Chapter 8 — Ember Protocol
717 Words
Night settled over the fractured steel dunes like a slow-falling shroud, but the world refused to stay quiet. Sparks still rained from the ruined mech-hunters scattered behind Hạo. His right arm—half flesh, half machine, fully painful—throbbed in a rhythm that didn’t belong to any heartbeat he recognized.
He tightened his cloak around the Blood Blade to hide its glow. Ever since it awakened, the weapon behaved less like metal and more like a feral animal trying to slip its leash. It whispered tonight, low and electric, vibrating against his ribs.
“Not now,” Hạo muttered.
The Blade pulsed once in irritation.
Ahead, a single pillar of crimson light stabbed upward from the valley floor—the Ember Beacon. According to the stolen archives, anyone who activated the Beacon would trigger the Ember Protocol, an ancient defense system from the pre-collapse era. It was said to expose all hidden tech signatures within a hundred klicks. Which meant: if Hạo didn’t shut it down soon, every faction within range would know exactly where the Blood Blade was.
And they would come running.
Or worse—flying.
Hạo slid down the slope, careful not to kick loose too much gravel. The wind carried a metallic tang, and beneath it, something like… chanting? No. A harmonic frequency—mechanical, ritualistic, almost musical.
He ducked behind a rusted crawler frame. In the valley below, a circle of Crimson Relay Drones floated like hooded priests, orbiting the Beacon. Each drone emitted a narrow red beam into the pillar of light, feeding it power.
“So someone already started the Protocol,” he whispered.
And then he saw her.
Standing at the center of the circle, coat long, posture unshakably confident, stood Vy, the rogue technomancer who’d once tried to dissect the Blood Blade—and Hạo with it. Her silver hair fluttered in the rising heat as she raised a palm toward the Beacon.
“You finally arrived, Hạo!” Vy’s voice echoed without amplifiers, carried by the Beacon’s hum. “You can’t outrun destiny forever.”
“Destiny’s overrated,” he called back, stepping out from cover. “Same for dramatic entrances.”
Vy smirked. “Still hiding your fear behind jokes. Cute.”
The Beacon’s glow intensified. The Blood Blade growled inside its sheath.
Vy gestured, and the relay drones pivoted toward him like predators tasting blood.
Hạo exhaled once. “Fine. Let’s do this.”
The first drone shot forward. Hạo’s arm transformed automatically, metallic filaments spiraling down to reinforce muscle and bone. He dodged the laser burst, sliced the drone clean in half, and vaulted backward as it detonated in a shower of sparks.
The Blade sang now—feral, ecstatic.
More drones surged in. Hạo wove through the barrage, metal and flesh syncing in perfect cadence. He felt the Blade trying to pull him, urging a deeper transformation. He refused—barely.
Vy raised both hands. The Beacon roared like an awakened titan.
“Hạo,” she shouted, “when the Ember Protocol completes, the world will finally see the truth buried under centuries of lies. Stop fighting it!”
“Maybe the world deserves the truth,” he shouted back. “But not your version of it.”
He leapt, spinning in midair, cutting down another drone. Red fragments clattered across the ground. Heat from the Beacon blasted against his skin.
Only three drones remained.
Only seconds left.
Hạo dashed for Vy directly, hoping to break her concentration. She countered with a shockwave that launched him backward into a scrap pile.
Pain spiked through his mechanical arm—bright, sharp, absolute. Something inside it clicked wrong.
Vy stepped toward him, eyes fierce. “The Protocol will expose everything, Hạo. Including what you really are.”
His pulse stopped.
“What I… am?”
Vy smiled—not cruel, but heartbreaking.
“You think the Blade chose you? No. It recognized you.”
Before he could respond, the Beacon surged to its peak. The valley ignited in crimson fire.
Hạo covered his eyes—too slow.
THE EMBER PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
A shockwave of red light ripped across the landscape, scanning every atom, every secret.
The Blood Blade screamed.
And so did Hạo.
Because in that moment…
something ancient inside him finally woke up.
- Writer
