The heavy gates of Bastion HQ groaned open as Squad Umbra returned — bloodstained, battered, but breathing. The air was different. Colder. As if the walls themselves had learned to whisper.
Kaizen stepped off the transport first, the black shard pulsing faintly in the containment case strapped to his back. It had stopped vibrating, but a faint hum remained — like it was sleeping, waiting.
"Feels like it's watching us," Arin muttered, limping beside him.
Captain Veras said nothing, only gestured toward the lab sector.
Inside the underground analysis chamber, the shard was carefully removed by researchers in reinforced suits. It didn't fight them, but every now and then, one would flinch, claiming they heard a voice — a voice that said their name.
Kaizen stayed silent. He heard it too.
---
Meanwhile, in a remote research library buried within the southern wing of HQ, Ayaka turned another dusty page. Ancient Veinborn script bled across the parchment like living ink. She was tracing a single phrase that appeared over and over:
"The Core awakens. The King shall fall. The Shard shall consume blood and become flesh."
"What is this…?" she whispered.
An old researcher beside her, eyes sunken from sleepless nights, spoke softly, "It's a prophecy. One our ancestors buried after the fall of the First Flame King. A shard that grants godhood… or madness."
Her hand trembled.
"Kaizen…" she breathed.
---
Elsewhere — a dark corridor flickered to life. Surveillance feed.
A figure walked through a restricted hall no one should've had access to. Slender, long dark coat, face hidden beneath a cracked mask. The lights above him shorted out one by one as he passed.
The guard watching the feed blinked. Rewound. The figure wasn't visible anymore.
Static.
"Nerovar…" a whisper came from the monitor itself.
---
Back in the HQ's command center, General Vael stood beside Kaizen, watching the black shard float in a containment field.
"This thing reacts to your blood. It's more than a weapon… it's a key."
Kaizen's jaw clenched. "A key to what?"
Vael glanced at him. "To a prison buried under centuries of lies."
Before Kaizen could ask more, alarms blared.
Ayaka burst into the lab, eyes wide.
"It's not just a shard," she cried. "It's The Core. And it's already started unlocking memories."
Kaizen staggered as pain exploded behind his eyes.
---
Visions.
He saw a city made of bone, skies bleeding red.
He stood upon a throne of corpses, veins glowing like molten rivers.
People knelt… not out of loyalty, but fear.
In the distance stood a silhouette — six glowing eyes, long clawed hands. Nerovar. Watching. Smiling.
And behind him… the Shard King.
But it was Kaizen's own face.
He screamed.
---
He woke up in the infirmary, Ayaka gripping his hand tightly. Her eyes were full of fear.
"What did you see?" she asked.
Kaizen's voice was barely a whisper.
"My future."
He looked at the ceiling, eyes filled with both dread and resolve.
"I become the monster I swore to destroy…"