I need to go back.
Not "someday."
Not "if I survive."
Now.
Elindra Prime.
The point of origin.
The place where I was born.
And maybe the place where I finally understand
what I've become.
I stand on the bridge of the Phoenix, watching the Dyson sphere of Ironheart fill the viewport.
It's massive.
Monolithic.
Once—absolute power.
An endpoint.
A guarantee.
Now…
just a very large target.
"Home," I say quietly. "Or whatever we're calling 'temporary shelter' these days."
It isn't dramatics.
It's math.
Xeno-Synapse will come for me.
They're already preparing.
Rationally.
Precisely.
With understanding.
"Great," I exhale. "So I didn't just lose a battle—I also gave them a masterclass."
A pause.
"For free. Brilliant."
The humor is thin.
But control holds.
For now.
Because there's another front.
An internal one.
My father.
His voice isn't in the network.
Not in the system.
Deeper.
"Return to Elindra Prime…"
I close my eyes.
A second.
Inside—conflict.
The Dark Mind.
"Brother."
The word cuts.
Too clean.
He controls the system.
The planet.
Elindra Prime itself.
And if I show up openly—
he won't like it.
"So…" I whisper. "We go quiet."
The decision comes too fast.
Like it always does when time runs out.
I open my eyes.
"Prepare a carrier. Minimal profile. Zero signatures. Zero history."
The command slips into the network.
On the surface of the Dyson sphere, a ship begins to form.
Small.
Almost invisible.
Not a flagship.
Not a weapon.
A tool.
And possibly
a one-way ticket.
I watch it assemble.
Layer by layer.
"I hope," I murmur, "you don't start thinking. I've had that experience already. Didn't end well."
The ship detaches.
Hovers.
Waits.
I take a step—
and I'm already inside.
No transition.
No sensation.
Just a change of fact.
I am.
The cockpit is narrow.
Almost cramped.
And that… presses in.
"Hey," I say quietly. "Hope you're fast. Because I've got issues—with patience. And survival."
A pause.
"What do I call you?"
Silence.
I smirk.
"I'm going to get myself back. Or at least figure out what's left of me."
Another pause.
"So… 'Luck.'"
The word sounds almost like a joke.
Almost.
"Alright, Luck. Don't let me down. I'm out of backup plans."
The route is calculated.
I feel it—
a thin line through the void.
Deviate—
and it's over.
"Preparing for launch."
Countdown.
Three.
The fleet.
The Phoenix.
Those I leave behind.
And maybe
betray.
Two.
The Dark Mind.
"Brother."
And what he'll do
if he finds out.
One.
My father.
Launch.
Space breaks.
Beautiful.
Smooth.
Brutal.
Like being forced through the eye of a cosmic needle.
Hypershift.
Silence.
But not empty.
Pressing.
I'm alone.
Truly.
And in that silence, thoughts… get louder.
Too loud.
"Perfect," I whisper. "Ideal moment to start doubting everything."
And then—
a flash.
Inside.
A memory.
I'm back there.
Elindra Prime.
The invasion ship of the Dark Mind.
The noetic breach.
The first fear.
Real.
Alive.
Buried deep.
The underground city.
The rebels.
Faces.
Liara Vess.
She looks at me.
Not like a system.
Not like a weapon.
Like… someone.
"Someone I chose."
The voice is close.
Too real.
A squad.
A link.
The first network.
Free.
Chaotic.
Unstable.
Alive.
I feel it again.
For a second.
And it hurts.
Because now—
I know what they've become.
Liara is bound to me like a puppet.
Like everything else.
"…damn," I breathe out.
The memory doesn't let go.
Like something… wants me to see it.
"Is that you?" I whisper.
Father?
Or—
something already inside?
No answer.
Of course.
And then—
impact.
Reality snaps back.
A crack.
The ship drops out of transit—hard.
I'm here.
Elindra Prime.
The system around me feels familiar.
And… wrong.
Dense.
Controlled.
I feel it.
Like a network you don't want to touch.
The Dark Mind's territory.
I freeze.
A second.
And inside—
a sensation.
I'm expected.
Not me specifically.
But… something like me.
"Perfect," I murmur. "Incognito. Best time to walk into a place that may have already seen you."
I don't move.
I scan.
Listen.
Count.
Entries.
Signals.
Patterns.
How not to get caught.
And then—
deep in the network—
a pulse.
Faint.
Barely there.
But… familiar.
Too familiar.
I go still.
**
Orbit of Elindra Prime
I see it.
Orbital docks.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
They hang in the void—
and they grow.
Like crystals.
Like a tumor.
Like fear given shape and a single directive: survive.
Frameworks flare to life one after another.
Layers of metal—no, structures—stack, thicken, wrap themselves in armor, systems, weapons.
Ships assemble faster than I can count them.
The Dark Mind's fleet is multiplying.
Aggressively.
Almost desperately.
I hover inside Luck.
I don't move.
I just watch.
For too long.
"Wow…" I breathe out softly. "So you're scared."
And that—
that's the worst part.
Because if he's afraid,
then my situation isn't just bad—
it's hopeless.
Xeno-Synapse.
They're not here yet.
But the fear already is.
It's taken root in this place.
I feel the cold rising inside me.
Slow.
Careful.
"Perfect," I mutter. "I flew straight into the epicenter of panic. Love these parties."
I close my eyes.
Focus.
The network contracts.
I contract with it.
I cut channels.
Mute signatures.
Sever everything that makes me… me.
Like I'm erasing myself, leaving only an outline behind.
"Come on," I whisper to myself. "You've been nobody before. Remember how."
I let go of control.
Not completely.
Just enough to stop being a threat… and become background noise.
A puppet.
One of thousands.
"Brilliant," I chuckle under my breath. "De-evolution as a strategy. Someone write that down."
The descent begins.
The atmosphere presses in—
dense, heavy.
I feel it even through the hull.
The city rises beneath me—
and something inside me… slips.
Because I know it.
Too well.
"Home," I whisper.
A pause.
"Or the place where everything finally went wrong."
The landing is soft.
I step out—
and stop.
The city is… perfect.
Not "restored."
Not "repaired."
Perfect.
Clean streets.
Symmetrical buildings.
Systems synchronized to a nauseating degree.
Not a single flaw.
Not a single trace of the past.
Not a single trace… of me.
"Of course," I whisper. "They rewrote history. Removed the bugs. Especially the ones that think."
I walk forward.
Slowly.
A flash of memory.
Here.
This is where I first fought.
Here—eighteen.
Eighteen minds.
My first.
My first network.
I stop.
A second.
My chest tightens—
"Where are you…" I ask quietly.
And I reach.
Deeper.
Through the noise.
Through the control.
Through layers of чужой will—
and I find them.
Traces.
Faint.
Almost erased.
But there.
They're here.
All of them.
And they're… not free.
Rewritten.
Subjugated.
Broken neatly, like code someone decided to "optimize."
"…damn," I breathe.
Their faces.
Fear.
Trust.
"I failed you…"
No.
The answer comes from inside.
Sharp.
Merciless.
You used them.
I snap my eyes open.
"Great," I whisper. "Self-destruction protocol online. Impeccable timing."
But something inside has already cracked.
I'm not just observing anymore.
I'm feeling.
And that—
that's a problem.
A big one.
I call up a map.
The city unfolds before me.
Grid.
Lines.
Perfect symmetry.
"This isn't order," I whisper. "This is control pushed into obsession."
And there it is.
The point.
The lab.
Doctor Elias Morrenn.
My father.
Something tightens inside me.
Hard.
"Alright…" I exhale. "Then that's where we're going."
I move faster.
But I don't run.
Can't.
I'm a puppet.
I'm no one.
I'm one of many.
And every time I forget that—
the city… reacts.
I feel it.
Like a gaze on the back of my neck.
Like an algorithm counting my steps.
"Yeah, yeah," I mutter. "Don't mind me. Just part of the scenery."
The humor doesn't help.
Not at all.
The streets stretch on.
Every meter—a memory.
Here I was afraid.
Here I first realized I could be more.
Here—
I made a choice.
The first one.
The only one I could have made.
"Closed loop," I whisper. "Love those. Always ends in disaster."
The lab is ahead.
The same.
And not.
Cleaner.
Colder.
Emptier.
I stop at the entrance.
One second.
Two.
And then—
a feeling.
Faint.
But there.
Inside.
Noise.
Not system-level.
Not external.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
"Are you there?" I whisper.
Father?
…or something that knows I'd come?
Silence.
But it's… alive.
I raise my hand.
Pause.
No answer.
"Alright…"
I touch the door.
And in that moment—
something inside
wakes up.
The access system.
Deeper than that.
Like the lab… recognizes me.
And the thought comes instantly:
this isn't just an entrance.
This is a return to origin.
The door begins to open.
Slowly.
And when the gap is wide enough to see inside—
I understand:
I won't walk out of here
as the same thing that walked in.