Raen sat in the backseat of a sleek black vehicle, arms folded, gaze steady as the city skyline faded into the distance behind him. Beside him, Saelyn Vire sat composed as ever, tapping into a tablet—perhaps briefing herself, perhaps ignoring the palpable weight in the silence.
"You'll see it soon," she said without looking up. "We call it Virestead. Not officially. But the name stuck after a few field operations ran through it."
Raen grunted. "Sounds like a retirement plan with weeds."
She smiled faintly. "It's more of a challenge. And an opportunity."
The car passed through a gated checkpoint. The road thinned, the buildings sparse. And finally, it came into view—a sunken village, framed by steep hills, wind turbines long dead, rows of rusted homes, cracked solar panels, broken lamp posts. The air smelled of old rain and forgotten hope.
Raen stepped out once the car halted. Dirt crunched under his feet. Vines had curled through the windowpanes of the houses. A stray animal darted between alleyways.
"This place looks haunted."
"Almost is," Saelyn replied, arms crossed. "Thirty-four homes. Two community buildings. One underground utility hub. No active power grid. No residents—except nature. It's been uninhabited for a decade."
He turned to her. "And you want me to… what? Gentrify it with code and scrap?"
"We want you to build it. Guide it. Reinvent it," she said, walking ahead and gesturing at the barren surroundings. "This could be the first independent tech-driven commune, with infrastructure rooted in your innovations. Your blueprints. VoxFrame at its core."
Raen tilted his head. "That sounds like empire-building."
"Not quite." She finally turned, standing before him with an unreadable expression. "But it could be… if you're ready."
He narrowed his eyes. "What's the catch?"
"You'll have full creative control. But the first phase is on us. We'll back the restoration: basic utilities, foundational repairs, perimeter security. In return… you test. Your tech, your vision. Make this village functional—then exceptional. If it works, we expand. You lead."
Raen said nothing for a moment. Then: "And the reward?"
"A secure identity," she said. "One that lets you vanish from every major registry. A vault of funds—undocumented—worth 1 million LUX, accessible upon project validation. And… if it succeeds, a permanent stake in our black ops innovation unit."
Raen looked over the ruin again. His fingers twitched. His mind spun possibilities like threads of glowing code. His instincts screamed risk.
But VoxFrame pinged softly in his mind. New sandbox detected. Potential network anchor point.
A slow grin curved on Raen's lips.
"Alright," he said. "Let's resurrect a village."
Saelyn extended a hand. "To Virestead, then."
They shook.
Behind them, the wind whispered through shattered windows. Ahead of them, a silent, broken place waited to breathe again.