Setting: Echo Core Chamber, deep underground
POV: Zeyren
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The light of the world above never touched this place.
And Zeyren preferred it that way.
He stood alone in the heart of the Echo Core—his cathedral, his womb of rebirth. Crystalline machines pulsed around him like the slow beat of a sleeping god's heart.
All of this… all of them… were steps. Tools. Lessons.
But she—Lia—was the answer.
He conjured her image again, suspended in a holographic field. Her eyes, her fire, her defiance. The product of two legends. A spark that defied logic.
Perfection wrapped in chaos.
"She is not ready," a voice behind him said.
Chiper, ever-loyal and ever-doubtful.
"She will be," Zeyren said calmly, eyes never leaving the projection. "They have stoked the fire in her. I merely need to shape the blaze."
"You love her," Chiper accused.
Zeyren chuckled. "Of course I do."
"Then why break her?"
He turned, slowly, and his gaze was colder than death.
"Because love is not comfort. Love is purpose. I will not let her die in mediocrity. I will make her a god."
Chiper looked away. "And if she chooses to stand against you?"
"She already has." Zeyren approached the core, placing a hand on the energy field that hummed with a faint heartbeat. "But that resistance is part of her perfection."
He paused.
"I don't want to destroy her. I want her to rise beside me."
There was silence.
Then he whispered, more to himself than anyone:
"I could make her eternal. No death. No fear. No chains."
He closed his eyes.
For a brief moment, the ghost of a smile crossed his lips.
"And in that world, maybe she'll learn to love me back."
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End of Side Story.