The truck rattled over broken streets, smoke rising from the distant battlefield.
Kaela clutched the Genesis Core tightly, feeling the pulsing warmth drain slowly into her hands.
They had escaped — barely.
Riven sat at the back, breathing hard, his blade stained black.
Arin lay between them, bandaged but still unconscious.
For a moment, silence ruled...
until the driver spoke, his voice low and grim.
> "You don't even know what you're carrying, do you?"
Kaela's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
The man glanced back at her, his face haunted.
> "That thing... the Genesis Core. It's not some magical relic. It's a weapon. One of the worst ever made."
---
The Truth Revealed
Long ago — before the fall of Echo Base, before Zeyren's rebellion — there had been another war.
A war so catastrophic that it had nearly ended humanity.
> It wasn't fought with armies.
It was fought with monsters, machines, and the Genesis Project.
The Genesis Core was the centerpiece: a mass of raw, living energy — powerful enough to destroy or create entire cities.
Zeyren and his elite scientists had planned to build a mass-destruction machine around it — a doomsday weapon that would make them gods.
But...
He grew arrogant.
> Confident in his eventual victory, Zeyren decided the Genesis Core wasn't needed yet.
So it was abandoned in the deepest vaults — left to gather dust while he pursued other ambitions.
Until now.
Now that the Hollowborn was rising —
Now that chaos had returned —
the Genesis Core was humanity's last chance.
---
The Terrible Choice
Arin leaned forward, grim.
> "If we use it... we can stop the Hollowborn."
Kaela stared at him, feeling the Core throb harder with every heartbeat.
> "But," the driver interrupted, "it will drain almost everything. The Genesis Core is living — it feeds on life, on energy. If we unleash it at full power..."
He hesitated.
> "...we might not survive."
Kaela's hands trembled.
Not survive?
But what choice did they have?
Leave the world to the Hollowborn?
Let the Genesis Core fall into another warlord's hands?
No.
She knew the answer.
> "We'll fight," Kaela whispered. "No matter what."
Arin reached over, squeezing her shoulder.
> "Together."
Riven, weak but awake now, gave a small, broken smile.
> "To hell and back."
---
A Glimmer of Hope
The driver smiled bitterly.
> "Maybe... just maybe, if you're careful, you can control the Genesis Core's energy.
Maybe you can drain only what's needed.
Maybe you can survive."
Kaela locked eyes with him.
There was no more "maybe" left in this world.
Only fight.
Only survival.
And they were ready.