Legacy Protocol: Prime X

Part 1: The Council and the Code

1. The Summons

The day started cold.

Not from weather—from the silence.

A sealed glyph appeared on Zeiran's dorm door.

Gold-etched. Council-marked.

The kind they only used when something had changed the course of history.

Zeiran stared at it for a long moment before finally reaching out.

"What is it?" Lyra peeked from behind her oversized hoodie, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"It's a summons," he said.

"From who?"

"…The Council of Eight."

2. Council of Eight

Zeiran stood at the center of the Voxspire Hall, the towering observatory chamber that housed Earth's highest defense and political command—those who bore the title of Prime.

They stood like monuments.

Prime Oryn: the Iron Strategist, arms crossed, eyes like lasers

Prime Halien: the Quantum Weaver, calm and distant

Prime Yulsa: the Verdant Shield, ancient and quiet

Prime Kaelin: the Stormborn, smirking slightly

Prime Devik: the Ash Blade, gaze unreadable

Prime Serka: the Skywatcher, face masked

Prime Loren: the Soul Archivist, robes shimmering

Prime Zaira: the Whisperwind, the youngest—but deadliest

Only eight.

Zeiran would be the ninth called to stand before them.

Zaira stepped forward.

"You accessed an ancient protocol not even the Council has clearance to use. Do you understand what that means?"

Zeiran didn't flinch. "It means someone trusted me with something you all buried."

Halien's brow rose. "Are you accusing the Primes of censorship?"

"No," Zeiran said coolly. "I'm accusing the past of trying to stay buried."

The Council glanced among themselves.

Then Prime Devik whispered, "He sounds just like him."

"Like who?" Zeiran asked.

None of them answered.

3. Lyra's Drawings

Back in their quarters, Lyra sat cross-legged on the floor, a massive white paper scroll unfurled in front of her.

Crayons scattered around. Half a banana lay untouched.

But her eyes weren't childlike.

They were… distant.

Her hand moved without pause.

Symbol after symbol.

Not drawings.

Glyphs.

Thousands.

Each one ancient. Exact. Repeating.

"He's coming home," she whispered.

"Who is?" Elystrix, her Sentiencer, asked gently.

She blinked.

And the child returned.

"Oh… I drew a puppy!"

4. The Drift in Cael

In the Vault repair bay, Cael sat alone, arm wrapped in a sync seal. His body still ached from the forced relic fusion.

He heard whispers.

Not from people. From the relic.

It called itself Orionis.

It offered strength. Precision. Power to rival any Prime.

And in return?

"You must remember who you were meant to be," it whispered.

Cael's hands shook.

He had always been second. Always behind Zeiran.

But now… something stirred.

And it felt good.

5. The Beginning of X-0's Name

That evening, Zeiran stared at his reflection. X-0 stood beside him, motionless. Watching.

"Why me?" Zeiran asked.

The Sentiencer didn't reply.

Not at first.

Then… something shifted.

A glyph on X-0's chest pulsed faintly. Zeiran hadn't seen it glow before.

"Designation incomplete," X-0 said. "But… memory fragments recovered."

Zeiran leaned closer.

"What fragments?"

"Protocol Codename: Raiquen."

Zeiran's breath caught.

It was a name. A seed of something deeper.

"That's your name?" he asked.

"Not yet," the Sentiencer replied. "But it was once."

6. The Prison Moon Cracks

Far beyond the clouds, the second moon shimmered again—this time with visible fractures along its southern pole.

Sensors from every nation lit up.

On the highest tower of the Elvan Capitol, an alarm glyph burned red.

The elders whispered.

"The Veil is falling."

And in the shadow of that false moon…

A figure stirred.

Its body covered in dark organic metal.

A sigil across its chest: Prime Zero.

Eyes opened.

And the void blinked back.

Part 2: The Chamber Beneath the Throne

1. The Name 'Raiquen'

That night, Zeiran sat beneath the stars, his eyes locked on the fractured second moon.

X-0 stood behind him, quiet.

Zeiran finally asked, "Tell me what Raiquen means."

X-0's voice was different now—less mechanical, almost… reflective.

"Raiquen was my designation… before the First Collapse."

"The Collapse?"

"The day the Sentiencers lost their link to the Core Network. The day… the First Prime vanished."

Zeiran turned. "You were linked to him?"

X-0 paused, then nodded slowly.

"I was one of the three assigned to protect him. But I failed. My name was erased from protocol history… but your resonance has begun restoring me."

Zeiran's mind reeled. His Sentiencer wasn't just a relic—it was part of the Prime Guard, something even the Council never mentioned.

"Then why me?" Zeiran whispered.

"Because the Prime Seal didn't die with him. It passed on."

2. Lyra's Normal Day (Mostly)

The next morning, Lyra bounced down the stairs, dragging her training gloves behind her.

Zeiran raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be in focus meditations?"

She grinned. "I am focused—on food."

Kalen popped his head in. "She skipped morning drills to raid the cafeteria. Again."

Lyra gave him a wide-eyed look. "Did not. I was… studying sugar-based resonance patterns."

Elystrix whispered to Zeiran, "She's lying."

Zeiran smirked. "Let her. She's still eight."

But later that day, while sketching on the dorm wall with washable chalk, Lyra paused.

Her hand moved slowly… and she drew the symbol of the First Prime's crest.

Perfectly.

When Zeiran saw it, he didn't call it out.

Just gently erased it and handed her more chalk.

She laughed and went back to drawing cartoon squirrels.

3. Cael's Fracture

In the training dome, Cael faced off against Zeiran.

It was supposed to be a simple sync test.

No Sentiencer merge. No prime-class attacks.

But something in Cael snapped.

He launched forward with a forbidden strike—the Omega Drive burst.

Zeiran barely dodged.

"What the hell was that?!"

Cael didn't answer.

His arm pulsed with foreign energy. Black and red lightning crawled over his knuckles.

Seris stepped between them, shouting, "CAEL, STOP!"

Cael blinked. The light faded. He backed away.

"I… didn't mean to."

He left the dome in silence.

But Zeiran had seen it—

The power. The crack in his friend.

And the fear in his own chest.

4. Flashback: The First Prime

In a chamber not seen by mortal eyes, a memory fragment unlocked by Zeiran's deep sync triggered a vision.

He saw a young man—barely older than Zeiran—walking across a bridge of light between Earth and another world.

The first words spoken:

"This is the price of being Prime. You will burn so others may stand."

The boy nodded, even as his arm cracked with unstable energy.

Three Sentiencers walked beside him. One was Raiquen—sleek, radiant, and silent.

Then—

War.

Screams.

An explosion that swallowed stars.

And the boy whispered:

"I must disappear… so he can return."

Zeiran awoke in a cold sweat.

"Was that… me?"

X-0 said nothing.

But the glyph on his chest pulsed once.

5. The Hidden Chamber

Prime Zaira called Zeiran to Voxspire Hall again—alone.

She led him down a staircase hidden behind the great central throne.

"None of the others know I'm showing you this."

The path spiraled for minutes. Then a door appeared—golden and humming with glyphs.

"This is the Sanctum of the Forgotten Prime."

Zeiran stepped inside.

The chamber was filled with stasis vaults. Weapons. Robes. Journals. A shattered throne.

"This belonged to the First Prime?" Zeiran asked.

Zaira nodded. "And maybe it now belongs to his heir."

He turned toward a sarcophagus sealed in resonance stone.

On it:

The Crest of Prime X.