians of knowledge.
Their mission was clear:
To protect the truth of Element Omega.
To ensure no single faction could monopolize the Erebus Gate.
To stop the reckless ambitions of those who would turn discovery into destruction.
But as Kael built the Imperial House, he knew one thing above all:
The war had only just begun.
As chaos spread across the geopolitical landscape, Kael realized the inevitable—governments would stop at nothing to control Element Omega. With space gates opening up the universe to conquest, the risk of annihilation grew every day. The wrong hands could turn his discovery into a weapon capable of rewriting reality itself.
Thus, Kael founded the Imperial House, an elite organization tasked with safeguarding the secrets of Element Omega and regulating the use of space gate technology. Comprised of top scientists, former intelligence operatives, and highly trained enforcers, the Imperial House operated beyond national borders. It was neither a government nor a corporation, but something greater—a hidden force dedicated to maintaining balance in the new order.
With advanced fusion reactors providing limitless power and clandestine outposts scattered across
the solar system, the Imperial House stood as the last barrier against catastrophe.