You can lock up the god. But what if his religion already escaped?
---
9:00 A.M.
Undisclosed Location — Blacksite ECHO-0
Five miles beneath Greenland's surface.
No signal. No windows. No escape.
Silas Creed is kept in a cold, steel cell.
Cuffed. Drugged. Monitored 24/7.
Ten cameras. Five guards. No name — only a designation:
Subject H-01
And yet—
He smiles.
---
9:05 A.M.
Surveillance Audio — Silas Speaking to Himself
> "They think cages silence prophets."
He stares directly into one camera.
> "But stories don't need voices.
Only listeners."
---
9:30 A.M.
Geneva — Resistance Command Rebuilt
Naomi walks through the reconstructed war room.
Screens show slowly stabilizing nations.
Markets recovering
Survivors returning home
Armies laying down weapons
For the first time in years, the Resistance has hope.
Taye approaches.
> "You did it."
Naomi corrects him.
> "We paused him."
---
10:00 A.M.
Emergency Feed — Hollow Attacks in Southern Europe
Three bombs.
Self-radicalized cells using Silas's old manifestos.
Deaths: 1,200 in a day.
A recorded video from a masked zealot plays:
> "The god is caged. But his word is free."
---
10:30 A.M.
Naomi's Press Briefing
> "Silas Creed is under maximum security."
"He cannot speak to the outside world."
"But we now know: Hollow is not a man.
It's a virus."
> "And we will cure it."
---
11:11 A.M.
Inside ECHO-0 — Silas Receives a Letter
It's illegal.
It bypassed every layer of surveillance.
Handwritten. Sealed in wax.
He opens it slowly.
One sentence:
> "The next chapter has already begun. The faithful await your silence."
He smiles. Licks blood from his cracked lip.
> "Good.
Let them write without me."
---
11:30 A.M.
Naomi Receives an Anonymous Message
Encrypted.
Untraceable.
A voice disguised through synth filters:
> "You think the Hollow God's cage changes the doctrine."
"But we were never following him.
We were preparing to become him."
> "See you soon, General."
Naomi's blood runs cold.
---
Final Scene
A group of Hollow Zealots meet in the catacombs beneath what used to be Vatican City.
One steps forward.
Her face covered. Her hands burned with Silas's carved script.
> "He walked us to the edge."
"We step past it."
She reveals her face.
It's someone Naomi once trusted.
And she speaks the final line of the chapter:
> "The god rests. But the faith begins."
---
Final Line:
> "Silas was the prophet," Naomi whispers,
"but someone else… someone even worse… is ready to become the messiah."
---