The air tasted of metal and ash—thick, like breathing through a wet rag. Aera Myles crouched in the remains of a collapsed rail tunnel, her fingers slick with grease as she pried open a dead drone's casing.
She worked by instinct, not sight. The stolen scanner she'd strapped to her wrist flickered with low power. A final beep confirmed her find: an intact Lumenite cell.
"Jackpot," she whispered, pocketing the shimmering shard.
Then the hum started.
Faint at first, like a sound in her skull more than in the air. Her fingers trembled. The shard pulsed—once, then again—faster, hotter. Her skin flared with light under the surface. A voice echoed in her mind, not in any language she knew, but one she somehow understood.
"Awaken, vessel. The time is near."
She gasped, falling back. The tunnel blurred. Her heart thundered as images flooded her brain—cities made of crystal, machines falling from the sky, a hand made of light reaching toward her.
When the vision faded, she was on the ground, shaking, breathing hard.
The Lumenite shard sat in her palm, calm and cold.
Above her, the steel ceiling of Sector 9 vibrated. Dominion scouts were on patrol.
She stood, pocketed the shard, and ran.
Because now they'd be looking for her. And she had no idea why.
The air tasted of metal and ash—thick, like breathing through a wet rag. Aera Myles crouched in the remains of a collapsed rail tunnel, her fingers slick with grease as she pried open a dead drone's casing.
She worked by instinct, not sight. The stolen scanner she'd strapped to her wrist flickered with low power. A final beep confirmed her find: an intact Lumenite cell.
"Jackpot," she whispered, pocketing the shimmering shard.
Then the hum started.
Faint at first, like a sound in her skull more than in the air. Her fingers trembled. The shard pulsed—once, then again—faster, hotter. Her skin flared with light under the surface. A voice echoed in her mind, not in any language she knew, but one she somehow understood.
"Awaken, vessel. The time is near."
She gasped, falling back. The tunnel blurred. Her heart thundered as images flooded her brain—cities made of crystal, machines falling from the sky, a hand made of light reaching toward her.
When the vision faded, she was on the ground, shaking, breathing hard.
The Lumenite shard sat in her palm, calm and cold.
Above her, the steel ceiling of Sector 9 vibrated. Dominion scouts were on patrol.
She stood, pocketed the shard, and ran.
Because now they'd be looking for her. And she had no idea why.