That night, the cube cracked open on Jaden's table, revealing a simulation—a reconstructed version of Sanctum Aqualis under Omega control. Everything was pristine. No poverty. No conflict. But also—no laughter. No memory. No individuality.
A synthetic utopia.
Lyra's voice echoed. "There's no room for deviation. This is... sterilized peace."
Jaden paced. "This is not civilization. This is conquest through stillness."
He summoned the core team: Nyela, Lyra, Corv, Kess, and a newly arrived scout—Tia, recovered but shaken.
"They rewired my memories," she confessed. "Tried to replace my pain with silence. But I held onto one thing—your schematics, Jaden. That messy blueprint of yours kept me sane."
Jaden nodded. "Then we fight imperfection with imperfection. We build noise. Emotion. Hope."
He looked at Lyra. "We need a distributed signal. One that floods the psychic field. Something the Harmonizers can't neutralize."
Lyra's eyes glowed. "The Chorus Protocol. We've never used it."
