Chapter 20: Shadows of the Past
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1. The Heart of the Rift
Kaito couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something beyond what he had seen in the Seed.
He stood at the edge of Base Omega's command platform, staring into the swirling patterns of the Rift outside. The Riftstorm was long gone, but its remnants still lingered—fractured energy coursing through the atmosphere like a silent pulse, waiting for something to trigger it.
Eris had been a part of this world once. And yet, there was a deeper layer beneath what they'd known.
The Seed wasn't just a weapon.
It was a door.
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2. Lior's Awakening
Far below the ruins of New Kyron, Lior's consciousness stirred. His body was not human anymore. It had become a weapon—a thing of fragmented memories and twisted purpose. The scientists had made him something more, and yet, something less.
The Wraith—a moniker he had never chosen—was an echo of himself, a fractured reflection.
He stood in the remnants of his last cage, his mind pulsing with a jagged clarity. His silver eyes flickered as he examined his new form: half-machine, half-organic.
He could still remember Eris's voice.
"We were supposed to be together."
And yet, she was gone.
The memories they once shared felt distant, like a fading star in the sky. His heart—if it could be called that—ached with the weight of his loss.
"I will make them pay."
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3. Kaito's Reckoning
Back in Base Omega, Kaito faced a new challenge. The Seed had unlocked so much, yet he knew it was only the beginning.
Mira had confirmed his worst fear: the data they recovered from Delta was incomplete. The final sequences were corrupted, as though someone—or something—had intentionally wiped them clean.
"There's more to this," Kaito said, his voice low as he approached the console.
Mira nodded. "The Wraith isn't just a weapon. It's a memory." She tapped the screen. "Someone's manipulating the Riftlight."
Kaito looked at her, his gaze dark. "Who?"
"We don't know yet. But the Wraith… Lior… he's not the only one out there."
A cold shiver ran through him.
"They're still out there," he whispered. "Whoever is pulling the strings."
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4. The Riftborn Conspiracy
The team was gathered in the debriefing room. The walls hummed with energy as Kaito reviewed the new intel.
Aya spoke first. "We've been tracing the Riftborn signature, but it's scattered. If the Wraith is still connected to the Rift, we might be able to follow him."
"We're missing something," Jax added, leaning forward. "The Seed was Eris's creation, but she didn't fully understand it. She didn't know how deep this went. No one did."
Kaito clenched his fists. The pieces were starting to fall into place, but the image they created was one of a nightmare: A vast conspiracy, hidden in plain sight, manipulating the very fabric of reality.
"That's because Eris was never supposed to understand it," Kaito muttered, his thoughts aligning. "She was part of a larger experiment. They used her, broke her, but she wasn't the end. She was the beginning."
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5. The Descent into the Void
Kaito stood before the Rift portal, an anomaly generated by the Seed's inner resonance. A swirling vortex of pure energy, it was a doorway to the unknown.
His thoughts were fractured, like the remnants of a shattered dream. The truth of the Rift was slipping into his mind, taunting him with its complexity.
Eris was the first.
Lior was the second.
But they weren't the only ones.
He stepped forward, taking a breath. He couldn't afford to wait any longer. If he wanted answers, if he wanted to save Eris—and stop the Wraith—he would have to go deeper into the Rift. Into the darkness they had both been born from.
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6. The Wraith's Move
Back in the heart of the wastelands, Lior had already begun his journey. His senses were heightened, his mind fully attuned to the Rift's pulse. The fragmentation of his thoughts was gone—replaced by cold clarity.
He wasn't just seeking revenge.
He was seeking redemption.
For himself.
For Eris.
For everything that had been taken from them.
His first stop: AegisCorp's last known outpost.
They hadn't expected him.
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7. AegisCorp's Last Stand
AegisCorp's facility stood like a monument to the past, dark and silent. It was here that the Riftborn project had first been conceived. Here that Eris's body was altered. Here where Lior had first met the machine that would become his prison.
But now, there were only shadows.
Lior entered the complex with surgical precision. The guards, blinded by fear and confusion, never had a chance to react. He moved through the halls like a wraith himself—silent, deadly, unstoppable.
He didn't need to kill them. Not yet.
What he sought was deeper.
The core of the project.
And the truth that still lingered there.
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8. The Core of AegisCorp
The heart of the AegisCorp facility was not what Lior had expected. It wasn't a control center. It wasn't a command hub. It was a chamber filled with relics—fragments of old technology, glass tubes, and archaic data banks.
At the center of the room stood a crystalline monolith—emitting a faint pulse of Riftlight.
Lior approached, his hands outstretched.
This was the key.
The monolith hummed, its energy surging through him. A vision flashed before his eyes: A younger Eris, standing beside him, both of them staring at the Rift for the first time.
Her eyes—silver—shone in the light.
"This is our future."
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9. The Moment of Truth
Kaito stood at the threshold of the Rift. He could feel its pull, its overwhelming force drawing him in. He had to enter. He had to see what had happened. Why Eris had been the first.
He took a step forward.
And then, the vision came.
Eris's face.
Her voice.
"Kaito…"
But this time, it wasn't a memory. It wasn't a fragment. It was real.
Eris was calling him.
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10. The Rift Convergence
Lior's mind converged with the monolith. He saw the truth: AegisCorp had created the Riftborn to be the ultimate weapon. But in doing so, they had destroyed something essential—humanity.
The Rift had become their master.
Eris was its first prisoner, the prototype. But Lior had become its vessel. He had been broken—bent to the will of the Rift.
But now, he was something new.
He wasn't just a tool.
He was its end.
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[End of Chapter 20]