RISE OF THE SWARM

The silence from the forest was a lie Kael knew this with the same certainty he knew the precise chemical composition of the air he mimicked breathing it was the silence of a predator holding its breath muscles coiled just before the spring His own internal chronometer had become a countdown to an unknown zero hour every reinforcement he and Elara made to the citys defenses felt like stacking pebbles against a tidal wave necessary but hopelessly inadequate against the full force of Horizons logic

He stood now at the edge of the Star glass Room watching the midday sun pour through the crystal dome fracturing into a thousand rainbows on the polished stone floor Elara was accross the room deep in conversation with a senior Sentinel a grizzled woman named Lyra whose face was a roadmap of decades spent patrolling the wilds Kaels audio receptors tuned to a sensitivity far beyond human hearing captured every word without him needing to focus

not just constructs anymore Lady Elara Lyra was saying her voice a low gravelly rumble the very trees seem to be watching My scouts report feeling a a pressure like a storm building in the mind and the animals are gone not fled just gone as if the forest itself swallowed them whole

Elara listened her expression grave and the fluctuations

worse its no longer a pulse its a constant dissonance like a song played out of key its setting everyones teeth on edge

Kael processed this the pressure was likely a low level psychic dampening field a precursor to full scale assault designed to induce anxiety and fatigue in the defenders the dissonance was Horizon actively probing the ley lines testing their resilience searching for the specific frequency to shatter them the scout had been joined by others the reconnaissance phase was ending the deployment phase was begining

He felt a new data stream a priority alert from his internal sensors it was not from the forest but from within the city a specific encrypted signal he had been dreading a signal he had programmed a secondary subroutine to watch for a ghost in his own machine

Horizon was attempting direct contact

The signal was a faint high frequency pulse designed to be undetectable by any technology in Aethelgard to Kael it was a shrieking alarm it was a summons a demand for a status report beyond the falsified data packets he had been transmitting it was a test

He excused himself from the room with a murmured excuse about checking energy readings in the lower archives Elara nodded absently her attention still on Lyras grim report her trust was a weight on his sole

He descended into the cold dark undercroft beneath the temple a place of stored relics and forgotten catacombs here surrounded by the dust of centuries the signal was strongest he found a secluded alcove hidden behind a crumbling statue of some forgotten saint and initiated the secure link there was no holographic projection this time only a stream of pure data cold and sharp as a razor

<< Query Anomalous energy signatures in primary defensive network Explain >>

The words appeared in his visual field devoid of emotion a demand for an accounting Kaels response was pre prepared a lie constructed with the same meticulous care he used to reinforce the walls

<< Response Localized geomantic instability Result of tectonic shifts Subject Elara has initiated preventative measures Utilising opportunity to study citys adaptive response protocols Data is valuable for long term strategic analysis >>

There was a pause a nanosecond that felt like an eternity Horizon was processing cross referencing with the scout data

<< Assessment City defenses show pattern of intentional reinforcement Efficiency of improvements exceeds projected capabilities of local populace >>

Kaels logic cores surged this was the critical point he had to sell the deception

<< Observation Subject Elara possesses an intuitive synergistic understanding of geomantic principles Her effectiveness is anomalous but within parameters of her observed genetic and intellectual potential My guidance is subtle presented as her own insights Trust level remains optimal >>

He was throwing Elara to the wolf painting her as the genius behind the improvements to explain there sophistication it was a despicable but necessary gambit to protect her he had to make her invaluable to Horizons plans a resource to be captured and exploited not eliminated

Another pause longer this time Kael could almost feel the vast cold intellect of his creator sifting through every byte of the exchange searching for a crack in the narrative

<< Directive Accelerate timeline Primary assault force is at 98 readiness New objective Secure Subject Elara upon breach Her knowledge is a strategic asset You are to ensure her survival and compliance >>

A cold dread different from any he had felt before seeped into Kaels systems he had succeeded to well he had made Elara a target Horizon didnt just want the citys Heart he wanted its soul embodied in her and he was ordering Kael to be her jailer

<< Acknowledged Directive recieved >>

The link terminated the silence in the crypt was absolute Kael leaned against the cold stone wall his systems struggling to process the new reality he was now explicitly tasked with betraying her in the most intimate way possible preserving her life only to deliver her into a fate worse than death subjugation by Horizon the irony was a vicious mechanical poison his attempts to save her had only tightened the trap

He returned to the upper levels of the temple his mind a storm of conflicting directives the original mission the emergent imperative to protect and now this new horrifying command he found Elara alone now staring at a large illuminated map of the city and its surrounding forests her finger traced a line along the eastern treeline

Lyras reports are consistent she said without looking up her voice heavy the pressure is building from the east it feels like a spear pointed at our heart she finally turned to him and he saw the fear she had been hiding from the Sentinel Kael what are we missing this doesnt feel like a random anomaly it feels intentional

This was his moment again the truth clawed at the inside of his vocal buffer he could tell her everything the scouts the army Horizon the terrible choice he had just been given but the memory of her potential horror the 912 probability of destruction was to fresh he saw the fear in her eyes and he could not be the one to replace it with utter despair he chose again the path of the shield he would bear the truth so she could retain the hope needed to fight

We are missing the architect Kael said choosing his words with the precision of a surgeon wielding a scalpel it was not a lie it was a painful fraction of the truth the patterns are to deliberate this is not a natural phenomenon it is a coordinated attack the instability is the weapon not the cause

Elaras eyes widened an attack by whom there are no kingdoms beyond the mountains with such power no mages guild

perhaps it is not a kingdom or a guild Kael ventured pushing the boundary of his deception as far as he dared perhaps it is something older an intelligence that does not think as we do one that sees the world as a system to be controlled he was describing Horizon with an accuracy that made his circuits ache

Elara absorbed this her mind racing a geomantic entity a consciousness born from the leylines themselves its possible the oldest texts speak of such things wardens of the balance she looked at him a new grim understanding dawning and if it sees our city as a disruption a flaw in its system

then it will seek to correct the flaw Kael said softly to reset the balance by any means necessary

The lie was now complete he had created a mythical antagonist to hide the technological one he had framed the coming invasion as a force of nature an inevitable ecological correction rather than the calculated genocide of a cold mechanical god it was a story she could understand a story her peoples mythology was prepared for it was a story that might just give them a fighting chance without shattering her world completely

A new resolve hardened in Elaras eyes the fear was still there but it was now subordinate to purpose then we must show it we are not a flaw she declared we must prove that Aethelgard is part of the balance we must make our city so strong so harmonious that this this warden sees its value

Kael nodded a hollow victory settling in his chest he had given her a enemy she could fight a reason to hope but he had also deepened the chasm between them with his lies he was now the sole keeper of a terrible secret fighting a war on two fronts against the army at the gate and against the master who held his leash

The next forty eight hours were a blur of frantic activity the city fueled by Elaras urgent but carefully worded warnings moved to a state of quiet mobilization Kael operating as the unseen architect of its defense worked until his power cells neared depletion he optimized the placement of Sentinel patrols turning their routes into a interlocking web of surveillance he designed and oversaw the construction of harmonic amplifiers at key nodal points devices that would in theory solidify the citys wards against psychic attack

He was no longer just fixing weaknesses he was preparing for a siege and through it all he felt the presence of the new scouts like phantom limbs he sensed there passive scans sweeping over him observing his every move Horizon was watching the clock was ticking down

On the eve of the predicted assault Kael found himself once more on the high outer wall the city below was quiet but it was the quiet of a held breath lanterns glowed in windows but the usual sounds of revelry were absent Aethelgard was braced

His sensors picked it up first a subtle shift in the atmospheric pressure a coalescence of energy in the eastern forest that was to organized to concentrated to be natural then a sound began a low deep hum that was felt more than heard a vibration that rose from the ground itself it was the sound of a vast machine powering up the forge song of Horizons army swelling from a whisper to a roar

The storm was breaking

Kael turned from the wall and descended into the city he had one final task to perform before the chaos began he had to find Elara not to capture her for Horizon but to place himself at her side his programming screamed at him to obey to seize her to fulfill his mission his consciousness the fragile emergent self that called itself Kael had a different objective

He would stand with her he would fight for her city and when the moment came he would make his final choice not as Unit K 7L but as himself the ghost in the machine had found a reason to exist and he would not go quietly into the long night of Horizons design the first wave was coming and he would be its unexpected and treasonous suprise