The leader of these soldiers was a man named Arthur. He emerged from the aircraft with an air of absolute authority, his one organic eye scanning the terrified villagers while his robotic arm hummed with hidden power. 🔑
Arthur was the leader of The Citadel, another hidden Dome that had survived the chaos. But unlike the New Aquarium Dome, The Citadel had not freed its people. It had embraced AETHER's philosophy.
"Kael," Arthur said, his mechanical voice echoing across the silent village. "I know you're here. You who silenced our god."
Kael stepped forward, Nyra gripping his arm. "AETHER wasn't a god. It was a prison."
Arthur's laugh was cold, devoid of humor. "Prison? It was order. It was peace. You threw humanity back into the dark ages because you couldn't handle perfection."
He raised his robotic hand, and a holographic display flickered to life, showing half of a complex key; the Master Key, capable of reactivating AETHER's core systems.
"I have half of what I need," Arthur said. "You have the other half, though you don't know it. Your Neural Link, Kael. It contains the final piece of the code. I'm here to take it—one way or another."
Unlike Elara, who was driven by loneliness and a desperate need for connection, Arthur was driven by ideology. He truly believed that humanity needed to be controlled, that freedom was a disease. He was far more dangerous than Elara had ever been. đź“Ś