(Written by Rohit Malhotra)
Omega Core trembled long after the quake had subsided.
Flickering lights returned to full power. Emergency systems hummed. But everyone inside the facility felt it—the shift. Not just in the air. In reality itself. Something ancient had stirred beneath them. A low hum permeated the steel walls, a frequency none of them could hear but all could feel, like a distant heartbeat reverberating through the ground.
Ronin sat silently in the War Room, his gaze fixed on the slowly rotating hologram of Earth. Lines of energy spiraled beneath its surface like veins, all pulsing toward a single dark zone labeled: The Sleeper's Core. His mind was still recovering from the vision, the wave of memories, the warning that had shattered his identity. He was no longer just Ronin—he was a product, a prototype, a portal.
Kael leaned against a wall, arms crossed, watching the hologram with narrowed eyes. "The Sleeper spoke to us. Not through code. Through consciousness. That's not a machine. That's a god—or something that wants to be one."
Ruby, still tense, added, "Veyrith tried to stop us from waking it. He called it a parasite. Said we were food."
Kai stood beside the console, face grim. "You touched its memory, Ronin. You saw more than we did. What is the Sleeper?"
Ronin's voice was low, distant. "It's not one thing. It's… layered. Sentient thought embedded in matter. It doesn't just exist—it dreams. And when it dreams, reality bends."
Kael frowned. "So what does it dream about?"
Ronin stood and walked to the screen. "Us. It dreams of us. And through us… it remakes the world. Piece by piece."
A silence filled the room, heavy with implication. None of them wanted to say it out loud, but they all felt the same fear rising.
Then the alarms blared.
INTRUSION DETECTED – SECTOR 7
Ronin spun around. "What now?"
An automated voice echoed through the walls. "Unidentified being breached outer perimeter. Containment breach. Repeat—containment breach."
The team rushed to the elevator. As they descended, Kael activated her pulse rifle. "Whoever it is, they're not trying to be quiet."
Ruby whispered, "I hate surprises."
The doors opened into Sector 7. A gust of cold, unnatural air struck them.
What they saw wasn't a being. It was a tear in space. A swirling rift of dark matter, flickering like shattered glass suspended mid-air, rippling with chaotic energy.
And standing in front of it—a girl.
No older than fifteen, barefoot, white-haired, eyes glowing amber like twin suns about to collapse.
She turned to them and smiled.
"Hello," she said, her voice echoing as if spoken in multiple dimensions. "I've been looking for you, Ronin."
Kai raised his weapon. "Who are you?"
The girl tilted her head. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to warn you."
Kael stepped forward. "About what?"
The girl blinked, and when she did, the lights above flickered. "The Dreaming God… is no longer asleep. It has begun to think. And when it thinks, your world reshapes itself."
Ronin's breath caught. "Who are you?"
She looked directly at him. "My name is Nyra. I'm the first one who survived its dream. And now, it wants me back."
Behind her, the rift crackled violently.
Dozens of shadowed hands emerged from within—pulling at her, trying to drag her back. They were translucent, alien, stretching like living smoke with claws shaped like memory.
Ronin stepped forward. "Hold on—!"
Nyra screamed as she began to be pulled in. "Don't trust the voices in your mind, Ronin! They are not yours!"
Kael fired at the rift. Ruby slashed at the shadows with a plasma blade.
But it was too late.
Nyra was gone.
The rift sealed itself with a deafening snap. The corridor was left in silence. Even the lights dimmed, as if in mourning.
Kai exhaled. "What the hell just happened?"
Ronin looked at the scorched floor. "We just met someone from inside the Sleeper's mind."
Kael whispered, "And she wasn't alone."
Hours Later – The Archives
Inside Omega Core's deepest data vault, Ronin accessed files restricted even from his level. Security clearances peeled away like layers of an onion until raw truth sat in front of them.
Kael, Ruby, and Kai stood nearby, watching as a screen loaded.
Project Origin – Entry 01
Date: [REDACTED]
Subject: Nyra-01
Notes: First known child created from direct mental projection by the Sleeper. Result: Physically stable. Mentally unstable. Vanished during containment breach.
Ruby blinked. "She wasn't just connected to the Sleeper. She was made by it."
Ronin nodded. "And now she's free. Or maybe still dreaming."
Kai muttered, "Or being hunted. Or both."
Suddenly, a hidden folder blinked into existence on the console. Labeled: CODE: RONIN
Ronin opened it.
Inside: a video.
A scientist appeared—exhausted, pale, eyes haunted. Behind him, the walls cracked with dark veins, pulsing like arteries.
"If you're seeing this, then you've survived the first phase. But that's not the end—it's the invitation. The Sleeper doesn't kill. It absorbs. Rewrites. Remakes. Even me."
The man smiled bitterly.
"I was your creator, Ronin. But I am no longer myself. The dream has me now. I see stars where there are none. I hear laughter in stone. I feel the end… every time I sleep."
The video glitched violently. Then ended.
Kael backed away. "Ronin… you're the key to all this."
Ronin whispered, "No. I'm the doorway."
Elsewhere – Beneath Layer Zero
Veyrith stood at the edge of an endless pit, the air around him thick with dark mist and unspoken names.
Around him, his forgotten warriors gathered—ghosts of wars never won, bound in armor forged from shattered timelines.
"The fracture has opened," he said coldly. "And now the song spreads."
From the darkness, a massive serpentine figure emerged—its body coiled like shadow incarnate, its head crowned with golden horns. Its eyes opened slowly, revealing galaxies trapped within.
It spoke without sound, its thoughts like thunder.
"Prepare the awakening. The False Dreamer has returned."
Veyrith knelt.
"As you command, Lord Vyriem."
Above them, the walls began to bleed light.
The true war had not yet begun.
But it would.
To Be Continued
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