Neo-Shanra, Upper Spires, 2147
Kael hated the Upper Spires. Too clean, too quiet, too fake. The air up here was filtered to smell like lavender, but it couldn't mask the rot of the people who lived in these glass towers. He slouched in the back of the hover-cab, the stolen shard-case digging into his ribs. Toren sat across from him, cleaning his shard-rifle with a scowl. Rhea's drone had ditched them at the city's edge, and now they were stuck playing nice until they reached the safehouse.
"You gonna tell me what's in that case?" Toren asked, not looking up. His hands moved with the precision of a man who'd killed too many times to count.
Kael glanced at the case. The shard inside hadn't stopped humming since the warehouse. It wasn't just power, it felt like a memory, tugging at the edges of his mind. "Protocol didn't brief me. Just said it's priority one."
Toren snorted. "And you trust them?"
"About as far as I can throw you," Kael said, smirking. "Which, with this shard, is pretty damn far."
"Keep talking, kid. I'll break your legs."
The cab hummed to a stop outside a sleek tower labeled *Solis Research*. Kael raised an eyebrow. "This is our safehouse? Looks like a corpo's wet dream."
"Doctor's orders," Toren said, holstering his rifle. "Mira wants the shard ASAP. Says it's… special."
Kael's stomach twisted. Dr. Mira Solis was the Protocol's shard expert, but her obsession with the crystals bordered on creepy. He'd seen her dissect a Harbinger's corpse once, her eyes gleaming like she'd found God. If anyone could crack this shard's secrets, it was her. But at what cost?
They stepped out, the tower's holo doors scanning their fake IDs. The lobby was all marble and light, with AI assistants floating like ghosts. A woman waited at the far end, her white coat pristine against the chaos of Kael's bloodstained jacket. Mira Solis. Her dark hair was pulled back, and her eyes sharp, calculating locked onto the case immediately.
"Kael. Toren." Her voice was clipped, like she was already three steps ahead. "You're late."
"Had a Harbinger problem," Kael said, tossing the case onto a nearby table. It landed with a thud, and Mira flinched like he'd slapped her.
"Careful," she snapped, rushing to the case. Her fingers hovered over it, almost reverent. "This isn't just a shard. It's… older. Pre-Fall."
Kael exchanged a look with Toren. The Fall the day the gods died was three centuries ago. No one knew what caused it, only that the shards appeared afterward, scattered across the earth like divine shrapnel. If this one was older…
Mira opened the case, and the shard's light spilled out, bathing the room in violet. Kael's chest burned, his own shard reacting again. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to snatch the crystal and run. "What's so special about it?"
Mira's eyes flicked to him, then back to the shard. "It's not just power. It's a key. To what, I don't know yet. But the energy signature matches records from the First Temple."
Toren leaned forward, voice low. "The Protocol knows this?"
Mira hesitated. "They… suspect. But they're not telling us everything."
Kael laughed, bitter. "Shocker. So what's the play, Doc? You gonna crack this thing open, or are we just here to babysit?"
Mira's jaw tightened. "I need time. And samples." She glanced at Kael's chest, where his shard was embedded beneath his skin. "From you."
"No way," Kael said, stepping back. "Last time you 'sampled' me, I couldn't move my arm for a week."
"Grow a spine," Toren grunted. "If she says it's important"
A klaxon blared, cutting him off. The lobby's holo screens flashed red, and an AI voice droned, "Intruder alert. Perimeter breach, level three."
Kael drew his shard-blade, its hum steadying his nerves. "Friends of yours, Mira?"
Her face paled. "No. But they're after the shard."
Toren readied his rifle. "How many?"
Mira tapped her wrist-pad, pulling up a security feed. The screen showed a dozen figures in black tactical gear, moving through the lower levels. Their eyes glowed violet. Harbingers. And leading them was the woman from the warehouse, her cybernetic arm sparking with shard-energy.
Kael's blood ran cold. "She's supposed to be dead."
"Guess she didn't get the memo," Toren said, cocking his rifle. "Mira, secure the shard. Kael, with me."
Kael gripped his blade, the shard in his chest pulsing like a second heart. The visions flickered fire, ruins, that damn voice again: *You cannot stop the cycle.* He shook it off. No time for ghosts.
The first Harbinger crashed through the lobby doors, and all hell broke loose.