VIII – The Crimson Veil
The settlement breathed once—then screamed.
The hum of the Thorium grid turned into a shriek as the conduits along the eastern wall flashed molten white.
Zhang Bo stood frozen before the panoramic viewport of Command Tier, his reflection mirrored in a thousand dying lights.
"AI — confirm containment status!"
"Containment breach imminent. Grid stability at five percent. Thermal convergence reaching—"
The voice cut off. Every screen in the control tier flickered white.
"Override protocol nine!" Zhang shouted, slamming his palm to the console.
"Redirect the overflow to secondary lines! Hong's reroute should—"
Static burst through the speakers.
And then — silence.
A heartbeat later, the world exploded.
Five minutes earlier.
Talgat's fingers danced over the detonator's open panel. Sweat slicked his gloves.
The relay's light pulsed red—white—red again, mocking him with its rhythm.
"Damn it, stop!" he growled, ripping the primary wire free.
The pulse froze for a breath.
Then the secondary relay came alive — blinking faster, almost gleeful.
Korren's voice roared through the comm implant.
"What are you doing? Execute the sequence!"
"You idiot!" Talgat snapped. "Daren hijacked the line — if I trigger this now, it'll blow half the east wing!"
"Half the wing or half your soul—choose one!"
Nyla's voice broke in, urgent, trembling under the crackle of static.
"Korren! Stop it! He's right — something's wrong with the line!"
"You defend him again, girl?" Korren's tone dropped to a low snarl. "The boy's gone soft. Just like you."
"Then maybe soft is what keeps us human," she shot back.
The comm went dead.
Talgat's jaw clenched. His heart thundered as he typed in the manual abort code.
Error.
He tried again.
Error.
The detonator's glow became blinding white.
He closed his eyes. So this is how it ends.
Then, he tore the data core free and slammed his palm into the emergency breaker.
The shockwave of light filled the tunnel, swallowing him whole.
Two levels above, Qiran and Elara braced themselves against the wall as the floor shook.
Elara's eyes went wide. "The grid—"
"I see it." Qiran's voice was tight. "Power surge traveling through the Crypthorium feeds. That's not sabotage anymore — that's suicide."
Elara reached for the stabilizer controls, typing in manual isolation. "If it hits the main reserves, this whole sector will—"
"—glow brighter than a god's funeral pyre," Qiran muttered. "Do it."
She slammed the confirm key. The vault doors groaned, sealing tight with a thunderclap.
For a heartbeat, everything went still.
Then a pulse of blue light rippled through the alloy, shattering half the overhead glass.
Dust fell like rain.
Qiran reached to steady Elara as they ducked under falling debris.
"Still alive?" he asked, coughing.
She gave a shaky nod, hair loosened from its clasp. "Barely."
"Good," Qiran said, smirking faintly. "Because I'm not cleaning up alone."
Meanwhile, in the Hong residence.
The first tremor hit as Mrs. Hong was sealing the auxiliary control hub.
Cee-Too looked up, his optics flickering.
"Power feedback detected," he said. "Source: Thorium relay grid. Estimated detonation probability—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Mrs. Hong snapped, fingers flying across the terminal. "We can still reroute it. Xiao Ying — conduit seal!"
Her daughter nodded, teeth clenched. Sparks flared as she forced the connection together. "Mainline link engaged!"
"Good," Mrs. Hong muttered. "Now switch the backup—"
The wall exploded.
A wave of light and heat slammed into them.
Cee-Too moved first, faster than sound. He threw himself over Xiao Ying, catching the falling beam mid-collapse. Servos screamed.
"Go—!" he shouted.
The beam fell. The sound cracked through the air like thunder.
When the smoke cleared, only his hand was visible beneath the rubble — still glowing faintly gold.
Mrs. Hong froze. "No… no…"
Kaodin's voice echoed through the comm static.
"Mrs. Hong! Are you all right?"
She blinked tears away. "Cee-Too's—he's—"
"Alive," Kaodin said softly. "He's still alive. Stay with him. I'll hold the line."
The call cut.
Mrs. Hong turned to her daughter, voice breaking but fierce. "We move. He would've wanted us to finish the reroute."
Xiao Ying wiped her eyes, nodded, and picked up her tools. The two worked in silence, the hum of flickering power lines surrounding them like a funeral song.
Command Tier
Zhang Bo's gaze tracked the expanding heat map — white overtaking red, red overtaking everything.
The AI's voice returned, fractured and distorted:
"Containment breached. Thorium wave approaching western perimeter. Radiation levels—"
"Silence," Zhang ordered. "Show me Talgat."
The main monitor flickered, showing the last frame before static:
Talgat kneeling, eyes wide, a blinding light behind him.
Zhang exhaled slowly. "You tried to stop it, didn't you."
He leaned forward, fingers tightening against the console. "You stupid, brave bastard."
Outside the viewport, the sky turned to fire.
The dome's false horizon lit up like dawn.
For a single breath, the entire settlement glowed — brilliant, beautiful, and utterly still.
Then came the roar.
Down below — the Archive Sector.
Wanchai's home shook violently as the power grid ruptured.
He clutched Liara close as glass shattered around them, the cultivation chamber's light surging erratically.
Blue mist poured across the floor, hissing where it touched metal.
Liara gasped, her body convulsing under the unstable energy. Her skin shimmered faintly — not burning, but refracting light through every vein.
"Papa…" she whispered. "It's cold inside the light…"
Her pulse flickered, syncing with the rhythmic pulse of the Thorium flare outside.
Wanchai's trembling hands guided her back into the stabilizing field, voice shaking:
"Hold on, my star. Just hold on."
Elsewhere — the surface streets.
Kaodin felt it before he saw it — the surge roaring beneath the ground, the heat pressing against his ribs like a heartbeat gone mad.
The world turned white.
He threw himself over Mrs. Hong and Xiao Ying.
Wawa roared — a tiger's cry woven of flame and sorrow — expanding into a barrier of blue Qi that bent the shockwave outward.
The blast rolled past them, a wall of fire turned aside by spirit.
When it ended, only silence remained.
Cee-Too's light dimmed.
Kaodin reached for him, fingers trembling. "Stay with me, buddy… please…"
The mysterious voice came faint, distorted, similar to my father's voice though was it his voice or some other mysterious power imitated his voice?
"Balance… remember… move with the world…"
Then his optics went dark.
Kaodin's chest heaved once, twice.
Then he screamed — not in anger, but grief — raw and human, echoing through the ruins of the only home he'd ever known in this broken world.
Above him, the dome's artificial sky flickered and failed —
the illusion torn apart.
The Crimson Veil had fallen.