Day 105-106 Post-Impact
The eastern perimeter was lit by portable floodlights, harsh white beams cutting through the pre-dawn darkness. Sarnav arrived with Zara and Elena flanking him, the rest of the response team spreading out in defensive positions.
Thirty figures stood at the edge of the light. Mixed group. Some in military fatigues, worn and travel-stained. Some in civilian clothes. One figure in white robes that seemed to glow faintly in the darkness. All of them carried weapons, but true to Chen Wei's report, every holster was fastened, every rifle slung.
White flags hung from makeshift poles. The universal sign of parley.
A man stepped forward from the group. Tall, weathered, with the bearing of a career soldier. Indonesian military insignia on his collar, though the uniform had seen better days. He stopped precisely ten meters from Sarnav's position and rendered a formal salute.
"I am Colonel Widodo, Indonesian Special Forces. Formerly of the Jakarta Defense Command." His English was accented but clear. "We request permission to speak with the Harmony Sovereign. We come in peace, seeking alliance."
"You found him." Sarnav stepped forward, ignoring Zara's subtle gesture of caution. "I'm Sarnav Kish. What brings Indonesian military to Malaysia?"
Something flickered across the Colonel's face. Relief, perhaps. Or desperation finally finding hope.
"Jakarta has fallen," he said. "Not to monsters. To something worse. We've traveled for three weeks to reach you, Sovereign. We bring warning, and we bring knowledge. In exchange, we ask only for shelter."
Zara's hand rested on her sidearm. Elena's shadows writhed at the edges of the light, ready to strike. But Sarnav felt no hostile intent from the delegation. Only exhaustion. Only fear.
"Lower the flags," he said. "You're welcome in Harmony."
The command center felt crowded with the Indonesian leadership present.
Colonel Widodo sat across from Sarnav, flanked by two others he'd introduced as Dr. Sari, a researcher, and Imam Malik, an awakened spiritual leader. The combination was unusual. Military, science, and religion united by desperation.
"Tell me about Jakarta," Sarnav said.
The Colonel's jaw tightened. "Three weeks ago, a faction called The Purifiers launched a coordinated assault on the capital. They'd been growing in the outer islands for months, but we underestimated their numbers. Their conviction."
"Ascendancy?" Jade asked from her position at the data terminals.
"Similar ideology, different flavor. The Ascendancy worships the sealed entities. The Purifiers believe awakened humans are divine punishment. An abomination to be cleansed." His voice was bitter. "They kill every awakened they find. Slowly. Publicly. They believe suffering purifies the soul."
"Religious extremists with military capability," Zara summarized. "How many?"
"Thousands. Maybe tens of thousands by now. They're recruiting aggressively from the unawakened population. Promising salvation in exchange for service."
Dr. Sari leaned forward. She was younger than Sarnav expected, maybe thirty, with intelligent eyes behind practical glasses. "The Purifiers aren't just killing awakened. They're targeting the seals."
The room went still.
"Indonesia had a sealed entity," she continued. "In the mountains of Java. I studied it before the Impact, when it was just an anomalous energy signature. After the awakening, the seal became visible. Measurable. And the Purifiers decided it was a prison holding divine judgment."
"They wanted to free it," Yuki said, horror creeping into her voice.
"They succeeded." Dr. Sari's expression was haunted. "Two weeks ago. They performed some kind of ritual, sacrificed dozens of awakened prisoners, and the seal shattered. The entity emerged."
Sarnav felt the blood drain from his face. "A sealed entity is loose."
"Was loose. It emerged, manifested briefly, and then... vanished. Dissolved into shadows and disappeared." The researcher pulled out a battered tablet, calling up data. "We tracked energy signatures heading north for three days. Then they scattered, became impossible to follow."
"It's hiding," Elena said quietly. "Regaining strength. Planning."
"Or hunting," Imam Malik spoke for the first time. His voice was deep, resonant, carrying weight that had nothing to do with volume. "I have the gift of Spiritual Sight. I can perceive energy flows that others cannot. When the entity emerged, I felt its consciousness brush against mine."
"What did you sense?" Sarnav asked.
"Satisfaction. Purpose. And hunger." The Imam's eyes were distant, remembering something terrible. "It knows where the other seals are. It felt them the moment it was free. And it wants them open."
Jade's fingers flew across her keyboard, pulling up regional maps. "Four sealed entities in Asia. If the Indonesian one is free and mobile..."
"It's coming here," Yuki finished. "Our seal is the weakest. The most degraded. If the freed entity can somehow accelerate the breakdown..."
"Or merge with what's inside," Dr. Sari added. "My research suggested the entities might be fragments of something larger. Pieces separated and sealed individually because the whole was too powerful to contain."
The implications hung in the air like poison.
Serena's probability calculations shimmered around her, more frantic than usual. "The futures just shifted. Dramatically. Whatever timeline we thought we had for the seal degradation..."
"Is now irrelevant," Sarnav said. "We're not just racing against natural decay anymore. We're racing against an active threat."
[ALERT: THREAT ASSESSMENT UPDATED]
[FREED ENTITY: INDONESIAN ORIGIN]
[STATUS: MOBILE, DESTINATION UNKNOWN]
[PROBABILITY OF HARMONY AS TARGET: 73%]
[RECOMMENDATION: ACCELERATE ALL DEFENSIVE PREPARATIONS]
The private council convened an hour later.
Sarnav's wives gathered in the strategy room, the Indonesian delegation temporarily housed while decisions were made. Jiyeon had already prepared analysis. Jade had integrated the new data with her existing models. Everyone understood the stakes had just multiplied.
"Accept them," Jiyeon said without preamble. "Thirty people with military training, scientific knowledge, and spiritual insight. We need everything they're offering."
"Agreed," Zara added. "Colonel Widodo's soldiers are disciplined. They'll integrate well with our security forces. And Dr. Sari's research could be crucial."
"Her data complements mine," Yuki confirmed. "Together, we might finally understand what these entities actually are. Not just energy signatures, but their nature. Their purpose."
"And Imam Malik?" Sana asked quietly. "A spiritual leader among our people could help morale. Many of the refugees are struggling with faith after everything that's happened."
Serena shook her head slowly. "It's not that simple. My probability sense can't get a clear read on him. It's like he exists in multiple states simultaneously. Whatever his ability actually does, it's not just 'seeing energy.'"
"Useful or dangerous?" Elena asked.
"Potentially both."
Sarnav considered. Thirty new people. New resources. New complications. But also new hope against a threat that had just become far more immediate.
"We accept them. Colonel Widodo reports to Zara for military integration. Dr. Sari joins the research team with Jade and Yuki. Imam Malik..." He paused. "I'll speak with him personally. Understand what he can really do."
"What about The Purifiers?" Ishani asked. "They're still out there. If they succeed in freeing more entities..."
"Then we need to stop them. But first, we need to survive what's already coming." He looked around the room at his wives, his partners, his family. "The freed entity is heading this way. We have days, maybe weeks. We need to be ready."
"We need more breakthroughs," Jade said bluntly. "The correlation is clear. Wife advancement strengthens the seal. Sana's Holy Light actually pushed the entity back. If we can get more wives to higher ranks before the freed entity arrives..."
"Then we might have a chance," Nisha finished.
The room fell silent, everyone understanding what that meant. More cultivation. More intimacy. More power flowing through bonds they were still learning to understand.
"Whatever it takes," Jiyeon said firmly. "We didn't survive this long to fall now."
One by one, the others nodded.
Whatever it takes.
Evening fell over Harmony with an uneasy quiet.
Mythili had taken charge of the refugee integration, her organizational skills turning chaos into order. The Indonesian civilians were assigned temporary housing. Children, seven of them, were the first significant addition to Harmony's young population. Their presence changed the compound's energy in subtle ways.
Sarnav walked among the new arrivals, introducing himself, answering questions, projecting calm he didn't entirely feel. These people had lost everything. Their country, their homes, many of their families. They'd traveled three weeks through hostile territory on the slim hope that the rumors about Harmony were true.
He couldn't let them down.
"You're carrying too much again."
Nisha's voice came from behind him, soft and knowing. She fell into step beside him, her hand finding his.
"There's a lot to carry," he admitted.
"Then let us help. That's what we're for." She squeezed his hand. "You're not alone, sayang. You never have to be alone."
He pulled her close, breathing in her familiar scent. The first wife. The foundation. Even now, with everything crumbling around them, she was steady.
"An entity is coming," he said quietly. "Something that was sealed for who knows how long. Something powerful enough that ancient civilizations locked it away rather than fight it. And it's heading straight for us."
"I know."
"I don't know if I can protect everyone."
"You don't have to." She pulled back to meet his eyes. "We protect each other. All of us. That's what the network is for. That's what love is for." A gentle smile. "You gave me the courage to share you with others. Let us give you the courage to share the burden."
He kissed her forehead. "What would I do without you?"
"Let's never find out."
The observation post offered a view of the southern horizon.
Sarnav stood watch with Elena, her shadows spread across the landscape like living sensors. The S-rank assassin was silent, as usual, but her attention was fixed on something beyond normal perception.
"Something's different tonight," she said eventually.
"Different how?"
"The darkness feels watched. Not by us." Her shadows rippled, agitated. "I've always been comfortable in shadows. They're my domain. My element. But tonight..." She paused, searching for words. "Tonight, something in the darkness is looking back."
A chill ran down Sarnav's spine.
Far to the south, across hundreds of kilometers of jungle and ocean and shattered civilization, something stirred. The freed entity, moving through shadows that suddenly felt less like Elena's allies and more like enemy territory.
It knew where they were.
It was coming.
[EXTERNAL THREAT DETECTED - LONG RANGE]
[FREED ENTITY: TRACKING HARMONY]
[ESTIMATED ARRIVAL: UNKNOWN]
[ENTITY BEHAVIOR: PATIENT, DELIBERATE]
[RECOMMENDATION: ACCELERATE PREPARATIONS]
The system notes that preparation time is limited. Recommend efficient use of remaining days. All of them.
Elena's hand found his in the darkness, cold fingers intertwining with his. Not for comfort. For solidarity.
"Let it come," she said quietly. "We'll be ready."
Sarnav wished he shared her confidence.
But ready or not, it was coming.
They all were.
[DAY 106]
[SARNAV: S-RANK (HARMONY SOVEREIGN - FIRST STAGE)][PROGRESS TO SECOND STAGE: 14%]
[WIFE CULTIVATION STATUS][1. NISHA - C | 2. ISHANI - C | 3. ANANYA - D+][4. MINJI - D | 5. JADE - C | 6. SANA - C+][7. JIYEON - C | 8. SERENA - C+ | 9. ZARA - C+][10. ELENA - S]
[HARMONY SAFE ZONE: 1,335 SURVIVORS | 3 SECTORS]
[SEAL INTEGRITY: 92.7% (STABLE BUT THREATENED)]
[FREED ENTITY: TRACKING - EN ROUTE TO HARMONY]
[NEW THREAT: THE PURIFIERS (INDONESIA - EXPANDING)]
[NEW ALLIES: INDONESIAN DELEGATION INTEGRATED]
[TIME REMAINING: UNKNOWN]
[WIVES BONDED: 10/32]