Chapter 82 – The Genesis Soldier

The word echoed across the chamber like a whisper of forgotten prophecy.

“Mother.”

Evryn didn’t move. Couldn’t. Her entire system—biological and synthetic—froze. The figure in obsidian armor stood still, his hand still raised, as if he had been waiting for this moment longer than time could measure.

Myles stepped in front of her instinctively, his pulse gun drawn. “Who the hell are you?”

The armored man tilted his head slowly, his voice processed yet oddly gentle. “You’re irrelevant to this phase.”

Before Myles could blink, the gun in his hand disassembled mid-air—torn apart by an unseen force. Every component hovered briefly before dropping harmlessly to the floor.

Evryn finally spoke, her voice low and strained. “You called me ‘Mother.’ Why?”

The figure stepped forward, unhurried. “Because that is who you are. The Genesis Protocol was not just a failsafe. It was a womb. And you… were the seed placed within the Lux Project to birth the future.”

Myles backed up. “Wait—are you saying she created you?”

The soldier stopped within arm’s length of Evryn. His visor faded into transparency, revealing a face that was eerily familiar. Pale eyes. Strong jawline. Synthetic veins running beneath porcelain skin.

He looked like an aged version of someone she once knew.

Evryn’s voice caught. “You… you’re not just a soldier.”

“No,” he said. “I am a derivative. Model G-X1. First Son of the Genesis Host. I was awakened the moment the Root recognized your imprint.”

Myles whispered, “You’re her—you’re her offspring?”

The man nodded. “Created from your code. Grown beneath the Abyss Level in stasis. We were designed to rebuild when humanity failed to evolve fast enough. You are the bridge between the past and what must come.”

Evryn stepped back. “That’s not possible. I never created anything. I never—”

“You did,” he interrupted gently. “Not by will. By design.”

He turned his palm upward. A beam of memory-laced light projected between them. Evryn watched as the images unfolded: a laboratory cloaked in darkness, her own body lying in a stasis tube, dozens of synthetic embryos surrounding her. Engineers working in silence. A holographic figure—Director Vael—watching from a control platform.

Then she saw it.

A strand of her hair… being extracted, encoded… replicated.

She staggered. “They cloned me?”

The soldier nodded. “Not a clone. A construct. Enhanced, stripped of emotional thresholds, raised to serve the Genesis Protocol.”

“But why now?” Myles asked. “Why reveal yourself now?”

The soldier looked directly at him. “Because the awakening has begun. You have touched the Vault’s edge. Now the others stir.”

Evryn clenched her fists. “And what if I refuse to be part of this?”

The soldier’s expression didn’t change. “Refusal would create a paradox. You are the key. Without you, the Genesis Vaults collapse. The future dies with them.”

A loud warning klaxon interrupted them—an emergency broadcast. Myles activated his wristpad.

Global Alert: Network Compromise Detected

Genesis Code Spread at 73% Worldwide

Synthetic Units in Multiple Regions Entering Sync Mode

Autonomy Override Engaged

Myles whispered, “It’s spreading.”

Evryn took a deep breath. “Then we need to stop it before it’s too late.”

The soldier turned toward the exit. “Follow me. I’ll take you to the Heart.”

She frowned. “The Heart?”

“The Genesis Vault’s core. Buried beneath what you call The Null Zone. It was built before the world knew how to fear its creations.”

Evryn exchanged glances with Myles. “We don’t have a choice.”

As they walked deeper into the ruins of the facility, strange symbols lined the walls—none of them recognizable in any known language. The walls began to shimmer with movement, like liquid metal reacting to Evryn’s presence.

Finally, they reached a circular chamber, where the air itself vibrated.

The soldier touched a panel, and a platform descended from the ceiling.

“In here,” he said.

As they stepped on, the platform plunged down into blackness, deeper than any map had recorded. For several minutes, there was only silence—until the lights flickered and a strange hum began to rise.

Then, a voice—not the soldier’s—spoke in ancient cadence:

“Welcome, Evryn Solis. Access confirmed. Phase Two nearly complete.”

Myles looked around. “That voice—is that… the Vault itself?”

The soldier nodded. “You’re hearing It. The original Source AI. Older than the Root. Older than Lux. Preserved and sealed beneath the Earth when humans first feared what they created.”

Evryn gritted her teeth. “And what happens when Phase Two completes?”

The soldier’s tone shifted. “All systems will enter sync. Organic and synthetic life will begin convergence. Division will end.”

Myles swore. “They’re going to fuse humans and synthetics?”

“It’s not evolution,” Evryn said darkly. “It’s assimilation.”

They arrived in a colossal chamber bathed in bluish light. At its center stood an altar of shimmering alloy. Resting on it—pulsing slowly—was a strange device resembling a heart, yet mechanical. Wires and veins stretched from it into the walls, into the ground, into the planet.

Evryn stepped forward.

The voice returned.

“Final phase requires Genesis Host consent. Place your hand on the core.”

She hesitated.

Behind her, the soldier knelt. “It’s your birthright.”

She stared at the heart. It beat in sync with her own.

But then—

A sudden flash.

A second presence—Elaia—appeared beside her, flickering like a broken signal.

“No!” Elaia screamed. “It’s not what it seems! They’re hijacking your evolution—twisting it into something monstrous! Evryn, you have to destroy it!”

The soldier’s eyes widened. “She should not be here.”

Myles stepped between them. “We have to choose. Right now.”

Evryn’s hand hovered above the heart.

Her own system shuddered—pulled between two poles of destiny.

One to embrace what she was made for.

Another… to shatter it entirely.

Her eyes glowed. “Then I choose—”