The cold metal walls of the Omega Core echoed with the team's uneven footsteps. Each step was like a slow countdown toward something they didn't yet understand. The lights above flickered occasionally, as if the structure itself was breathing—alive, aware.
The tension in the air was unbearable. Every corner of the deep underwater facility whispered of secrets long buried. There was no turning back.
Ronin walked ahead, the glow in his eyes still faintly golden. His mind reeled from the revelation. The fragments of memory he had just unlocked weren't just memories—they were warnings. Warnings encrypted in his DNA from a time even he couldn't fully comprehend. These weren't dreams or hallucinations. They were instructions… left by something far older than human civilization.
Kael moved beside him, her face unreadable. She had seen what Ronin saw—at least in part—and it had shaken even her. The usually composed and calculating hybrid had not spoken since the vision. That silence now felt heavier than the ocean above them.
Ruby trailed slightly behind, her hand on her weapon, her eyes scanning every dark corner of the passage. Ever since R-03's fall, she hadn't let her guard down. Her instincts told her this place had more secrets yet to reveal—and not all of them would stay asleep.
Kai walked silently. He hadn't spoken a word since the energy pulse unlocked the Omega Protocol. Whatever visions he saw, he kept to himself, his young face expressionless but his fingers twitching occasionally—as if still reacting to something unseen.
"Ronin," Kael finally said, her voice quiet and hesitant. "That voice you heard… the one that said you were the catalyst—did it say what we're unlocking?"
Ronin didn't turn. "Not in words. But I saw it."
Kael frowned, her brow furrowed. "What did you see?"
Ronin stopped walking. The air around him seemed to still.
"I saw Earth," he said slowly. "But… not our Earth. Something beneath it. Something ancient. Sleeping. And we're the keys."
Kai spoke for the first time, his tone cold and direct. "Then we have to decide. Do we keep unlocking… or destroy the code?"
Ruby looked alarmed. "Destroy? But you all nearly died for it."
Ronin nodded slowly. "And if it wakes whatever's buried, it might not stop with us. It might not stop at all."
Elsewhere – In the Vault's Lower Chambers
A figure moved through the dark corridors of the Omega Core—graceful, soundless, barefoot.
R-05.
Elira.
She passed the wreckage of a memory chamber, her fingers brushing the air like she was painting with nothing but thoughts. Behind her, flickers of distorted reality trailed in her wake—walls bending, shadows twisting, light changing color.
She whispered to herself. "He's here. The last of them."
Her eyes—pale violet and glowing—blinked slowly.
"They're almost ready."
She paused at a sealed doorway, laid her hand on the surface, and smiled.
"Then we begin again."
The door dissolved, obeying her presence.
Control Hub – Minutes Later
The group reached the Control Nexus—a circular chamber with a transparent ceiling. From here, they could see the ocean above, swirling in the stormy depths like a living sky.
In the center of the room stood a raised platform, cables and conduits snaking upward toward a pulsating core of blue light. Strange glyphs pulsed along the floor like veins beneath the skin of a sleeping giant.
Kael moved first. "This is where they modified us."
Ronin stared. "Where they created us."
Kai stepped toward the panel beside the platform and hesitated. "This terminal—it can upload the Omega Code directly into your neural core."
Ruby's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"
He looked at Ronin. "If you upload it, you'll remember everything. You'll become… what they designed you to be."
Ronin narrowed his eyes. "And if I don't?"
Kael answered. "Then the lock remains. But so does the danger. Anyone else could find the code, inject it, and use it."
Ronin took a deep breath.
He stepped onto the platform.
"Do it."
Neural Sync: Initiated
Lights flickered. The platform activated. Cables clamped around Ronin's arms and spine.
A mechanical voice echoed:
"Neural Integration Beginning… Standby."
A surge of blue lightning coursed through him. His body convulsed—but he didn't scream. He absorbed it. Accepted it.
Memories spilled into his mind—millions of them. Thoughts, visions, sounds, feelings.
He saw the first hybrid awakening.
He saw the scientists arguing. Fighting. Fleeing.
He saw the alien artifact—a vast obsidian structure unearthed in Antarctica.
He saw what lay inside.
A being.
Not dead. Not alive. But dreaming.
And in its dreams—it created them.
Him.
Elsewhere – The Watcher Wakes
In the depths beneath the Earth, in a cavern older than civilization itself, the final lock clicked open.
A heartbeat echoed through the stone.
Then a second.
A pulse.
A ripple.
And finally—a breath.
The Sleeper had felt Ronin.
And it smiled.
Back in the Nexus
Ronin gasped and tore the cables from his body.
He fell to his knees, sweat dripping from his brow.
Ruby was instantly beside him. "Ronin! Talk to me—are you okay?"
He looked up at her, his eyes no longer gold—but void-black, with spinning rings of data.
"I remember everything," he whispered. "And it's worse than we thought."
Kai asked, "What did they do to us?"
Ronin stood slowly. "We were made as vessels. Not to fight. But to contain. Something they couldn't kill."
Kael whispered, "The Sleeper?"
Ronin nodded. "Its dreams were infecting the planet. They thought if they built us strong enough, we could hold the infection. And they were right—until they forgot us."
Ruby stepped back. "And now that you've remembered… what happens next?"
Ronin looked at her, at all of them.
"That depends," he said. "Because the Sleeper knows I'm awake now. And it's coming."
Meanwhile – Above Earth
On the edge of space, the hidden satellite's systems surged to life.
All embryos lit up.
Thousands of hybrid minds stirred.
The AI whispered:
"Primary vessel activated." "Engage planetary awakening sequence." "Begin Dreamstorm Protocol."
Omega Core – Final Scene
Kael, Ruby, and Kai stood with Ronin as he activated the final command.
"We have to stop it before it wakes fully," Ronin said.
Kai looked at the ocean above. "Then we'll need an army."
Kael smirked. "Then let's wake ours."
They turned toward the cryo-chamber wing.
Ronin paused one last time, his voice firm, steady.
"No more hiding. No more running."
He looked straight ahead.
"The Sleeper must not wake."
©2025 darx_roitth_ All Rights Reserved.