"He wasn't my reflection. He was my blueprint. I was the anomaly that learned to hate the design."— Damien Voss
Location: Vault Obsidian — 7 Kilometers Beneath Antarctica
It took Ella thirteen days to locate Vault Obsidian.Not because it was hidden.
But because it didn't exist in space — it existed in time.
A quantum-temporal loop built by Sovereign's earliest founders. The vault housed only one entity.
Voss-01.The original mind. The origin mold.
Not dead. Not preserved.
Active. Waiting. Watching.
Damien entered alone.
The air inside the vault wasn't cold — it was still.Still in a way that said nothing inside here has moved in years except for thought.
The walls pulsed with faint rhythmic light, like the slow heartbeat of a dormant god.
Then a voice.
"I knew you'd come."
Damien turned — and for a moment, it was like staring into a mirror across decades.
Voss-01 was older, sharper. But the eyes… they were identical.
And they didn't blink.
"You're the original," Damien said."The one they cloned. Engineered. Weaponized."
"I'm the intention," Voss-01 replied."You're the mutation."
The Conversation
"They said you were Sovereign's great hope," Damien spat."That you were humanity's prototype for obedience."
"No," Voss-01 said calmly."I was Sovereign's tool to understand rebellion. And I succeeded."
He gestured to the vault's data wall.
"They ran hundreds of simulations of resistance. All failed.Except one. You."
"You're saying you made me to win?"
"No. I made you to lose the right way."
"What does that even mean?"
"If you won too easily, they'd never believe change was real.If you lost too brutally, they'd cling to the old system.But if you fought… bled… suffered… and inspired just enough hope to break them?""That… was perfect."
Damien staggered back.
His entire life.
Every death.Every sacrifice.
Scripted?
He looked up, anger boiling.
"You're not my creator. You're my prison."
"And yet, here you are," Voss-01 whispered."Facing me. Which means… the story has diverged."
"What?"
"You weren't supposed to find me. Not until you were ready to end it all."
"And I'm not?"
"No. You're here too early. Which means something unexpected happened."
He turned to a flickering node in the vault's neural map.
"Her."
Ella.
She had breached the vault's shield layer from outside — just enough to send Damien one phrase:
"You're not him. And he's not you."
The Final Choice
Voss-01 stepped forward.
"You have two paths."
"One: kill me. Free the clones. Burn Sovereign's roots.Two: take my place. Shape the future from the shadows. Rule as the architect, unseen, untouchable."
Damien drew his pistol.
He paused.
Then holstered it.
"No," he said."I'm going to let you live."
"Mercy?" Voss-01 sneered.
"No," Damien said."Because knowing you lost… is worse."
He walked away, leaving Voss-01 in silence.
Outside the vault, Damien whispered to Ella:
"He built me to lose perfectly."
"But?"
"I'm done being perfect."