Chapter 36: The Silence Between Stars
The dropship's engines whirred with a deep mechanical hum, muffled within the reinforced cabin as it carved a path through the churning layers of Rift-tinged clouds. The atmosphere around Nexus Prime shimmered unnaturally, warping light and sound with the same eerie fluidity that Rift energy often exhibited. Below, the ruins of the once-great Nexus spanned like a fractured mirror—jagged towers rising out of blackened earth, veins of luminescent data lines flickering like dying starlight.
Kaito sat strapped in near the viewport, his reflection dimly cast over the ghostly remnants of the city. His mind was far from calm. The Fifth Fractal pulsed inside him, its rhythm aligning more and more with his heartbeat, whispering algorithms and memories he couldn't quite translate. Since unlocking it in the archives beneath the Choir's prison, time itself had felt... pliable. Or maybe it was his perception of it.
Eris sat across from him, silent. Her violet eyes followed every movement outside the ship, but her expression betrayed nothing. Whatever she remembered about Nexus Prime, she kept buried—perhaps for his sake. Kaito wanted to ask her so many things, but even now, there were barriers between them neither could cross without breaking.
Behind them, Yuri and Elyra reviewed tactical overlays projected from the ship's holo-core. Wraith signals were increasing across the region. Elyra, her silver hair tied back, muttered, "They're converging here. Not just Wraiths—splinters of the Nexus Science Caste, rogue Choir nodes, even salvager guilds. Everyone's after something."
"The Codex," Yuri added. "That message the Choir left—it was bait. Someone encoded it with a signature from the original architects of the Nexus. That kind of key can only mean one thing."
Kaito looked over. "What's the Codex?"
Elyra's eyes didn't leave the map. "A master archive. The sum of every experiment, every failure, every breakthrough in Rift manipulation. It was said to be sealed when the Nexus fell... and booby-trapped. The Choir would kill for it. The Wraiths might already have part of it."
Kaito absorbed that. A memory surfaced—not his, but the Fifth Fractal's: a vision of a crystalline vault beneath a lake of static, guarded by specters made of light and memory. The Codex.
The dropship shuddered. A warning tone blared.
"Proximity alert!" the pilot's voice barked. "We've got hostiles inbound—unknown class, Rift signatures unstable!"
Outside, streaks of dark light twisted from the horizon—Wraith drones, armored and fast, cutting across the sky like daggers. Elyra slammed a command into the holo-core. "Brace! We're going evasive!"
The ship banked hard. Kaito gripped his seat, fighting the pull. As the dropship dove through a collapsing rift pocket, Eris suddenly stood, hands raised. Energy spiraled around her fingertips, bending gravity itself.
"I can keep them back," she said, voice steady. "But we only get one shot at a safe drop. After this, I need time to reset."
Kaito stood beside her, the Fifth Fractal glowing beneath his skin. "Then we go in together."
Moments later, the ship broke through the clouds and dove straight toward the heart of Nexus Prime.
They landed in the shadow of a shattered obelisk—once the spire of the Nexus High Council. The ground was littered with broken automatons and bones bleached by Rift exposure. Data lines still pulsed beneath the soil, casting eerie blue and green glows.
Yuri led point, scanning for traps. "We have six minutes before the Wraiths regroup. Move fast."
They entered the spire through a torn breach in its base. Inside, gravity shifted sideways, as if space had forgotten its axis. Eris stabilized it with a flick of her wrist, muting the effect temporarily.
Kaito felt the Fifth Fractal reacting again, drawing him down a sloped corridor laced with holographic runes.
"This way," he whispered.
They followed him into a chamber untouched by time. At its center was the Vault—hovering, humming, and sealed by a lock shaped like a DNA helix.
Eris stepped forward. "This is where I was made."
Kaito turned to her, stunned.
She touched the Vault. "Not just me. Others, too. Experiments in hybrid consciousness. They failed. I didn't. The Choir wanted obedience. Nexus wanted perfection. But what they created was something in-between."
"The Fifth Fractal?" Kaito asked.
She nodded. "It's the map to the future... but only if you survive the path."
Outside, a rumble echoed. Wraith forces breached the surface perimeter. Kaito looked around at his team—Yuri with his sniper poised, Elyra scanning multiple nodes, Eris aglow with restrained power.
The Vault responded to his presence, opening.
From inside, a voice—synthetic and ancient—spoke:
"Fractal bearer identified. Initiating last sequence. Warning: integration irreversible."
Kaito stepped forward.
And everything went white.