AEKIS
CHAPTER 3
The voices in Kael’s head began to scream.
His vision dimmed to black.
Then a new voice rose through the noise, deep and metallic, slicing straight into him.
His vision dimmed to black.
Then a new voice rose through the noise, deep and metallic, slicing straight into him.
“Interesting. The host reached the final stage before full fusion.”
Kael woke in a place he had never seen.
It felt like the inside of a living machine.
Tunnels pulsed around him, and something thick dripped from the walls.
It felt like the inside of a living machine.
Tunnels pulsed around him, and something thick dripped from the walls.
Flashes of truth hit him. He was inside a massive organic starship, the real reason Varnus 9 felt wrong. The vessel wrapped the planet in a gray green mist, feeding on it and reshaping it.
At the center stood a towering figure.
The Architect.
From the waist up, its form resembled a human silhouette, yet mechanical arms rose from its back, each ending in clear syringes filled with swirling green fluid.
Its face was a shifting smear, two red eyes cutting the dark.
Its face was a shifting smear, two red eyes cutting the dark.
“Can you hear me now, Kael?”
“What did you do to me?” he whispered.
“You evolved. Our species was nothing but flawed instinct… but now we are something superior. It is wonderful, isn’t it?”
The Architect stepped closer. Each movement echoed like a tear opening in empty space. Its eyes flickered blue, then red, flames passing through them for seconds at a time, yet Kael still could not see the face beneath the shadows.
“Aekis was the first, the perfect prototype.
You are the successor.
The fusion of mind and living matter.
The missing link.”
You are the successor.
The fusion of mind and living matter.
The missing link.”
The walls throbbed harder. Kael screamed as visions crashed through him.
Memories vanished. Others were forced into place.
He saw Aekis as a child, wired to machines in a laboratory.
She had never been a monster.
She had been built.
Memories vanished. Others were forced into place.
He saw Aekis as a child, wired to machines in a laboratory.
She had never been a monster.
She had been built.
“This starship is my greatest work. Something beyond matter, beyond understanding. Soon you and Aekis will cleanse Varnus 9 and carry our design to another world. A new civilization. Stronger. Pure. Beautiful.”
“She did not choose you. I chose you both.”
“She did not choose you. I chose you both.”
Kael staggered forward, his body shifting under his skin.
His veins glowed green, and the liquid eye that grew on his head began to boil.
His veins glowed green, and the liquid eye that grew on his head began to boil.
“Why?”
“Because you are like me,” the Architect said.
The shadow bent closer.
For the first time, Kael saw the outline of the face behind the darkness.
For the first time, Kael saw the outline of the face behind the darkness.
It was familiar.
The scar above the brow.
The shape of the jaw.
The scar above the brow.
The shape of the jaw.
His heart froze.
“Brother…?”