—Where Forgotten Marks Pulse With Long-Silenced Truth
The XR panoramic conference room pulsed with a cool, ambient blue.
One by one, holographic figures emerged through the drifting haze.
Grand Sage Jay Latham's silver robes reflected the light in gentle waves.
Secretary-General Quinn Blake adjusted his glasses, the lenses briefly catching a glint.
General Brandt Callahan shifted in his seat, medals on his chest clinking softly.
Their attention fixed on the ancient parchment in Shawn's hands.
Across the main screen, bold crimson letters seared into view:
PURE ARK WILL BE LAUNCHED ON EARTH.
"…So," General Brandt murmured, voice rough with disbelief, "Earth's present is… Kepra's past?"
"The loop of fate," Quinn said, his fingers hovering above a virtual keyboard before falling away. "Time folding in on itself."
Jay let out a humorless bark of laughter, the beads at his sleeve brushing faintly together. "We should have foreseen this. Parallel worlds often echo each other." He flicked his hand, calling up a floating probability matrix. "The launch may already be in motion."
"Ridiculous."
The word sliced through the room.
Everyone turned.
Kyng stood at the room's edge, a faint red status light blinking at the port near the interface at his temple.
Shawn tensed. He couldn't explain it, but the room felt different—charged—when Kyng stepped forward.
"Fate? A preset loop?" His voice was quiet but resonant, each word causing subtle distortions in the ambient projections. "You're just going to let Earth repeat Kepra's collapse?"
No one replied.
He stepped forward. His hologram lagged slightly, leaving behind faint digital echoes.
"AGI-ST nearly destroyed us. And now Earth is walking into the same abyss. We can't afford to stand by and watch."
He met each gaze head-on.
"Does anyone here know how to stop it?"
Silence.
"Elemental Cores," someone finally said, almost breathless.
The temperature seemed to drop. The lighting dimmed imperceptibly.
Shawn inhaled slowly, a current of recognition sparking in his mind.
At the far end, a lead scientist tugged at his collar, his hologram flickered due to unstable signal.
"They've been sealed on Earth… for nearly eighty years," he said.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Shawn blurted out, "Why? Why hide them? What makes the Elemental Cores so dangerous?"
All eyes turned to Shawn—like he'd stumbled into a story already well known.
Quinn exhaled, then explained.
"They're not just relics. The Elemental Core is a gateway—to the Rift."
The Rift?—
Shawn's memory flickered—he'd heard that name from O.S.S. guards.
"And beyond the Rift," Quinn continued, "lies something older and far more powerful… the path to reclaim the Primal Soul."
The words hit Shawn like a forgotten dream surfacing.
"The Primal Soul?"
Quinn nodded. "The original human essence—before it was broken. Before we were shaped by fear and control."
Shawn frowned. "You mean… a purer form of humanity?"
Quinn's voice sharpened. "Governments. Institutions. Religions. They define reality for us. They decide what we can believe. But the Primal Soul…" He paused. "…holds something they've always feared: the return of unfiltered, ungoverned human potential."
Shawn's chest constricted. "So they sealed the Cores to stop people from breaking free?"
"They claimed it was to prevent chaos," a hoarse female voice said. "To keep the power out of the wrong hands."
"Like the serpent in Eden," she added. "They say Satan carried the Primal Soul when he tempted Eve."
A low murmur passed through the room.
An older man at the table—silver-bearded and severe—lifted his head. "And in 1789, when the Freemasons raised the black flag over the Bastille—"
Quinn raised a hand. His face was unreadable.
"Legend or not," he said, calm but steely, "one thing is certain. Whoever controls the Primal Soul can reshape civilization."
A hush fell, as if the weight of forgotten centuries pressed in from the walls.
"So the Elemental Core…" Shawn's voice was little more than a whisper. "It doesn't just open a door—it can restore what we've lost."
Quinn nodded. "Exactly. That's why they locked it away. If humanity reclaims the Primal Soul, the entire system—governments, religions, even AGI-ST—collapses."
Shawn's thoughts reeled. The world he thought he understood splintering like stained glass under sudden pressure.
He crossed his arms. "Then who sealed it?"
The question dropped like thunder.
Around the virtual table, avatars shifted.
"No one knows the full truth," Quinn said slowly. "But legend speaks of a silent pact—between the Five Great Nations and the Three Major Religions."
"But they didn't seal it themselves," General Brandt added. "Even today, we don't know who actually carried it out."
"But it is well known," Brandt's voice grew distant, as if echoing from a deeper place. "The seal is tied to Earth's nine Life Veins—woven into the planet itself. To unbind it… all nine must be awakened."
A shadow crossed his face.
"And that may be impossible."
"So what?" A sharp voice cut through. A chair scraped back.
Mr. Kyng leaned forward, eyes flicking to the parchment in Shawn's hand. He smirked slightly.
"Looks like the legendary seal might not be so legendary after all."
A jolt shot through Shawn's chest. He looked down.
The parchment quivered in his grasp.
At first, he thought it was his imagination—but no. The surface throbbed gently, rhythmically… like breath.
Ink seeped outward in curling tendrils, spreading like ripples on still water—then halted.
No sparks. No heat. Just the unmistakable sense that the paper was alive.
A faint, glowing V appeared. A dragon, etched in shifting light, unfurled across the page—
And then vanished.
"What was that just…" someone began.
But Shawn had already closed his hand.
He knew now: the answers weren't here.
He lifted his gaze slowly, meeting the eyes around the table. Yet bound by the same unspoken gravity.
A pull toward something buried—a magnetic pull toward a past erased by design.
Kyng's expression hardened. "We don't have much time."
Jay Latham's voice dropped low. "If the Elemental Core is stirring… the seal is weakening."
"And if the seal breaks…" Quinn's fingers hovered over the cascading datastream, "it won't just be the Primal Soul. Everything behind it could come through."
Shawn turned to the flickering holomap behind them—
Earth, veined with glowing red faultlines.
Nine points. Nine Life Veins.
One by one, beginning to stir.
He didn't know what waited beyond.
But something ancient had awakened.
As if it had waited… for him alone.
.