Chapter 9: Fracture Lines

The cadet warroom pulsed with holographic charts and mission briefs, but the real tension wasn't in the numbers. It was in the people.

Reyan sat quietly at the long obsidian table, arms crossed, expression unreadable. Across from him, Aarav slouched in his chair, still recovering but itching to move. Mira stood off to the side, her violet scarf half-loosened — rare for someone usually so composed.

And at the far end, Kairav was silent, eyes fixed on the projected Rift signatures for upcoming missions. The room was filled with data, and yet, no one said a word.

The fractures weren't on any map. They were sitting across from each other.

"It's a search-and-dissemination op," Mira said finally, tapping the center of the display. "Zone 5-Epsilon. Low-grade Rift anomalies, but similar energy frequency to Delta-9. We need to confirm whether it's spreading."

"I say we burn the whole zone down and call it a win," Reyan muttered.

Kairav didn't look up. "We burn it, we lose the signal."

Aarav leaned forward. "You think there's another anchor point?"

"There's always another point," Kairav said. "Rifts don't act alone. They're tethered — to memory, to emotion, to proximity. What happened in Delta-9 wasn't random. Something called to Aarav."

The room fell still. Mira's eyes flicked toward Aarav, who looked away. His knuckles whitened against the table.

"I didn't hear anything," he muttered.

"Not this time," Kairav corrected.

Saira Myles entered then, like a breeze that didn't ask permission. Her presence shifted the room's gravity. Eyes turned toward her, especially Reyan's. Mira regarded her with quiet calculation.

Saira crossed the floor without hesitation. "I've run solo recon on 5-Epsilon," she said. "Your data's outdated. The Rift pulses are fluctuating by the hour now. Someone's feeding them."

"Feeding?" Mira asked.

Saira nodded. "Civilians. Refugees. They're too close to the anomaly zone, and some of them… aren't the same anymore."

"Possessed?" Reyan asked.

Saira didn't answer. She simply uploaded a feed from her visor. The footage showed a young boy standing in a fog-soaked ruin. His eyes glowed faintly — not red, not blue, but something deeper. And when he turned toward the camera, the fog bent with him.

Reyan's voice dropped. "That's not human anymore."

"No," Saira said. "But it remembers how to look like one."

Aarav shivered. Something about the boy's expression — hollow, grieving — tugged at something deep inside him. He remembered the Rift voice. "Why didn't you save us…?"

Mira stepped forward. "We deploy in six hours. This mission is dual-pronged. Saira leads the advance team. Reyan, Aarav — you'll support from the west flank. Kairav, you're ops control from base."

"No," Kairav said abruptly.

All heads turned.

"I'm going with them," he said. "You need someone who can trace Rift pulses in real time. If this anomaly spreads, we don't get a second shot."

Mira studied him. "You're not trained for field combat."

"No," he agreed. "But I am trained to predict collapse zones. And this one is close to triggering."

Aarav glanced at Kairav. He hadn't realized until now — how much weight the boy carried behind his quiet words. The Rift wasn't a puzzle to him. It was a language. One he spoke fluently while the rest of them still sounded it out.

Mira sighed. "Fine. But you stay behind cover. Saira commands the field."

Saira raised an eyebrow. "You sure he's ready for that?"

Kairav didn't flinch. "I was born ready."

[Mission Brief – Zone 5-Epsilon]

Status: Pre-collapse Rift zone

Primary Objective: Investigate anomaly pulse center

Secondary Objective: Retrieve any survivors for decontamination

Team: Saira Myles (Lead), Reyan Kaul, Aarav, Kairav (Ops & Support)

As they boarded the dropship, Reyan pulled Aarav aside.

"Hey," he said. "About earlier. You're not alone in this."

Aarav gave him a strange look. "Since when?"

"Since you stopped acting like you had to be."

For a second, Aarav saw the old Reyan — the boy he once played with in sunlit fields, before the Rift stole their childhoods. He nodded once. Not forgiveness. But maybe the beginning of it.

Inside the dropship, Kairav plugged into the command console, tapping through pre-run diagnostics. Saira checked her gear with practiced precision. Mira watched from the terminal, unreadable.

As the ship lifted off, the Rift pulsed beneath them — faint, rhythmic.

Waiting.

[End of Chapter 9]