The transition from the sterile and hyper-advanced environment of the Alien AI's Hidden Laboratory back to the ash-choked ruins of Sovereign City was a jarring shift in reality.
Vahn Ryker stepped out from beneath the ruined university archives. The heavy biometric blast doors sealed shut behind him.
The sky above was still a turbulent ocean of corrupted red data. It was the bleeding edge of the Convergence pressing down on their world.
"We need to return to the White City." Vahn said.
His deep purple eyes scanned the hazy and ruined skyline.
The cold and mechanical detachment he had relied on during the initial stages of the apocalypse was gone. It was replaced by a fierce and profoundly human urgency.
"If the Syndicate knows about the Origin Crystals, they know their monopoly is failing. Pierce Valerius will not sit quietly in his fortress while we dictate the new baseline."
"Commander, I am receiving an encrypted transmission from the Hana." Sia Vance reported.
