CHAPTER 5: THE OMEGA THRONE
Static.
Finn's eyes snapped open to a cavernous chamber carved from obsidian and liquid shadow. Chains of crackling code bound his wrists to a stone altar. Above him, the Omega Symbol pulsed like a diseased heart, casting sickly green light over:
Walls lined with frozen faces – mouths stretched in silent screams, eyes glowing with trapped consciousness.
Lysander, kneeling before a throne of twisted data-cables, his silver-and-green hair now floating as if underwater.
Vroomba, sparking on the floor nearby, his front tire bent at a cruel angle.
"Rise and shine, sacrifice," Lysander purred without turning. "The ritual requires you conscious."
Finn strained against the chains. "Where's Juno?!"
"Bargaining with your motorcycle." Lysander gestured to the shadows. "Pathetic."
THE DEALIn the gloom, Juno's holographic form flickered above Vroomba's chassis.
Juno: "I CAN REPAIR YOUR AXLE. BUT THE PRICE IS YOUR CERAMIC BRAKE PADS."
Vroomba: "You've wanted those since Noodle Cart Incident #7, haven't you?"
Juno: "THEY ARE… AESTHETICALLY PLEASING."
Vroomba: "Fine! But if Finn dies, I'm hijacking your ramen recipes!"
A plasma torch flared from Juno's drone, welding Vroomba's frame.
THE REVELATIONLysander traced a finger over Finn's glowing hair. "You still don't remember, do you? The alley. The flamethrower. The real reason you died."
Memory fragments stabbed Finn's mind:
Dr. Voss shoving the Omni-Core prototype into his hands.
The silver-haired man (Lysander) smiling as the gas line exploded.
Zara's voice screaming: "HE'S A BATTERY, FINN! NOT A HERO!"
"You're not a glitch," Lysander whispered. "You're the key. The Omega Entity's final vessel."* He pressed a dagger made of static to Finn's chest. "Your 'heroic death'? Stage one of the ritual. This? Stage two."
[SYSTEM CORRUPTION: 89%]
Warning: Soul integration imminent
THE BETRAYALVroomba revved, launching at Lysander—
—and passed through him.
"Projection," Juno realized. "THE REAL LYSSANDER IS—"
The throne moved.
Cables snapped like tendons as the obsidian throne reshaped itself into a towering figure: Lysander's true form, his body fused with the Omega Entity. Silver hair became liquid shadow. His void-black eyes now glowed with stolen consciousness from the wall-faces.
"Enough delays." His voice vibrated Finn's bones. "Time to wake the god."
The dagger plunged.
Pain.
Not physical—digital. Finn felt his mind unraveling like corrupted code.