Location: Yaltara Desert – En Route to the Citadel Vault
The black tactical convoy thundered across the barren desert, raising clouds of sand that lingered in the burning horizon. Inside the lead vehicle, Damien sat beside Nora, both clad in lightweight armor designed for extreme heat and possible ambush.
Ahead of them loomed a ridge of stone and steel—a forgotten mountain bunker that had once housed the most classified projects of Tavara's elite intelligence corps. Now, it held the last remnant of Project Dominion: the Citadel Vault.
Nora turned slightly. "You really think we'll find something in there? After all this time?"
Damien's gaze was cold. "Kael's plans go deeper than the Serpent Directive. He wants what's buried here—and if we don't reach it first, this war ends before it even begins."
Echo's voice crackled in through the comms. "Ten minutes out. The external barrier is still in sleep mode. Once we breach the gates, I'll have about five minutes to override the neural firewall. After that, if we're not inside, the vault will self-seal for another decade."
Zina muttered, "So we only get one shot."
Logan, checking the perimeter from the support vehicle, replied, "Then we make it count."
---
Location: Citadel Vault – Outer Perimeter
The convoy came to a halt as ancient steel doors rose from the sands like the teeth of some slumbering beast. Echo was already out of the vehicle, fingers dancing across her wrist module, sending waves of electric pulses into the hidden terminal.
The ground rumbled beneath them.
"Security layers unlocking," Echo muttered. "Stage one clear... stage two—dammit! There's an active encryption pulse. Someone's already tried to breach this."
Damien's brows narrowed. "Kael?"
"No," Echo replied. "Worse. Someone who had higher clearance than even you."
Before Damien could respond, the ground behind them exploded.
"Ambush!" Logan shouted, drawing his sidearm.
Figures emerged from the dunes—stealth operatives in mirror suits, nearly invisible under sunlight. Zina launched forward, twin blades in hand, cutting down two before they could fire. Echo ducked under the console, still typing furiously.
"I need thirty more seconds!" she yelled.
Damien's instincts took over. He drew his firearm and covered Echo's position, taking clean shots. Nora moved like a shadow, flipping over a charging attacker and disabling him with a nerve strike.
From her position, Zina called out, "We're surrounded!"
Damien's jaw tightened. "Hold the line!"
Suddenly, the vault doors groaned—and opened.
A blast of cold air hissed from within, and the silence that followed was haunting.
Echo looked up. "It's open. But once we enter, there's no going back until it resets."
Damien looked to his team. Bloodied. Breathing heavily. But ready.
"Then let's finish what we started."
---
Location: Inside the Citadel Vault
The interior was vast, almost cathedral-like, with databanks glowing faint blue and holograms flickering to life. Massive encrypted archives lined the walls like tombs of digital ghosts. In the center, a suspended console glowed with Dominion's symbol—an ouroboros surrounding a crown.
Echo approached the console. "Everything Kael is building… it started here. Dominion wasn't just a control project. It was an erasure program. A system designed to rewrite power across every level—governments, markets, bloodlines."
Nora's eyes narrowed. "And he wants to activate it?"
Echo nodded. "He doesn't want to win Tavara. He wants to reset it."
Damien stepped forward, placing his palm on the interface. It scanned him—then beeped.
"Welcome, Damien Alejandro Wycliffe," it said.
The screen shifted, revealing files only a select few had ever seen. The truth spilled like poison—Kael wasn't working alone. Hidden sponsors, international players, black funds, and ancient alliances…
And among them, a name Nora never expected to see.
Her own.
"What...?" she whispered.
Damien looked at her, just as stunned.
Echo's face turned pale. "They're not trying to kill you, Nora... they're trying to wake you."