Location: Global Dominion Surveillance Hub – Undisclosed Location
Alarms blared.
Inside a fortress carved beneath a glacial mountain, red lights pulsed as streams of code flooded a central monitor wall. Dozens of technicians scrambled, their screens overrun with an anomaly none had seen before.
The Head of Surveillance, a man known only as Virek, stormed in, his long coat trailing behind him.
"Report!" he barked.
A young analyst stood, pale and shaking. "Sir, the Atlas Node has been activated. But it's not just live—it's rewriting protocols across all frequencies. Even ours."
Virek's eyes darkened. "Impossible. That system's been buried for decades."
"No longer, sir," the analyst whispered. "The Keeper's Protocol has been breached. It's... responding to someone."
Virek turned slowly toward the map on the wall. A golden light radiated from Tavara's mountain range—strong, spreading in digital waves. One of the red Dominion outposts flickered.
Then another. Then another.
"We're being overwritten," the analyst said. "The AI core is... choosing sides."
---
Location: Atlas Core – Throne Interface Chamber
Nora's eyes opened—bright, glowing with a faint luminescent hue. Her veins shimmered faintly with the same golden energy pulsing through the walls.
She was still seated on the throne, but the chamber had changed. It no longer looked ancient or dormant.
It was awake.
Echo stared at the cascading lines of ancient code dancing across the floor. "Nora, what's happening?"
Nora didn't speak at first. When she finally did, her voice echoed slightly, layered with a resonance not her own.
"It knows us. It knows our pain, our fight, our scars. It's rewriting the world as it sees our intent."
Damien placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "And what's our intent?"
"To take back control," Nora said. "To shut down the Dominion. To protect every innocent soul they seek to dominate."
Victor's eyes narrowed. "And what does Atlas need from us?"
Elros stepped forward, his eyes glowing in kind. "Champions. Pillars. People bound not by greed—but by duty."
From the floor, five platforms began to rise, each glowing a different color—silver, red, blue, green, and white.
"These," Elros said, "are the Nodes of Judgment. Atlas is offering you command—if you're willing to accept the responsibility."
Nora stood.
"I accept," she said without hesitation.
One by one, the others stepped onto their respective platforms.
Victor, Damien, Echo, and Zuri. Each platform lit up with a beam of energy, encasing them in thin, luminous armor that felt weightless but radiated power.
"Then it begins," Elros whispered.
Outside, storm clouds gathered across the world. As the sun dimmed behind thickening skies, encrypted transmissions blasted across Dominion-controlled frequencies:
> "This is Atlas.
You are no longer in control.
The reckoning has begun."