POV: Director Korr
The alarms had stopped hours ago.
But the silence that followed was worse than any siren.
Director Korr stood alone in the control chamber of Black Sector, his eyes locked on the cracked surveillance feed of Cell 13. The image stuttered with static. No Kael. No guards. No explanation.
Only failure.
His fingers curled behind his back, stiff with tension. For twenty years, he had upheld GenCore's authority across the Inner Worlds. A loyal hand of House Virell, one of the Seven Great Families that governed the known galaxy, Korr had shaped the future through genome enforcement, advancement, and elimination.
And now, a boy with no rank, no future, had shattered everything.
"Spiral readings have vanished, sir," said a nervous technician at the console. "We lost tracking minutes after the last energy surge. He's no longer within facility range."
"Gone?" Korr's voice was flat, dangerous.
"Presumed outside the Inner Perimeter. Possibly heading for the wild zones beyond the city."
Korr didn't blink.
Kael Riven, once classified as a genetic Null, had not only awakened a long-forgotten gene, he had overpowered every system designed to contain him. That red Spiral wasn't just power. It was proof.
Proof that someone, decades ago, had lied.
"Bring up the Spiral scan," Korr said quietly.
The screen shimmered. Red patterns bloomed across the display, ancient, elegant, almost alive.
Kael's genome wasn't an evolution. It was a rewrite.
A relic from the Overlord Gene Project, locked away and erased before Korr's tenure had begun. Buried deep by those who feared what the project might become.
"I should have burned every trace," Korr muttered.
Instead, someone had hidden a seed. And now, it had awakened in a mining boy from the Outer Edge of the Inner Worlds.
He tapped his comm.
"Activate Black Protocol. Erase Kael Riven's original trial data. Wipe his Null classification from all public systems. Inform House Virell that a genetic security breach occurred. Keep the details internal."
"But sir," a voice came through, hesitant, "if House Virell learns we mishandled an Overlord-level subject"
"They won't," Korr snapped. "Unless he crosses into Core World territory."
That was the risk. If Kael reached the border gates, if the Unified Military or another ruling House found him first, everything would spiral into chaos.
Not because of Kael's power.
But because of what he represented.
"This boy isn't just a threat," Korr whispered. "He's a message from a war the galaxy pretended to forget."
He turned to the command team.
"Deploy Reclaimer squads. Use Null-phase dampeners. Aim to capture. If he crosses into the Wastes, terminate. Quietly."
Then he paused, eyes narrowing.
"And find Dr. Elira Vex. She had access to the Spiral archives. She knew more than she let on."
He turned from the chamber, cloak sweeping behind him.
"Bring her in alive."
A beat of silence followed him out the door.
Because every officer in the room knew: once Korr decided someone knew too much…
They rarely lived long enough to prove it.
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End of chapter 13