Location; Geneva, Switzerland – Secret UN Oversight Facility
The world had known conflict. But what it now faced was something it had no name for—an awakening stitched from secrets, bloodlines, and an ancient pact splintered by greed.
Inside the reinforced war room beneath the UN Oversight Facility, chaos reigned.
"She neutralized five satellites with a glance," barked General Amar Tsegaye of Ethiopia's Special Intelligence Corps. "Whatever this Aerin is, she isn't just a girl."
"She is the culmination of a project that never should've existed," muttered Dr. Liu Qiang, former lead geneticist from China's Bio-Ark Initiative. "Blackwood and El-Masri spliced her genome from the purest bloodlines across three continents. They weren't building a successor. They were building a god."
A live feed from the Schloss Eisenrot facility flickered on. Aerin stood amidst rubble, eyes glowing with unstable energy, Silas leaning heavily beside her. Nora and Damien flanked her cautiously, weapons lowered, yet tense.
"She's not stable," Nora said, her voice crackling over the comm. "Her memories come in flashes. She recognizes names she's never spoken. Places she's never been. We need to move her—somewhere safe."
"There is no safe," General Tsegaye snapped. "Not anymore."
Damien leaned into frame, face hard as stone. "Then make one."
---
Meanwhile, deep within a sanctuary in the Swiss Alps, the extended El-Masri council gathered in an emergency session. Cousin Samira El-Masri, a diplomat with ties to both Russia and Morocco, glared across the mahogany table at Uncle Nadim, head of the faction that had once secretly funded the Sovereign Project.
"You promised us influence," she said coldly. "Not extinction."
Nadim rose, eyes shadowed with regret. "I didn't know she'd survive. Let alone awaken. Aerin was meant to be a failsafe. But it seems we created a fault line."
Back in Austria, Nora led Aerin into a secured safehouse, where Nora's aunt—Dr. Evelyn Langford, a renowned neurobiologist exiled for whistleblowing against medical experiments—was waiting.
Evelyn examined Aerin carefully. "She's bleeding memory fragments. Every second she's awake, more stored data floods her brain. If we don't stabilize her soon…"
"She'll collapse?" Damien asked.
"She'll explode." Evelyn handed him a neural stabilizer. "But I need to warn you—some memories might not be hers."
Aerin stirred on the cot, eyes flickering. "I saw a place… glass towers… a red river… then fire. I heard my mother's voice—"
"Who is your mother?" Nora asked gently.
Aerin blinked. "I don't know. But her voice said… 'You are the price for peace.'"
A silent shiver passed through the room.
---
Elsewhere, far across the globe, in the Amazon's heart near Manaus, Archer stepped into a jungle temple with a stolen Nexus artifact. With him was Amaru Villalobos—Damien's estranged maternal cousin from Peru, now allied with Archer in exchange for vengeance.
"They've awakened her," Archer said.
Amaru narrowed his eyes. "Then it's time we awaken something of our own."
He pressed the artifact into a pedestal. The ground shuddered. A serpentine statue began to move. From deep within, something ancient stirred.
"We built weapons," Amaru whispered. "But our ancestors built gods."
---
Back in Geneva, the UN Security Council descended into emergency talks. Russia threatened unilateral action. Brazil declared a sovereign blackout. Tavara's Prime Minister demanded answers from the Blackwoods.
Damien stood before the council remotely, unflinching.
"You want truth? Here it is. Our ancestors created a pact to protect the world, not to control it. We've failed that promise. But I won't let their sins consume the next generation."
Beside him, Aerin stood, her voice steady. "They made me to bind nations. But I choose to break those chains."
As silence fell across the chamber, it became clear—the game had changed.