Woven Between Her War And My Weakness

I was dreaming again.

But it was not peaceful. Not anymore.

In the dream, I stood at the center of a burning city, ash raining from a blood-orange sky. The screams weren't distant. They were close, loud, and very real. The buildings were unfamiliar, but the faces weren't. They were people from the outpost. From Vault Zero. From my past. All of them reaching for me.

And behind them—the Queen. Calm. Smiling.

"You opened the door," she whispered.

Then the fire devoured everything.

I woke up choking on air, chest heaving. Kael was already beside me, hand gripping my shoulder.

"Rae," she said firmly. "It's a vision. Breathe."

I gasped and coughed, finally blinking away the residue of smoke that wasn't real. But the heat still clung to me. I could feel it in my Mark. Burning hotter than before.

Kael watched me with those dark eyes, always looking like she saw more than she let on. "What did you see?"

"Fire. Everywhere. And people I knew… They were burning. The Queen said I opened the door."

Kael didn't respond right away. She just nodded and sat beside me on the thin mattress.

"Then we need to find that second portal before she does."

The resistance had changed overnight.

Ever since we sent that broadcast in Chapter 14, our safehouse became a beacon. People were arriving from all over the sectors. Some had Marks. Others didn't. Some wanted to fight. Others just needed safety. The rooms were packed. Supplies were tight. But the energy? Hopeful.

Kael, of course, wasn't feeling hopeful.

"This is unsustainable," she muttered as we walked the narrow halls. "We need more than good speeches and a rebel tech team. We need firepower."

"We need faith," I replied.

Kael shot me a look. Not sarcastic. Not annoyed. Just… tired.

"Faith won't stop a plasma rifle," she said quietly.

Later that day, we met with what was left of the command.

Ashi, Niko, and a few newer recruits were already waiting. They cleared a space in the map room, laying down holographic overlays of the city grid.

"We have a lead," Ashi said, brushing a strand of blue hair from her face. "There's chatter about an underground lab beneath the ruins of Old Sector Twelve. It's locked down tight. Royal Guard territory."

Niko nodded. "That could be where they're keeping the seventh Marked."

I looked at Kael, and she was already adjusting her gear.

"Then we're going," she said. No hesitation.

The infiltration wasn't smooth.

We left that night under the cover of a dust storm. Kael, Ashi, and I took the front route. Eryn and Yuan flanked the east. We moved through the underground maintenance tunnels, using hacked drone feeds to avoid detection.

The moment we emerged near Sector Twelve, we knew things were wrong.

There were bodies.

Royal soldiers. Civilians. All Marked.

Kael knelt beside one of them, examining the scorched insignia. "This wasn't just an attack. This was a purge."

"By who?" Ashi whispered.

"The Queen," I said quietly. "She's removing witnesses."

We pushed deeper into the sector, the air thick with smoke and silence. Finally, we found the entrance to the lab — a reinforced vault door, half-buried in rubble.

"Stand back," Kael ordered.

She planted two charges. The explosion was low but sharp. The door crumpled inward.

Inside? Darkness. And humming.

The lab was unlike anything I'd seen.

Not sterile. Not clean. It looked like a warzone. Flickering lights. Cracked monitors. The smell of ozone and decay.

In the center of the room was a containment pod.

Inside?

A girl. Floating in blue liquid. Wires wrapped around her wrists, her neck, even her spine. She couldn't have been older than me.

I stepped forward.

"Is that her?" Kael asked.

I nodded. My Mark pulsed violently.

Suddenly, the pod lit up. Her eyes snapped open. And everything exploded.

When I came to, I was in rubble.

Ashi was groaning beside me. Kael was already up, dragging debris off Niko.

And the girl?

Gone.

"She triggered a feedback loop," Ashi muttered. "Like she knew we were coming."

Kael cursed. "We need to track her. Now."

I stood, blood dripping from a cut above my brow.

"She's scared," I whispered. "I felt it. Through the Mark. She doesn't know what she is."

"Then we better find her before the Queen does."

We tracked her signature through the outer district, using Ashi's scanner. The trail led us to an abandoned rail station, deep underground.

She was waiting.

But she wasn't alone.

Royal troops surrounded her. But they weren't trying to capture her. They were bowing.

Kael swore. "They think she's the Queen."

I stepped forward. Bold.

"She's not your queen," I shouted.

The girl turned. Her eyes were pure white. Not glowing. Just… empty.

"Who am I?" she asked.

My heart clenched. "Someone who was stolen."

A soldier raised his weapon. Kael fired first.

Chaos.

Bullets. Screams. The girl screamed too, and the tunnel shook. Mark energy flared. Walls cracked.

I ran to her.

"Don't do this," I begged. "You're not her."

She looked at me, confused, terrified. Then she fainted.

Everything stopped.

We brought her back to the outpost.

She hadn't spoken since. Just slept. But the pulse of her Mark matched mine. Matched Kael's. Matched the others.

She was the seventh.

The final key.

The Queen would come for her.

And this time?

We'd be ready.