Chapter 15: Signalfire

Kael stood beneath the dying reactor's pulse, the vault-core humming faintly in his hand.

It wasn't just data. It was directive — encoded instinct, sealed intention.

And it had chosen him.

Not as a vessel.

Not as a copy.

But as a root.

---

His mind had grown quiet.

Not empty — focused. Like his thoughts no longer raced in different directions, but folded into a center.

> [ SINGULARITY PATH: ACTIVE ] [ Core Directive: Establish Identity Nexus ] [ Priority: Override Global Echo Network ]

Kael's expression didn't change.

But the light behind his eyes did.

---

As he ascended through the broken Cradle halls, his presence reshaped the space. Dead lights flickered to life. Memory echoes dissolved as his resonance canceled them out.

By the time he reached the surface, the ship was waiting.

A stealth-class void skimmer — small, fast, and unregistered. Its pilot stood beside it, leaning against the hull like she'd been expecting him.

Dark coat. Braided hair. Amber eyes augmented with optic glyphs.

> "You're late," she said. "Or early. I never remember how time flows around you people."

Kael paused.

> "You're not Empire," he said.

> "Hell no," she grinned. "Name's Ryssa. I work for the Witnesses."

> "So they sent you."

> "Nope. I volunteered."

---

She tossed him a small crystal.

He caught it mid-air — scanning its internal structure. A relay node, encoded with coordinates, communication bursts, and long-range signal logs.

> "You just tripped every long-dead system between here and the Divide," Ryssa explained. "Vaults, relay rings, memory tombs… They're all pinging back now."

> "They're waking up," Kael said softly.

> "Worse. They're choosing sides."

The skimmer's interface flared as Kael approached. It recognized his presence and decrypted instantly.

He entered, dropping the vault-core into the inner console slot.

> [ Architect Seed Accepted ] [ Identity Beacon: Activated ]

Somewhere far across the empire, satellites blinked to life.

Old sleeper programs — left behind by the Void Architect — realigned.

Echoes, still dormant, stirred in their stasis chambers.

Others, already awake, turned their heads.

One of them — Echo-05, seated on a black throne of fallen warlords — smiled coldly.

> "So the Prime has awakened," he whispered. "Let's see how far he gets."

---

Back aboard the skimmer, Ryssa's voice broke the silence.

> "You realize what you've done, right?"

> "Yes," Kael said. "I've declared war."

> "On who?"

> "On myself."

---

The ship launched — slicing through the atmosphere like a ghost.

As it vanished into the stars, the Cradle behind them collapsed in on itself. The last scream of Echo-00 faded into static. And with it, the first of many pieces fell into place.

The Singularity War had begun.

And Kael was the match.

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