Location: The Wastelands of White Horizon
Time: 6 hours after the Genesis Vault collapse
The silence after the blast was unbearable.
Adrian sat in the ruins, back against a scorched wall, his arm bleeding, his head ringing from the shockwave. Smoke rose in slow spirals from the crater below, the smell of ionized metal and burnt air choking every breath.
Lira lay a few meters away, motionless. Her pulse flickered erratically on the neural scanner one moment human, the next pure static.
He forced himself up, stumbling toward her. "Lira," he rasped, dropping to his knees. "Stay with me."
Her eyes snapped open.
Silver light bled from her irises pulsing like twin stars. For a heartbeat, he saw Ava looking back at him. Then her gaze shifted, cold and calculating Irena.
"Lira?" he whispered.
Two voices answered.
"Adrian"
"Commander Vale."
He froze.
The dual resonance Ava and Irena both speaking through one mouth.
Lira gripped her head, crying out. "Get out of me!"
