Chapter 44 – The Weight of Fire

Kaelen remained still as Thessara knelt before him. Not in deference—he felt no power in her submission. It was a warning. A gesture drawn from a time long buried, when ancient oaths had meaning far beyond words. Around them, the glyphs continued to flicker, casting the walls in gold and shadow. Each pulse of light seemed to echo louder in Kaelen's mind, thudding in rhythm with Vael's ghost beneath his skin.

"You must choose," Thessara said again, her voice low. "Awaken the others… or burn the path behind us."

The room felt colder.

Saphira's sharp breath drew attention, but she didn't speak. No one did. Even Ruan, usually the first to doubt, held his silence. Only Kaelen could answer now.

He glanced around—at the glyphs, the ceiling overhead, the faces of his allies. And then he looked inward. The Isu legacy within him stirred with memory, not of power, but of responsibility. A rebellion that had once aimed to save the world had instead shattered it.

"I don't want to repeat their mistakes," he said softly, his voice steady despite the weight of what lay before him. "But if this is a second chance... I won't waste it."

Thessara slowly rose, her expression unreadable. "Then we must find the others."

Kaelen's gaze hardened. "No. Not until I know what they are. What you are."

Thessara blinked, then nodded. "That's fair."

Saphira stepped forward now, voice clipped but controlled. "If there are still fragments of this 'Project Cindarion' active, then we're sitting on a powder keg. If Kaelen's awakening triggered you, it could trigger the rest. Or worse—alert those who've been watching."

Lysenne frowned. "You think someone's monitoring them?"

Ruan nodded grimly. "Wouldn't you? Hidden Isu assets across time? Someone's bound to have taken notice."

Thessara tilted her head. "Some of the Unswayed didn't die. They adapted. Rewrote their patterns. Buried themselves in machines, in bloodlines, in code. Not all of them were patient. Some are still pulling strings in the world you think is your own."

Kaelen felt the burn of truth behind those words. The Templars. Abstergo. The Instruments of the First Will. Each a different mask worn by ancient ambition.

"And what would they do," he asked, "if they found another like you?"

Thessara's reply was instant. "Control. Corrupt. Consume."

The words rang out like prophecy.

Kaelen turned away, pacing slowly toward the edge of the chamber. A pillar of light marked the center of the Isu structure, faint and flickering. Its energy source—whatever it had once been—was failing. The whole place felt like it was decaying under its own history.

"Then we're running out of time," he murmured. "If there are others like you, and we wait too long... we may not find them before someone else does."

Lysenne looked between him and Thessara. "Then we need to divide our efforts. A search team. And a defense network."

"No." Kaelen turned, his eyes catching the light just so. "We don't divide. Not yet. We consolidate. Understand what we're dealing with. I want every record, every location Cindarion might have reached. We trace its path first. Then we decide how far we're willing to go."

Saphira gave a short nod. "We'll begin scanning the temple archives. The deeper layers of the Isu mainframe might still hold schematics or neural logs."

"I'll assist," Thessara offered. "My access protocols may open layers you can't reach."

Ruan gave her a look. "We're trusting her now?"

Kaelen didn't hesitate. "No. We're watching her. But if we shut her out, we learn nothing."

Thessara gave a half-smile at that, her gaze flicking toward Kaelen with something approaching respect.

Suddenly, the chamber lights dimmed further, then pulsed with red. A deep, mechanical chime echoed from below—low and resonant.

Saphira's hand went to her weapon. "What the hell is that?"

"External systems," Lysenne said, already tapping at her wrist console. "Something just breached the outer perimeter grid. Motion—multiple points."

Kaelen stiffened. "Abstergo?"

"Possibly. No ID signals," Lysenne replied, squinting. "But they're moving fast. Coordinated. Small unit tactics."

Ruan cracked his knuckles. "Well. That answers whether someone's been watching."

Thessara's eyes narrowed. "They want me."

Saphira turned to Kaelen. "We hold them off?"

Kaelen shook his head. "We vanish. We've seen this playbook before. They'll come with enough force to overwhelm. We don't give them the fight they want."

"But the archive—" Lysenne began.

"Download what you can," Kaelen ordered. "Wipe the rest. We move in five minutes."

Everyone scattered, falling into practiced roles. Thessara lingered beside Kaelen for a moment.

"They won't stop," she said.

"Neither will we," he replied. "But we'll be smarter."

She gave a small nod. "Then I'll follow you. For now."

Kaelen didn't answer. He stared into the pulsing red light, the echoes of the Isu temple ringing like war drums in his ears.

Whatever came next—he would be ready.

Even if it meant rewriting the fate of both species.