The Gathering Storm

 – Chris's POV

Something's off.

I sat alone in my private chamber—no advisors, no tech, just me, a crystal tumbler of aged Blackwood whiskey, and the silence I'd come to trust more than words.

Skylar was posturing. She thinks she's starting a revolution. But I gave her that platform. I fed it, dressed it, handed it to her like a child with a toy sword.

And Christiana…

She's too quiet.

That girl's a storm that doesn't roar. She waits. Observes. Smiles with her lips, but never her eyes. I raised her to lead—but I may have created something even I can't fully see through.

I tapped a finger on the armrest, triggering the hologram wall.

Surveillance footage, from across the empire.

Skylar—standing on a podium, hand over her heart, fire in her voice.

Christiana—calm in the shadows, giving orders to no one you could name. But things still happened.

In silence.

It hit me then.

Skylar was loud by design. A distraction.

Christiana was hiding her game.

A red dot blinked on the lower corner of the hologram. An alert. Top-level breach attempt. Someone accessed internal files from a system that should've been locked away even from me.

My fingers clenched the glass tighter.

That system… was tied to the Origin Protocol.

The very foundation of the Blackwood Order.

I whispered to myself, "So it begins…"

Not fear. Not anger.

But excitement.

Let them come. Let them try.

Skylar with her righteous flame. Christiana with her quiet knives.

But they forgot one thing.

I am the God of this empire. And gods do not fall.

We drag the world down with us.

End of Scene.