Rana was still standing in one corner of the base — the box in his hand, his eyes fixed on the entrance.
The machines beeped steadily in the background. Aliens moved through their routines, attending to their work. Everything about this place appeared normal — and yet nothing inside Rana was normal at all. A restlessness had settled in him that refused to quiet itself. The weight of the box in his hand was not merely the weight of metal. It was something else. Something heavier.
Then Leader came.
Directly toward him. Without stopping, without speaking to anyone else along the way.
"Rana — I need to speak with you."
Rana looked at him for a moment. "I need to speak with you as well."
They moved into a side room — small, quiet. The sounds of the base remained outside. Inside, there were only the two of them.
Rana did not wait for the door to close.
"Answer me first." His voice was controlled — but something inside it was drawn tight. "Why have I been kept here like a prisoner?"
Leader paused for a moment. Then —
"For your safety."
"No." Rana's answer was immediate. "I don't feel safe here anymore."
Silence settled between them.
Leader looked at him — genuinely, not briefly. Not one second but two, three. As though he was trying to read something in Rana that existed beneath the surface. Then he drew a slow breath.
"Rana..." he began — and this time, his voice carried something different. Weight. "Zaneath was my friend. You know this."
Rana said nothing.
"I made him a promise," Leader continued. "To keep you safe. And if that requires me to stand against you yourself — I will not step back from it."
Something moved inside Rana — but he did not speak. He only listened.
Leader took one step forward. His eyes were serious. Completely serious.
"Rana — you know what happened. Upper aliens attacked us. This planet. This base. We lost everything that day."
"Yes," Rana said quietly. "I know."
"And Xyolithian..." Leader stopped — deliberately. As though selecting each word with care. "Xyolithian is also an upper alien."
Silence.
"He was part of that attack."
Something stirred inside Rana.
"And now he has come here. Searching for you."
Rana's breathing paused for one second.
Leader's voice dropped lower — meant only for Rana.
"I needed to keep you safe from him. That is why I would not let you go outside. That is why I gave the soldier his orders. It was not punishment — it was protection."
Something inside Rana was breaking — slowly, painfully.
Xyolithian.
He had been there from the very beginning. He had seemed helpful. He had seemed safe. When there was no one else — he was there. When nothing made sense — he was there.
And he —
"He was deceiving me," Rana said quietly — more to himself than to Leader, as though confirming something he did not want to accept.
His fist closed.
"Because of him, my life..." he stopped — his throat tightening. "...the lives of those with me are in danger."
There was anger. Real, burning anger. But there was something else beneath it — an ache. The specific pain of betrayal. The kind that hurts more deeply than anger ever can.
"I will not forgive him."
"Rana." Leader's tone was firm — but still carried that quality of care. "Not with force. Not yet. This requires thought."
Rana looked at him.
"To stop the upper aliens — the weapon alone is not enough. The weapon must be activated. And for that, we need Zaneath's files as well. The information inside them can change everything." Leader paused — deliberately. "That is why — the box. Give it to me."
Rana's hand moved automatically toward his pocket.
The box was there. His hand touched it — a familiar weight.
One second of hesitation.
He understood the significance of this box. Zaneath's files. Zaneath's work. Everything was contained in this one object. Giving it to anyone — to anyone at all — was difficult.
But — Leader's promise. Zaneath's name. And the truth about Xyolithian — which now appeared in an entirely different light.
Rana slowly took out the box.
He held it in his hand for one final moment. As though saying goodbye to something.
Then he moved to give it to Leader — and stopped.
"Rana —" Leader's voice was quiet. "Ryvok gave his life for this. You remember."
That name.
Ryvok.
Rana's eyes closed for one second. That face — that moment — everything arrived at once. Ryvok's death. His sacrifice. How difficult it had been to obtain this box.
Rana gave the box to Leader.
Leader took it — with both hands. Carefully. Reverently. As though he understood that this was not merely a box — it was someone's blood, someone's promise.
"I will find a way to open it," he said. Something in his voice carried the quality of sincerity. "I will not break your trust, Rana."
Then he turned. And walked out — the box in his hands, his steps steady and unhurried.
On the other side —
Xyolithian was outside the base. In the shadows. Completely still.
His eyes were fixed on the base entrance — tracking every movement. Leader had gone inside. Quite some time had passed.
What was happening inside — he did not know. And that was what was unsettling him.
Had Rana learned the truth? Or not? That question refused to settle. But approaching directly — going inside without preparation, without knowing anything — would be wrong.
Xyolithian's jaw tightened.
Going in directly right now would be a mistake.
He remained where he was — with patience. Calculating every possible angle. Any move made at the wrong moment could ruin everything.
And then —
The base door opened.
Leader stepped out.
Xyolithian looked at him reflexively — a normal assessment. Composed. Confident. Exactly as Leader always appeared — controlled, unreadable.
But then —
His gaze dropped.
Something was in Leader's hand.
A box.
Capstain metal. Zaneath's mark on its surface — the same texture, the same impression. That box — that very box — which had been with Rana. Which had come to them after Ryvok's sacrifice. Which had arrived through such immense difficulty.
Xyolithian's entire body stopped — for one complete second.
No step forward. No step back. No movement of any kind. Simply — complete stillness. As though time itself had paused around him for that single moment.
His eyes were locked on the box. In Leader's hands. Held carefully. As though Leader understood exactly what it was — as though it was not meant for him, but for someone else.
This...
How did this come to him?
Rana...
Leader was walking — straight, confident. He did not look back once. Not toward the shadows. Not toward Xyolithian. He either did not know — or knew and did not care.
But the box — the box was in his hands.
Xyolithian stood there — completely still — watching Leader walk away. Something inside him had shifted. Something that had been stable for many years — had moved in a single second.
Rana.
What have you done.
And then — one second later — Xyolithian's lips moved.
"This means..." he said quietly — to himself, in the shadows, for no one — "...Rana, you managed to open the vault. You must have learned at least some of the truth."
A pause.
And then — Xyolithian laughed.
Faintly. Controlled. But real.
Not the laughter of happiness — the laughter that comes when something creates a sensation deep inside. When one piece of a larger picture fits precisely into its place.
Leader had gone far.
The box was with him.
And Xyolithian stood in the shadows — laughing — something in his eyes that was neither fear nor worry.
Something else entirely.
Xyolithian stood watching — following Leader's receding figure with his gaze.
The box was in his hands. He was moving away — confident, steady.
And something shifted inside Xyolithian with finality.
There is no more time to wait.
It was a clear thought. No confusion, no hesitation. Only a decision — sharp, final.
He moved toward the base.
Not openly. Every step was calculated — from shadow to shadow, along the walls, wherever cover existed. As though he wanted no one to see him, to sense his presence. He needed to enter the base — quietly, secretly — for one single purpose.
He needed to speak to Rana. Once. Just once.
Inside —
He moved from one corridor to the next. There was movement from the aliens — but no one saw him. Or if they did, they did not register him.
And then — a room.
Rana was sitting there. Alone. His eyes were lowered — something was being processed inside him that had no outward expression.
Xyolithian approached him — quietly. Without sound.
"Rana."
Rana looked up.
One second — two — complete silence.
Then — shock. Pure, unfiltered shock. As though his eyes were refusing to believe what they were seeing.
"Xyolithian..." Rana said quietly — his voice almost a whisper. "You —"
And then something changed inside him. He began to rise — his mouth opened — as though he was about to call the entire base —
"Rana." Xyolithian's voice was sharp — controlled, urgent. "Listen to me first."
Rana stopped — but the anger was coming through. He could not hold it back.
"You had an attack carried out against me." His voice was trembling — with anger, with pain. "You had Ryvok killed. My companions. My —" he stopped — his throat was closing — "you had my father killed."
Something flickered in Xyolithian's eyes for a moment — pain or anger, Rana could not tell. But everything inside Rana was coming out at once — everything that had been buried, that had never settled. Every single thing.
"Rana —"
"What could you possibly explain to me now —"
"That box." Something in Xyolithian's voice stopped Rana — just for one second. "Why did you give it to Leader?"
Silence.
"You have made a very serious mistake." Xyolithian was looking directly into Rana's eyes — no anger, no accusation. Only — weight. Truth. "And the price for this mistake will now have to be paid — by everyone."
Something moved inside Rana.
"You —" he was about to continue — about to say something more —
And then —
The door opened.
Leader.
Soldiers were with him — armored, positioned. Three. Four.
He walked in directly — neither surprised nor angry. Completely calm. As though he had known. As though this was the plan.
"Xyolithian." Leader's voice was flat. "Did you genuinely believe no one had seen you?"
"You have been under my watch from the beginning."
Xyolithian looked at Leader for one second. Then at Rana. Something lived in his eyes — but he said nothing. There was no time.
The soldiers advanced.
Xyolithian resisted — for one second — but there were four of them. And they were armed.
One soldier raised a weapon — it was not a standard gun. A specific device — built for one purpose only.
The trigger was pressed.
A flash — silent, precise.
Xyolithian's body stiffened for one second — then went slack. He would have fallen — had the soldiers not caught him.
Unconscious.
Rana stood there — watching all of it. Something inside him could not be understood. There was anger — but there was something else too. Those last words — "you have made a very serious mistake" — were still echoing inside him.
"Rana." Leader's voice was warm — reassuring. He looked at Rana directly.
"We will send him to the fifth dimension."
A deliberate pause.
"He will be contained there until we choose to release him. His body will remain here. But his mind — his consciousness — will be imprisoned there."
Leader's eyes stayed on Rana — caring, concerned.
"No enemy of yours can reach you now, Rana. I am watching over everything."
The soldiers carried Xyolithian's body away — carefully, methodically.
The room slowly emptied.
And Rana stood there — alone.
Something inside him would not settle. Something was breaking — or something was forming — it was not clear which.
Only one thing was clear.
Xyolithian's last words.
You have made a very serious mistake.
The price for this will now have to be paid — by everyone.
And somewhere else —
There was no location for this. No map that could reach it. No name that could be given to it.
Only — darkness.
Complete, total darkness. No walls visible. No floor. No ceiling. Only an infinite black that existed in every direction — above, below, all around. As though this was the part of space that had never been built. As though this was the corner of existence that no one ever reached.
But someone was there.
Had always been there.
And then —
A glow.
Faint. At first almost invisible — a spark that would be swallowed by the darkness immediately. Then slightly more. Then more still.
Then stronger.
Blue.
Two eyes — pure blue, cold, ancient — began to illuminate within the darkness. Exactly as Rana had seen them in his dream. The same colour. The same coldness. The same depth — as though behind those eyes existed an entire universe that no one had ever witnessed.
Those same eyes.
Which had been there then. Which were here now.
Which — perhaps — had always been.
Those eyes — which had followed Rana from the Astra Building all the way to the base. At every turn. In every shadow. Rana had not known. No one had known.
But it had been there. Watching. Waiting.
Now —
From within the darkness, a voice came.
Just one. No one else to hear it. As though it was addressing the universe itself — or informing the universe. As though this was an announcement that only existence was meant to receive.
"The time has come for me to move."
A pause — in which the silence of the entire world was contained.
"The time has come for everything to be reversed."
The blue eyes intensified — for one second. As though an energy existed that could no longer restrain itself.
"Now what I want — will happen."
And then — the last. The heaviest.
"The time has come. The time I have been waiting for — for the past five years."
Something shifted in the darkness — barely. As though the darkness itself had moved. As though with the decision of that one presence — the entire space had held its breath.
The blue eyes —
Slowly —
Closed.
And the darkness —
Became complete once more.