I see. A room. A lab. Sterile. Bright. Still.
The room is circular, metallic, humming. My boots lock into the floor with a soft click.
Directly ahead: a thick pane of glass. Behind it, four girls—strapped upright in glowing rings. The rings aren’t just rings. They’re full-body restraints—vertical halos lined with silver-gold bracing, shaped to hold a girl in perfect presentation. Arms extended, ankles bound, spine arched just enough to be vulnerable.
The metal isn’t cold, not visibly. It glows faintly at each point of contact, like it’s reading her pulse through her skin. Straps cradle the curves of their bodies with unnerving precision—as if the frame was made for these girls, their shapes, this moment.
Small notches on the inner rim mark pressure points where needle-thin threads feed into the skin, designed to coax the spark out.
The rings don’t just hold them—they drink from them. And each girl glows where she bleeds energy, faint veins of blue crawling along her throat, her wrists, her ribs, like vines.
All this information comes to me as naturally as if I built this apparatus myself. Chills run down my spine as I begin to understand what it is I’m looking at.
White-blue flash.
COMBAT ROOM: 7-A
AUGMENT ID: F-SCOTT-579-A
AUGMENTATION STAGE: 9B
AUGMENT STATUS: STABLE AND HOLDING
UNIT 4-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: J-BELL-579-B
STATUS: ENGAGED
SPARK OUTPUT: STABLE
A vision of Tau City comes to mind. I smile, the edges of my mouth barely move, but I feel this smile. Because that was the day I saved her.
Clara. My biggest failure.
Jasina. The only thing I ever did right.
White-blue flash.
OPPONENT 578-A
UNIT 3-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: 578-B
OPPONENT 577-A
UNIT 2-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: 577-B
OPPONENT 576-A
UNIT 1-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: 576-B
What the hell is this?
A speaker crackles overhead. Xi’s voice fills the chamber like static poured into a throat. Smooth, but flat. Robotic. Like he’s forgotten how to speak to people.
“Elsha, one misstep and you’re out. Maelis. I expect you to fail, but feel free to challenge my assessment. I would love it. Veyra, you’ve been excellent. You always are.”
“And Jasina…” There’s a pause here. I have the sudden urge to vomit. I can’t see him, but I feel him like he’s a part of me now. And he’s smiling. At my woman. He’s smiling at her. “Don’t disappoint me.”
White-blue flash.
