The hiss of decompressing gas filled the chamber like a breath long held. Both Kade and Marei turned toward the pod as the curved glass split open with a mechanical sigh. Cold vapor spilled to the floor, wrapping the room in a ghostly fog.
Inside, a figure stirred.
A man.
Mid-thirties. Short dark hair. Scarred temple. The kind of face that remembered too much and trusted too little. He wore a black uniform stitched with unfamiliar sigils—none of Earth, none of any known faction. His eyes opened.
Not blinking. Not dazed.
Aware.
Kade took a step forward, hand instinctively brushing the hilt of his concealed blade. "Who are you?"
The man stepped out, bare feet touching the metal floor without hesitation. His gaze swept the room, clocking both of them, the Catalyst orb, the shattered protocol logs—absorbing it all like a soldier would scan a battlefield.
"You're early," the man said, voice steady. "You shouldn't be here yet."
Kade stiffened. "You know me?"
"I know *versions* of you," he replied. "Most of them didn't make it this far."
Marei raised an eyebrow. "You're from a failed timeline?"
He smirked without humor. "I'm what's left when those timelines collapse."
"Answer the question," Kade said, stepping closer. "Name. Origin. Alignment."
The man didn't flinch. "Designation: Vann. Origin: Sovereign Breach Sector. Alignment: Conditional."
"Conditional to what?" Marei asked.
"To survival."
Kade's jaw tightened. "That's not an answer."
Vann's eyes narrowed. "And neither is what you're doing here, Kade Fallon—forgotten king, fractured legacy, walking contradiction."
The words hit harder than expected.
"You're a copy too?" Marei asked.
"No," Vann replied. "I'm an exception. The Catalyst couldn't erase me. It could only lock me away."
Kade studied him. There was something off about Vann—too calm, too controlled. Like someone who'd been waiting in the dark far too long.
"The system knew you'd come here," Vann continued. "It knew you'd find the pods. You were designed to."
"Designed?" Marei echoed.
"This place," Vann said, gesturing to the cryo-chamber, "was the final safeguard. When the king failed—when Earth burned—the system rebooted its best chances and scattered them. But it kept me here… just in case."
Kade frowned. "In case of what?"
"In case *you* broke pattern."
The Catalyst orb pulsed once, briefly. Then it dimmed.
System silence.
Marei looked uneasy. "The Catalyst isn't responding."
"It's listening," Vann said. "This conversation was never meant to happen."
He took a slow step forward.
"Kade… you're not the only king the Catalyst crowned. Just the only one it remembers."
Something cold sank into Kade's gut.
Vann raised his hand—and the system reacted.
Lines of energy bloomed from the walls, forming sigils in mid-air.
A second throne was activating.
Marei drew her weapon. "What the hell is this?"
Vann didn't flinch. "A choice. For you. For the system. For what kind of future comes next."
And then the floor shuddered—Citadel Zareth responding not to Kade's presence… but to Vann's.