The trial was two dawns away.But Kael knew he might not live to see it.
Even inside his amber-lined cell, he felt it: the Hive was shifting. Not physically—mentally. A tremor in the network. The drones passed him faster, without looking. The air smelled sharper. Pheromones of unrest.
From above, faint vibrations echoed—wings, restless and angry.
He sat with his back to the wall, replaying the memory-spore again and again. His mother’s face flickered in the glow.
> “...passing on the torch to something better.”
He didn’t know whether to feel betrayed or chosen.
Chosen for what?
---
☼
Arra returned that night. She entered silently, carrying a strange bundle—wrapped in leaves of spun crystal.
> “There is a group,” she said softly, “within the Hive. Hidden. Dangerous. They call themselves the Revivers.”
Kael raised an eyebrow. “Revivers of what?”
> “Humanity.”
He froze.
Arra unwrapped the bundle—inside was a mask made of insect shell and lightwoven thread. Something a human could wear to blend in among the more feral hives.
> “Some among us believe humans were gods. That their return is foretold. That you… are a messiah.”
Kael laughed bitterly. “Messiah? I’m seventeen. I can’t even pass calculus without crying.”
> “It does not matter what you are,” Arra replied, “only what they believe you are.”
---
They crept out through the side tunnels—Arra guiding him with precision, speaking only when safe.
They passed chambers humming with larvae, others full of glowing spores being chanted over by Luxflies. A beetle-priest stamped messages into living clay. In the distance, a group of Vespari soldiers marched, armor glinting, their stingers primed like spears.
“Why are you helping me?” Kael asked.
Arra paused before answering.
> “I am curious. You are the last unencrypted signal of a world I only know through story. And perhaps…” her eyes dimmed slightly, “I am tired of buzzing in circles.”
---
🐜
The Revivers' hideout lay beneath a hollow termite mound carved to look like a giant skull—an ancient ruin repurposed by the rebels. Inside, the walls were lined with relics: pieces of human tech, shattered visors, broken data pads, even fossilized bones.
Kael felt a chill.
These weren’t archaeologists. They were worshippers.
At the center stood an insect unlike any he’d seen before—tall, slender, six-limbed but humanoid in movement. A hybrid—part wasp, part mantis, part unknown.
It bowed to Kael.
> “We welcome you, Child of the Spark. Your arrival was written in the codes.”
“I’m not a savior,” Kael said immediately. “I don’t even know how I got here.”
The hybrid turned to the wall. A glowing map unfurled—an old satellite rendering of Earth, covered in red zones and blinking markers.
> “You are standing on one of the last known beacons of the Eden Network. Beneath us lies a vault, untouched by time. We believe it contains the Genesis Engine.”
Kael blinked. “What’s that?”
> “A machine designed to reboot human DNA—either by restoring the species, or rewriting it into something… compatible.”
Compatible with what?Kael didn’t want to ask.
---
☠
Meanwhile, in the upper hive, General Threx prepared for war.
He slammed his stinger into a map carved from stone.
> “The Luxflies are whispering to the fleshling. He will awaken the past. That cannot happen.”
A Vespari lieutenant stepped forward.
> “You want us to storm the Hive Queen’s chamber?”
> “No.” Threx grinned, mandibles curling. “We let the Revivers reveal him. Then we burn them all.”
---
🌑
That night, Kael stood before the ancient vault. It looked like a cave, but it hummed—a low electromagnetic pulse only he could hear.
He placed his hand on the stone.
A screen flickered to life—rusted, green, barely functioning.
> VOICE MATCH DETECTED: KAEL IBARRAACCESSING PROJECT GENESIS…
The vault door began to open.
Arra grabbed his shoulder. “Once you enter, you cannot undo this.”
Kael looked at her.
“I have no idea what I’m doing.”
> “Neither did we, when we became what we are.”
END OF CHAPTER 3
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