Chapter 6 — The Weight of the Core
The core pulsed in Kael's hand like a trapped heart.
Red light from his armor reflected off its black surface in jagged patterns. The PRIME intelligence inside wasn't silent — just waiting. Watching.
[PRIME consciousness contained — temporarily.]
Kael shoved the core into a magnetic pouch on his belt. The moment it locked into place, his armor stiffened as if bracing.
Mira crossed her arms, eyeing the thing like it might explode. "We should bury that thing. Or melt it. Or throw it into a sun."
"Can't," Kael said. "It's connected to me."
"That's exactly what worries me."
Kael turned to the survivors resting along the cavern walls — people exhausted, bleeding, barely holding on. He knelt beside an older man with a shattered leg.
"You're safe," Kael told him quietly. "We'll get you out."
The man squeezed his hand. "You saved us."
Kael stood, voice low. "Not yet."
Above them, the mountain groaned. Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Mira's expression sharpened. "Those explosions weakened the tunnels. Dominion's going to notice."
Kael already knew. He could feel the symbiote analyzing the structural damage.
[Surface scans show troop deployment.]
[Evacuation window: shrinking.]
Mira brushed hair from her face, voice steady despite the tremor in her hands.
"We need a route out."
Kael nodded. "There's another chamber up ahead — I saw it on the scans. Should connect to old transit tracks."
He started walking.
Mira followed, but her tone changed — quieter, almost fragile.
"That memory you saw… the lab. Was that real?"
Kael didn't look at her. Couldn't.
"Yes."
She walked beside him, fingers brushing the metal of his arm. "Kael, all those years—why didn't you remember?"
"Memory suppression," he said. "The Dominion made sure of it."
Mira stopped walking.
"Did they take me from you?" she whispered.
Kael turned.
"They didn't take you," he said. "They took everything."
The Tunnel of Ghosts
The deeper they went, the older the tunnels became. The walls shifted from steel to glassy rock… then to something else. Smooth. Metallic. Alien.
Mira's light scanned the surface.
"Kael… these symbols match the sphere."
The symbiote rippled.
[Correction: symbols match your genetic imprint.]
Kael stiffened. Mira stared at him, realization dawning.
"They didn't just prepare you to use the armor," she said.
"They built the armor around you."
Kael said nothing.
He didn't need to.
Blocked Escape
Minutes later, they reached a chasm — a collapsed transit tunnel stretching into darkness.
The others caught up. Fear rippled through them as they stared at the divide.
"There's no bridge," Mira said.
Kael opened his mouth — but the symbiote spoke first.
[Bridge fabrication possible. Material: host plating.]
Kael blinked. "What?"
The armor peeled off his arm — not fully, but in ribbons of molten red that extended into the air, hardening mid-flight into a flat surface.
Mira stared, eyes wide. "Kael—are you sure—"
He grunted, jaw clenched. Every centimeter of bridge meant tearing part of himself away. The pain was sharp, hot, electric.
The bridge locked into place, connecting both sides of the chasm.
The survivors crossed one by one.
Mira grabbed Kael's hand. "You didn't have to do that."
He met her stare, exhausted. "I did."
When the last survivor crossed, Kael stepped onto the bridge—
A shriek echoed behind them.
Not human.
Not machine.
Something crawled out of the dark — a corrupted V.I.P.E.R. creature, larger than the others, limbs splintered and twisted.
Mira's voice broke. "It followed us."
Kael drew his blade.
"No."
His eyes burned.
"It was sent."
The Bridge Fight
The creature leapt.
Kael met it midair — the bridge trembling under their weight. The creature's claws tore into Kael's shoulder, ripping armor away.
Kael slammed his fist into its jaw — bone and metal cracked.
[Host tissue damage increasing.]
"Shut up and let me fight!"
He drove his blade through the creature's core. It shrieked, convulsing—
But instead of dying, it wrapped tendrils around Kael's neck, trying to merge.
[Foreign symbiote attempting neural overwrite.]
Kael roared, pushing every ounce of will — every buried memory — every ounce of rage.
"I AM NOT YOUR HOST!"
The armor erupted in a wave of red heat.
The tendrils melted.
The creature fell, screaming, into the chasm.
Silence.
Kael collapsed to one knee, vision fading around the edges.
Mira caught him. "Kael—Kael, stay with me."
His voice was barely a whisper.
"It… wanted to replace me."
"No," Mira said fiercely. "Nothing replaces you."
The Core Awakens
The magnetic pouch on Kael's belt pulsed.
Hard.
A voice — cold, patient — seeped into his mind.
You cannot run from what you are, Kael.
His breath hitched.
You can only become it.
Darkness swallowed him.