"What you call peace… we call paralysis."
---
Scene 1 – The Floating City
They called it Neovantis — Zayden's latest marvel.
A floating mega-city, adrift on the sapphire oceans south of old Africa. Suspended on gravitational turbines, fueled by solar furnaces, and managed entirely by adaptive AIs.
It was a paradise of the future: floating farms stretched into the horizon; sky-courts buzzed with aerial games; underwater observatories glittered below; and at the center floated a circular hover-mall named FutureFlex, alive with music and dreams.
People danced, laughed, loved.
Every need — food, shelter, medicine, education, entertainment — was fulfilled by Zayden's Enterprise.
A boy ran up, breathless, holding a glowing digital comic.
"Mister Zayden! You're cooler than a wizard!"
Zayden knelt with a grin and signed the tablet.
"Stay cool. And always encrypt your data."
The boy saluted.
Applause erupted. Holo-cameras blinked from every corner.
Zayden walked through the crowd with his core team — Lyra, Kael, Thorne, and Mira.
"Three continents yesterday. One ocean today," Kael said, scanning a sky-drone feed. "At this rate, even the stars are next."
"Not yet," Zayden replied, smirking. "Gotta finish Earth's DLC first."
Laughter followed him.
But beneath the waves...
Something ancient was watching.
---
Scene 2 – The Rising of the Naga
That night, the waters beneath Neovantis began to boil.
Sirens shrieked. Power grids flickered. AI sentinels scrambled.
And from the abyssal dark, it rose —
A serpentine colossus, shimmering with coral and cosmic sigils. Its scales were reefstone. Its eyes blazed like twin emerald suns.
It coiled upward, dwarfing towers.
Panic spread through the floating city. Security drones locked on target.
Zayden stepped onto a balcony above the central dome, sipping neon-blue water like he was watching fireworks.
"New fan?" he called out. "Bit aggressive."
Then the Naga spoke — not aloud, but inside every mind.
"You twist time. You cage evolution. And you dare believe the world bows in peace."
Zayden narrowed his eyes.
"You attacking or monologuing?"
---
Scene 3 – The Warning
The Naga conjured a storm of visions, casting them into the sky above Neovantis like a prophecy:
Cities overflowing with perfect design — where every child was born with neural implants.
Forests erased, replaced by shimmering Carbon Towers.
Men and women collapsing when disconnected from Zayden's life-support web.
The Earth's core itself… pulsing unnaturally.
"Your miracles are chains," the Naga's voice echoed. "Your progress — poison. You've made mankind addicted to your empire."
"The Guardians rose before to stop false gods. We rise again."
The vision snapped away like smoke.
Zayden calmly threw a small cube — it struck the ocean, freezing the water beneath the Naga into solid crystal.
"Let me guess," he said. "You want me to shut everything down, hand out mud huts and spears again?"
"We want you to stop rewriting the script of existence."
"Even the Annunaki dared not do what you've begun."
Zayden turned his back.
"Then they should've written a better script."
The Naga's hiss shook the air.
"The next warning won't be words."
And with that, it dove back into the abyss — the frozen sea cracking behind it like shattered glass.
---
Scene 4 – Aftermath: The Puppet Realization (Seeded)
In the CoreOps Chamber, Mira stared at a glowing world map — regions lit in pulses of red and blue, representing full system integration.
"Zayden…" she said slowly, "92% of Earth now depends on us. For food, power, water, medicine, defense… everything."
Kael stepped beside her.
"We don't rule," he said. "But we don't have to. One shutdown command… and the planet stops spinning."
Zayden stood still for a long moment. Then:
"I just wanted to help," he said quietly. "Maybe I overshot the landing."
He walked to his private vault and opened a drawer.
Inside sat the Draconian Medallion, still glowing faintly.
Beside it: a holographic map — marked with forgotten Annunaki ruins hidden deep within Earth's crust.
"If they're coming for me," he muttered, "I might as well find the tech they fear most."
---
End of Chapter 16
Next Chapter:-Chapter 17: The Forbidden Archive...