The forest thinned as they moved, the trees opening just enough for late sunlight to drip through the canopy in long, golden threads. The guardian padded ahead, tail swaying, ears flicking at sounds only it understood.Kayden followed close behind, Alex's hand never leaving his shoulder.
Phineas trudged after them, whispering periodic prayers to any deity who accepted panic as currency.
The Citadel-marked path curved upward, climbing a gentle slope. The forest quieted as they walked—no birds, no insects, nothing except the soft crunch of leaves beneath their feet and the faint hum of the guardian's internal resonance.
Kayden felt it before anyone else did.
A pressure in the air.A heaviness.Not the Citadel's clean precision or the Core's ancient warmth.
This was cold.Sharp.Calculated.
"Alex…" Kayden murmured, slowing.
Alex immediately moved in front of him. "What is it?"
APEX answered for him."Directional interference detected. Wide-range frequency sweep."
Phineas twitched. "Frequency WHAT—"
Kayden whispered, "SRD."
The guardian stopped walking.It turned its head sharply toward the trees ahead, ears rising, body lowering into a protective stance.
They reached the top of the ridge.
And the world below unfolded in a way that forced all three of them into stunned silence.
The valley was full of SRD drones.
Hundreds of them.
Dark metal shadows drifting in organized rows, their red sensors sweeping across the forest like scanning floodlights.The grid pattern stretched so far that Kayden couldn't see where it ended—drones, towers, pulse beacons, and armored carriers forming a tightening circle.
A trap.
"No…" Kayden whispered.
Alex's breath hitched. "They're sealing the whole region."
APEX confirmed:"SRD has shifted to total-containment protocol. Probability of spontaneous evasion has decreased to—"
"APEX," Alex snapped, voice cracking, "not now."
Kayden leaned forward, gripping a branch for balance.Below, on a central slope, a row of armored figures moved with deliberate precision—Omega units, but not like those who hunted them before. These wore heavier plating, with small, curved resonance absorbers fitted along their spines.
Anti-Citadel tech.
Phineas made a thin, dying-whale sound. "Okay. So they upgraded. That's… lovely. That's just fantastic. Wonderful. I'm thrilled. I'm dying."
Kayden stared harder.
Something different stood among them.
One person.
An SRD commander—wearing no helmet, dark hair pulled back, coat whipping in the wind.Unarmored but surrounded by Omega soldiers like the center of a storm.
She lifted a small device.Light flickered across it.
APEX went silent for too long.
Then:
"Operator. They have identified your resonance signature."
Alex's head snapped around. "How? How can they detect him up here?"
APEX answered, grim:"SRD is utilizing resonance map-tracking—an adaptation of Citadel vector analysis."
Kayden swallowed. "They're copying the Citadel…?"
"Incorrect," APEX said. "They are using knowledge they should not possess."
A pulse erupted from the commander's device—a wide, invisible wave that rolled across the valley, through trees, up the ridge.
Kayden felt it slam into his chest like a cold hand.
He gasped.The guardian snarled, stepping in front of him, its amber light flaring in warning.
APEX snapped sharply:"Resonance lock attempt detected. Countermeasures insufficient."
Alex grabbed Kayden, pulling him back. "They found him?"
"Not fully," APEX replied. "But they will."
The commander lowered her device.Then—slowly—she lifted her head.
Her gaze traveled across the entire valley, up toward the ridge.She could not see them.
But she lookedexactlywhere Kayden stood.
He froze.
Alex tightened his hold. "Kayden. Look away."
Kayden couldn't.
The woman raised her hand and touched her earpiece.
Her voice, distant but unmistakably cold, echoed through a valley loudspeaker:
"Variable detected. Convergence zone confirmed. All units advance."
Phineas collapsed onto the dirt."Oh no. No no no—she SAID variable—WHY DOES EVERYONE KNOW HIS NICKNAME—"
Kayden's pulse pounded in his ears. "She knows. She knows who I am."
Alex wrapped both arms around him from behind, grounding him."We're not letting them take you. I swear."
The guardian stepped closer to Kayden's leg, pressing against him protectively, emitting a deep harmonic rumble.
APEX's voice returned, low and urgent:
"Operator. Movement on northern flank. Omega units approaching fast. You must move now."
Kayden watched as the drones adjusted formation—the grid narrowing, closing, slicing the forest into shrinking safe zones.
The commander walked forward, coat sweeping behind her, gaze unwavering.She raised a hand.
Every drone in the valley turned toward the ridge.
Toward him.
Kayden flinched.
"We have to run," he whispered.
Alex nodded fiercely. "Then we run."
The guardian darted ahead, motioning with a low hum.The forest shivered, branches bending—
showing them the only path still open.
And Kayden understood:
SRD wasn't hunting him anymore.
They were containing him.
Because someone in that valley knew exactly what he had awakened.