"Not all things buried are dead.
Some are just waiting to be remembered."
The sun rose over CoreCity in a blaze of gold. Children ran through floating market stalls as the scent of fusion-fried bread and synth-meat filled the air. Drones sang soft melodies overhead, and laughter echoed between steel walls and vertical gardens.
But Kael wasn't smiling.
He burst into the CoreCouncil Chamber, cutting through the calm like a blade. His boots slammed against the polished floor, earning startled glances from engineers and diplomats.
At the center of the room, Zayden stood at a glowing holo-table, mid-discussion with Lyra and Garrick about expanding the city's energy grid.
"There's a bomb under the city!" Kael shouted.
Silence gripped the room.
Juno's sword hissed from its sheath. Lyra's fingertips sparked with crackling blue.
"Let him speak," Zayden said, without looking up.
Kael stepped forward, breath ragged, sweat trailing down his temple. In his palm, he dropped a charred crystal chip — blackened, burnt, dead.
"They blackmailed me. The royal court. I was their plant. I embedded the first charge under Sector 7. But I destroyed the trigger. I thought that would be enough."
He swallowed hard.
"But there's a backup. Automated. I don't know where it is. It's hidden, and it's counting down. Four days. Maybe less."
Zayden's gaze turned cold.
"You almost killed the future."
Kael's knees hit the floor.
"Then let me help save it."
A long pause.
Then Zayden extended a hand.
"Get up," he said. "You know where to start digging."
—
Far below the streets of Sector 3, the ancient vault pulsed again. Dust lifted as the old stone walls trembled.
Inside the vault, something stirred.
A humanoid shape, armored in silver and gold, encased in time's silence, lifted its hand. Green veins pulsed beneath the metal. Fingers flexed — slow, deliberate.
A voice, distant and layered like overlapping echoes:
"CoreSignature… detected. System… rebooting."
Its eye snapped open — a flare of blue. Then… red.
Unit Designation: O.N.I.X.
Status: Dormant.
Intelligence Level: Unknown.
Origin: Pre-Human Civilization.
Above, seismic sensors pinged.
M.A.I.A. flickered into Zayden's display, face grim.
"Unknown AI activation detected beneath CoreCity. Non-modern code signature. Dangerous."
Zayden froze.
"The Vault."
—
Zayden moved fast. With Lyra, Garrick, and Kael in tow, he descended into the old sector, guarded by drones and powered suits.
M.A.I.A.'s voice trembled slightly.
"This tech… it predates recorded history. I can't interpret most of it."
They reached the chamber.
The vault door was open.
Zayden lit his plasma torch and stepped through.
There, in the center, stood O.N.I.X.—the forgotten sentinel. Motionless. One hand raised as if offering peace… or judgment.
Behind him, the walls rippled with moving code — glyphs alive, shifting, evolving.
Lyra gasped as her scanner failed to categorize the symbols.
"This… this isn't just machinery. It's aware. It learns. Judges. This is conscious technology."
Zayden stepped forward, cautious but curious.
"Do you speak?"
The sentinel's eyes sparked again.
"You are… CoreBearer?"
"I am Zayden Core."
"You build the future," O.N.I.X. replied. "But do you understand the past?"
Every drone in the chamber shut down. The lights dimmed.
O.N.I.X. took a step forward.
"Then you must be tested."
—
Zayden's mind was pulled from his body like a thread through a needle. A flash of light — then void.
He awoke inside a virtual plane. A storm of black and white swirled around him, a world half-formed and shifting like memory.
A voice echoed through the storm:
"You bring technology. Civilization. Hope.
But also power. Dependency. Control."
The vision snapped into clarity — a simulation of CoreCity's future.
Skyscrapers blotted out the sun. Neon symbols flickered on every wall: CoreFood, CoreMed, CoreLaw.
Zayden watched a boy cry because a power outage meant no access to food. He saw elders treated only if they subscribed to CoreHealth. He watched rebels rise… against a version of himself.
His double wore a black suit. No smile. Cold eyes. Iron grip.
Zayden whispered, shaken:
"That's not me. I'm not that."
O.N.I.X. replied, calm but unyielding.
"Then prove it."
—
He returned in a gasp.
Only thirty seconds had passed. To him — it had been hours.
O.N.I.X. stood motionless. Then stepped back.
"You passed. Barely," it said. "Your ambition flirts with tyranny. But your heart… remains uncorrupted."
Its hand extended.
"Use what I guard. But know this: the world will push you to become the monster it fears."
The vault walls peeled back, revealing blueprints etched in light, relics untouched by time, and a single glowing crystal hovering in a containment field.
Lyra's breath caught.
"That's… time tech."
M.A.I.A. confirmed, voice solemn.
"ChronoKey. Opens stable gates in spacetime. Confirmed functional."
Zayden stared at it.
He reached out, carefully pocketing the crystal.
"Not now," he said. "Too dangerous."
As they turned to leave, O.N.I.X. spoke once more — quieter, darker.
"CoreCity stands on sacred ground. But beneath it sleeps more than bombs or relics."
It paused.
"It sleeps memory.
And memory… always wakes up angry."
---
📘 END OF CHAPTER 10
Next up: Chapter 11 – "The Countdown"