Chapter Nine: Names Without Faces
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Chapter Nine: Names Without Faces
[Scene: Aboard the Solace Unbound, mid-flight. The crew is heading for the Shard of Surn Veyla—an old Skyborne relay station buried under fallen aetherstorms, rumored to hold deep genetic archives of the ruling houses.]
[Interior: Command deck. Lighting is low. Kaelen pilots. Sylrae sits at the edge of the navigation console, eyes narrowed on an old data slate.]
Sylrae:
"This place… Surn Veyla. It was scrubbed from all post-Fall charts. Even the Zephyrites don't acknowledge it."
Myrren (cloaked, voice distorted):
"They scrubbed it because it held the key to control. Not the forges. Not the fleets. The archives."
Thane (quietly):
"Bloodlines?"
Myrren:
"Memetic blueprints. Personality molds. How to recreate—not just a person—but the authority they carried."
Kaelen:
"And you think the Bound are using this to rebuild the old empire in their own image?"
Myrren (cold):
"No. They think they're doing what they were programmed to. Finishing the Skyborne design. They don't know any other shape but a throne."
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[Scene Shift: Descent into Surn Veyla. The shard looms—an upside-down tower, suspended in the atmosphere by broken anchor-spires. The crew enters through a breach at its base. Inside: darkness. Cold. Files suspended in stasis. Memories etched in light.]
Sylrae (activating a console):
"This terminal… it still runs."
[She inserts the data-slate. A pulse. The terminal hums. Then: a single symbol flashes on the screen—an emblem Sylrae's never seen but instantly recognizes.]
Kaelen:
"That's not a Skyborne crest."
Myrren (stepping forward):
"No. It's Prototype One. The first Bound."
[A recorded voice plays—a woman's voice, precise and cold.]
Archive Log [Redacted, Dated Pre-Fall]:
"Subject: Sylrae Nerin. Designation: 01. Stability matrix failed. Memory autonomy breach imminent. Reassignment recommended. Recommend transfer to off-grid foster locus until termination conditions mature."
[Sylrae's eyes go wide. Her body stiffens.]
Sylrae (whispers):
"That's… me."
Thane (horrified):
"You were one of them."
Kaelen (stepping between them):
"No. She wasn't made. She survived."
Sylrae (through gritted teeth):
"That's why the Bound don't touch me. Why I hear them before they speak. I wasn't just part of the program—I broke it."
Myrren (quiet):
"Then you may be the only one who can again."
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[Suddenly—alarms shriek. Lights turn red. The system is under siege—data fragments begin to unravel.]
Vault AI (glitching):
"Intrusion detected. External mnemonic override. Identity: UNSOURCED. Level: Bound Prime."
[Every screen goes black. Then—one flickers on. A face appears. Hollow eyes. Sylrae's face—only twisted, bound in aether script and metal.]
Bound-Sylrae (speaking from the data):
"Finally found us, sister. Are you ready to come home?"
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End of Chapter Nine