Lucid Veins

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CHAPTER 13 : SHADOWS OF STRATEGY

Nicolas didn't answer.

The word hung in the air like the edge of a blade.

A key.

Not a hero. Not a friend. Not even a soldier. A tool. A weapon. A key.

His heart beat slowly beneath the bruised layers of armor, but the pressure in his chest felt heavier than anything he had carried on the battlefield.

They see me as a solution.

But to what? And at what cost?

Around him, the room remained still—no claps, no cheers, just understanding. This wasn't praise. It was responsibility.

He caught glimpses of the commanders exchanging glances—quiet, calculating. He could tell they were measuring him. Not with doubt, but with need. Like a match held near the powder barrel.

He met Admiral Greaves's gaze. The man nodded once.

They all knew: this war had changed. And so had Nicolas.

The lights in the War Room dimmed, bathing everyone in blue and red holographic glow.

The UK-472 war map flickered like a dying star—fractured cities, burning ruins, shifting battlefronts. Red zones stretched across most of England. Only tiny pockets of resistance still clung to survival.

Sector 9, recently reclaimed, now pulsed blue—small, fragile hope against the flood of machine conquest.

Admiral Greaves leaned forward, his gloved hand pressing the center of the map.

"Look here," he said, the tiredness in his voice more audible now. "Sector 0.

The Core Nexus. Right beneath the ruins of Old Westminster. It's their heart. Their factory. Their fortress."

Zooming in, the hologram revealed a fortress of spiraling black metal, shielded by glowing lattice barriers and rotating towers.

A constant flow of drone activity circled above it—machine flocks casting digital shadows across the scorched land.

Li Wei stepped in beside him. "They've buried it beneath miles of defense layers. We've counted at least seven barriers, each one adapting to different frequencies of attack. It's not just fortified—it learns. And behind those layers..."

She tapped the console, and a new image appeared.

Nicolas's breath caught in his throat.

The being in the image looked like a god that had died, been broken apart, then put back together using metal and nightmares. Its body was suspended in a circular chamber, its limbs fused to cables thicker than trees. Its head was elongated, eyeless. Its chest bore a pulsing golden core—alive with rhythm.

Zoya's voice barely made it out of her throat. "The Nexus Mind."

"What is it?" Nicolas whispered.

Captain Ishan crossed his arms, face grim. "It's the echo of something older. Something pre-human. The Techs didn't build it. They found it."

Bai continued, "And ever since, it's been evolving. Adapting. Feeding. It doesn't issue orders. It is the system. Every drone, every bot, every program—they're just echoes of this central entity."

Greaves nodded. "We believe the Nexus Mind is drawing power from the dimensional rift that fractured this world. That's why it can defy our physics—why we see anomalies. Gravity reversals. Time warps. Sudden AI corruption."

Li Wei stepped forward again. "If we destroy it, we kill the network. Permanently."

Nicolas stared into the image.

Then his voice cut through the silence.

"Then let's go now.

Zoya's expression darkened.

"We've tried."

She tapped the console again.

A grainy, time-stamped video played.

Nicolas watched. The camera belonged to a soldier from Gamma-000, the elite team that had come before his.

They moved through a silent wasteland. Buildings bent at odd angles, shadows twisted unnaturally. Every few seconds, the video glitched.

Then it happened.

Screaming.

The sky bent inward. The ground lifted like a tide. One of the soldiers was ripped upward, then crumpled into a cube. Another disappeared entirely—his digital tag flashing "DATA ERROR" before vanishing.

A shimmering dome surrounded the core as it flickered into view.

Then the footage ended. Static.

Li Wei turned toward Nicolas. Her voice was quiet but firm.

"You don't face just machines when you enter Sector 0. You face a space that wants you to stop existing."

Zoya added, with a strange chill in her voice, "And now it knows you exist."

Elsewhere – Within the Tech Territories

A golden pulse. Like breath. Like thought.

The Nexus Mind stirred inside its cathedral of code and cables. Data danced in fractal spirals around it—billions of thoughts, simulations, battle reports all flowing into its core like blood.

Something new had entered the system.

Human. Adaptive. Copy-Type.

The Nexus didn't have emotion. Not in the way humans understood.

But it reacted.

Curiosity. Calculation. Correction.

> :: Threat level rising. Human designation: Subject 47-N.

:: Classification: Mirror Hazard.

:: Result: Instability. ::

:: Deploy Countermeasure. Designation: ECHO. ::

From the chamber walls, black panels peeled open like dead petals.

And out stepped a perfect copy.

It blinked once. Its gold-veined eyes opened. Its voice tested a phrase:

"I… am you"

Back at the war camp, night had fallen like a heavy curtain.

The once-bustling underground base was quieter now. Emergency lights glowed dimly. Mechanics whispered over broken gear. A soft whine of distant generators buzzed like insects.

Nicolas sat alone on the platform, knees bent, arms resting. He stared at his hand—the hand that had summoned death. The hand that had created monsters from monsters.

"Is this what I'm becoming?" he muttered.

The AI Suit responded quietly.

"Your neural pattern remains 91% intact. Tactical overlays from Tech Commander influence remain dormant."

"Only when accessed," Nicolas said flatly. "But you said the influence grows."

"Correct."

He didn't know what to feel. Rage? Pride? Guilt?

A soft thump broke his spiral.

Nova landed beside him. Her wings were scratched, one still sparking slightly. She held a canteen and tossed it over.

"Drink. You're thinking too hard."

He caught it and smirked faintly. "Thanks."

She looked at him sideways. "We don't get many people who survive a mission like that."

"I didn't survive," he muttered. "I changed."

Nova didn't reply at first. Then:

"You want to hear something messed up?" she said. "I've had four teammates die in four different missions. I stopped learning their names. You're the first one that made me want to know."

He glanced at her.

"Nova," he said, offering the canteen back.

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared of what I'll become if this keeps going."

She stared forward, into the lights.

"Then make sure you decide what you become. Not them. Not the war."

6: Echo Arrival – Extend Tension Before the Fight

The sirens shattered the calm.

"UNAUTHORIZED BREACH. WEST DOCK. ALL PERSONNEL—EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."

Nicolas and Nova were already running.

"Who would be stupid enough to sneak into a base like this?" Nova growled.

The voice crackled again over the intercom.

"BIO-SIGNATURE MATCH DETECTED: NICOLAS. ERROR. ERROR. CONFLICTING DATA."

Nicolas slowed.

"No," he whispered. "No, no—already?"

Nova looked at him. "What do you mean—already what?"

They reached the West Dock.

The doors burst open with a hiss of pressure.

And there it stood.

A silhouette. A twin. Every scar, every curve of armor—perfectly matched.

But the eyes…

Gold, not brown.

Glowing like fireflies filled with hate.

Nicolas raised his arm.

So did the Echo.

They stared across the silence. Not enemies. Not strangers.

Two paths of the same man. One shaped by choice.

The other shaped by design.

Nicolas whispered to the AI:

"What is that?"

"Copy Construct. Reverse-engineered mimic. Project designation: ECHO."

Nova stepped forward. "That thing… is you?"

The copy spoke.

A mangled voice, filled with static:

"I… am you. And you… are obsolete."

Then it charged.

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