Location: Skyfortress Aegis – Lower Hangar Decks
The storm inside the fortress hadn't stopped—it had only shifted.
Aeris and Lucien moved through the darkened hangar, the overhead lights flickering like they were afraid to stay on too long. Pools of shadow hid every corner, and the metallic heartbeat from earlier still pulsed faintly through the floor.
Lucien kept close, his shoulder brushing hers. It wasn't accidental. Every step they took together was calculated—if they were separated for even a second, they both knew it could mean the end.
---
They reached the far blast door. Aeris keyed in the override, but the panel only blinked red.
"We don't have time for this," Lucien muttered. He moved past her, kneeling to access the manual release.
Aeris kept her blade ready, her eyes scanning the shadows. And that's when she saw her—Lieutenant Mara Kess, one of their oldest allies, stepping out from the dark.
"Mara?" Aeris exhaled, relief washing through her. "You're alive."
Mara smiled faintly. "Alive. Changed."
Her eyes caught the light—and silver glinted where there should have been warmth.
---
"Mara…" Lucien's voice sharpened, his rifle lowering but not entirely. "Don't do this."
"You don't understand," Mara whispered. "I see now. The Forgotten… they're not our enemy. They're freedom. They're truth."
Aeris took a slow step forward. "They've infected you. You're not speaking for yourself."
"I'm speaking for us, Aeris," Mara said, and there was something heartbreakingly human in her tone. "And they want you with us. You belong."
---
Lucien's voice was low, controlled. "Back away from her."
But Aeris couldn't—not yet. She reached for Mara's hand, trying to find any trace of the friend she knew. "You told me once you'd die before serving another master."
Mara's fingers trembled against hers. "This isn't servitude… it's clarity. And you'll feel it too—when you stop fighting."
---
Then it happened.
Mara's other hand shot forward, faster than thought, gripping Aeris's wrist. The silver in her eyes flared, and Aeris felt it—the hum in the floor became the hum in her veins.
Her knees buckled. Cold rushed through her bloodstream, images crashing into her mind—cities of silver, voices calling her name, a version of herself draped in white and crowned in light, smiling down at billions.
Aeris Vale, Queen of Ascendancy.
---
"Aeris!" Lucien's shout tore through the vision. His hands were on her, dragging her back, breaking Mara's grip with a force that made bone crack. He pressed her against the steel wall, his body shielding hers entirely.
"Look at me," he ordered, his breath hot against her cheek. "You stay here. With me. Right here."
Her heart was racing, not from fear, but from the raw desperation in his eyes. His forehead touched hers for a second—just long enough for her to feel the tremor in him.
---
Mara was still there, still watching. "You can't protect her forever, Lucien," she said softly. "Soon, she'll come willingly."
Lucien's voice turned lethal. "Not in this lifetime."
---
The blast door behind them finally groaned open, the manual release completing. Lucien didn't let go of her immediately—his hand stayed at the back of her neck, thumb brushing against her pulse like he was memorizing it.
"You scared me," he admitted, barely above a whisper. "And I don't scare easy."
Aeris let her forehead rest against his jaw for a moment, breathing him in, grounding herself in the steady heat of him. "I'm not going anywhere," she said, and meant it.
---
They moved through the door together, but the echo of Mara's words followed them into the dark.
Soon, she'll come willingly.
And the most terrifying part was… in the visions the Forgotten showed her, some small part of her had wanted to.
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