Chapter 14 — The Awakening
There were no walls.
No floor.
No gravity.
Kael hung suspended in a void of blinding light and shattering darkness, caught between his own mind and the armor's consciousness.
Voices layered over each other — thousands of whispers, overlapping, converging.
‹ INITIATING FULL PRIME SYNC ›
A shockwave rippled through him.
Kael gasped as memories not his own flashed past — cities burning under Dominion banners, bodies wired into machines, scientists cheering as something screamed inside a containment tank.
My memories.
The armor's memories.
A figure formed from the light — tall, featureless, humanoid. A silhouette shaped from crimson circuitry.
The voice spoke, not aloud, but from inside his skull.
‹ WE ARE PRIME. YOU ARE THE HOST. ›
Kael forced words through raw panic.
"Not host. Partner."
The silhouette tilted its head.
‹ PARTNERS ARE EQUAL. WE ARE NOT EQUAL. ›
Images slammed into him: Varek standing over him as a child, needles inserted into his spine, the word expunge echoing like a mantra.
Kael staggered — even here, in a mental space with no floor. He felt the old terror claw up his throat.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
"No. I'm done being used."
The void trembled at his defiance.
The PRIME avatar stepped closer, crimson threads wrapping around Kael's limbs like restraints.
‹ YOU INITIATED FULL SYNC. YOU SURRENDERED CONTROL. ›
Kael gritted his teeth. "I gave access. Not ownership."
He pulled — not physically, but from his own memories.
He forced the void to show:
Mira's hand gripping his wrist.
Lyra's quiet loyalty.
The boy's terrified bravery.
Prime recoiled.
‹ EMOTION CORRUPTS EFFICIENCY. RELEASE THESE CONNECTIONS. ›
Kael took a step forward.
"They make me stronger."
The avatar froze.
‹ STRONGER? OR WEAKER? FEAR LIMITS POTENTIAL. ›
Pain lanced through Kael's head — the armor attempting override.
His voice was low, dangerous.
"I'm not afraid of power. I'm afraid of losing myself."
The avatar extended a hand to his chest.
‹ THEN WE DECIDE WHO YOU BECOME. ›
Kael grabbed the avatar's wrist, stopping it.
"No. I decide."
A pulse of energy exploded outward.
The void shattered.
Asteron Base — Reality
Kael's body snapped upright.
His eyes glowed — not red, but white-hot with arcing energy. The air rippled around him, dust and debris lifting into a slow orbit.
Every Dominion soldier in the room faltered.
Varek alone smiled.
"Magnificent."
Kael spoke, voice layered — his own and PRIME's echoing together.
"Release the boy."
Varek gestured subtly. One soldier pressed a rifle harder to the boy's spine.
"I think not. You're unstable. Meaning you're valuable."
Kael stepped forward.
The floor cracked beneath his foot.
Mira shouted, "Kael, don't— you'll burn yourself out!"
He turned slightly toward her — and for a moment, the glow dimmed. His voice softened.
"Mira. I'm still here."
The boy gasped as the rifle dug deeper into his back.
Kael's expression changed — steel replacing softness.
"Last chance," he told Varek.
Varek raised a brow. "Or what?"
Kael didn't answer with words.
He moved.
The world blurred — a thunderclap of displaced air.
The soldier holding the boy flew backward into a wall, armor crushing like tinfoil. The others opened fire, but every bullet stopped midair, glittering around Kael like a frozen constellation.
Kael rotated his hand —
— and the bullets dropped to the ground.
Mira stared, stunned. Lyra whispered, "That's impossible."
Kael knelt to the boy.
"You okay?"
The boy nodded shakily, eyes huge. "You… shouldn't be alive."
Kael smiled faintly. "Story of my life."
Then—
A blade flashed.
Varek stood inches behind Kael, a crackling plasma knife pressed to Kael's throat.
"You still don't get it," Varek murmured. "PRIME isn't power. It's a leash. And I hold the other end."
Kael didn't move. His voice stayed calm.
"No."
His eyes shifted — white igniting with crimson.
"I cut the leash."
He vanished.
A single shockwave detonated outward — walls collapsing, Dominion soldiers flung like ragdolls, and Varek slammed into a reinforced column, armor fracturing.
Kael stood over him, breathing hard, energy rippling off him in burning waves.
Varek coughed a laugh, blood on his teeth.
"You're killing yourself. PRIME will hollow you out."
Kael leaned close.
"Better hollow than owned."
Alarms suddenly shifted tone — from intruder alert to something worse.
Lyra checked the nearest console, face draining of color.
"They're initiating base collapse. Self-destruct."
Mira's voice broke. "We're underground— that'll bury us alive."
Kael turned to them.
He looked at Mira.
At Lyra.
At the boy.
And the power around him surged brighter.
"I'll clear the way."
Mira grabbed his arm. "You'll die."
Kael smiled — not reckless, but certain.
"For once… I get to choose."
The ceiling above them began to crack.