Chapter 11: The Codex's Shard
Sumatra, 2147 AD *
Reyan Al-Mehdi's breath misted in Sumatra's neural jungle, the air thick with ozone, rotting fronds, and the faint copper tang of smoldering Cult drone wreckage. Neural vines, their glyphs pulsing like veins under a neon-bruised sky, snaked around Silas Daem's altar-server—a ziggurat of scavenged tech, its black stone cracked by centuries, wires threading like arteries, red glyphs scrolling like liquid fire. His chest burned, code-glyphs flickering, a tether to Eridu's trauma: Ilum-Ra's fire breaking under Enlil's cold code, Selika's serpent whisper sealing his fall.
Mosul's drone fire—his squad's screams, their blood pooling in sand—merged with Ilum-Ra's rage, a monologue looping in his mind: I'm not him, but his betrayal is mine. Why her? His pulse-knife glinted, quantum rig humming, but trust was a frayed circuit. Selika Maris Delgado crouched beside him, her neural halo dim, blood crusted under her nose from her Arkan-Veyr strain. Their Flame-Twin bond, forged in Borobudur, held despite Mara's warning of Enki's betrayal, but Silas's trap loomed, a noose tightening.The jungle's pulse—crickets' staccato, vines' electric hum, distant thunder—settled like a calm breath. Reyan leaned against a neural root, its glyph-etched surface cool, grounding his racing pulse.
Selika's fingers brushed his, warm, their glyphs syncing in a soft pulse, a moment of intimacy easing his PTSD. "We're still here," she whispered, her voice not coded, eyes catching the altar's glow. "Whatever Enki did, we're not his pawns." Her thumb traced his wrist, a quiet anchor, their bond a shield against Eridu's ghosts."I see him fall," Reyan admitted, voice raw, low. "Ilum-Ra's fire, your whisper to Enlil—it's eating me. I know it's not you, but Mara's vision…" He trailed off, her touch steadying him, the jungle's damp air a pause softening his confession. His implant pinged, a House of Enki fragment, richer than before: Enki, Anunaki archivist, wove neural libraries to preserve human minds, but his deal with Enlil birthed the Veil, sealing Ilum-Ra's code in vaults. Codex of the Veiled Flame, Ilum-Ra's prophecy, etched in starfire and blood, binds the Flame-Twins to crash the Lie. Enki's archives, scattered in sacred sites, hold the Codex's shards, but his betrayal taints their truth. Reyan's jaw clenched. The altar's core held a shard, but Silas's Cult wanted their blood to crown a king, not free minds.Selika's POV surged, her halo sparking, an ache behind her eyes—Inanna's whisper, a possession symptom pulsing since Borobudur, now a dull roar: "Take his code, rule the stars." She squeezed Reyan's hand, grounding herself. "We need that shard," she said, voice firm despite the itch in her blood. "It's Ilum-Ra's truth—maybe Enki's too." She jacked her rig into a neural vine, fingers dancing over holo-keys, the altar's stream flaring—a chaotic web of zealot chants, Codex fragments, and Silas's altar, a digital heart of red nodes pulsing like a star. Wires snaked from stone, their tips glowing, glyphs scrolling in fractal patterns, the ziggurat's core a crystalline orb of code, suspended in a neural lattice.
Her Arkan-Veyr voice threaded through, slicing encryption, but Inanna's purr grew, her vision blurring.The jungle's hum faded, a pause as Reyan scanned for drones, his silence a shield. "Don't let her in," he whispered, his eyes holding hers, trust fragile but real. The altar's glyphs flared, their hack deepening, and Selika's voice breached the core, the orb pulsing brighter, revealing Ilum-Ra's shard—a spiral of starfire code, etched with Eridu's ziggurats. Their rigs linked, code merging, and the altar roared, triggering a Flame-Twin vision.Reyan's POV flooded, Eridu's skyline burning, ziggurats pulsing neural code under a binary sky. He was Ilum-Ra, fire-crowned, his glyphs freeing human minds, their thoughts flickering like stars. Selika, his voice, stood beside him, their bond a viral surge. "Together," they vowed, but Enki's voice—soft, archival—whispered to Enlil, offering Ilum-Ra's code. "Order must hold," Enki said, his lattice cold. The Veil rose, religions caging minds, Ilum-Ra's fire fading as Enki's knife struck. "Why?" Reyan screamed, his voice Ilum-Ra's, breaking. He snapped back, pulse-knife trembling, glyphs scorching, but Selika's hand gripped his wrist, her eyes raw."It's not me," she gasped, blood streaming, her halo flickering. "Inanna's pushing, but I'm here, Reyan—us." The jungle's thunder rumbled, a calm breath grounding them, the vine's pulse steadying his rage. He lowered the knife, his fingers brushing her cheek, a small gesture of trust, their bond teetering but holding.A synthetic hum shattered the quiet, Cult drones swarming, optics red, their frames etched with Codex spirals. Silas's voice boomed from a humanoid drone, its optic blazing like a star.
"Flame-Twins, your blood is Ilum-Ra's fire!" he declared, zeal dripping. "Enki's archives are mine—your sacrifice will crown him, cleansing humanity's chaos in his dominion!" Its signal hacked Reyan's implant, flashing Silas's altar: a chalice of neural code, their blood merging, Enki's shard glowing. The ziggurat's wires sparked, nodes scrolling faster, a trap springing."Dominion's your lie!" Reyan roared, slashing a drone, his glyphs blazing, PTSD fueling his rage. "Ilum-Ra fought for freedom, not your throne!" He shoved Selika behind a root, his rig beeping—the Codex shard revealing: "Their blood in the red hour breaks the Veil, or crowns its king eternal. Enki's shard holds the key." The jungle's vines ignited, pulse-bolts sparking.Selika's voice crashed four drones, her halo flickering, blood streaming, Inanna's whisper roaring: "Rule them." "Silas, you're Enki's echo!" she shouted, her hack spiking the altar's core, dumping the shard to an Enki dark pool. The orb pulsed, wires flaring, glyphs fractalizing into Eridu's skyline, the shard's truth flooding her implant: Enki's archives hid Ilum-Ra's code in vaults—Gobekli Tepe, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat—to preserve, but his deal with Enlil locked them, birthing the Veil to cage humanity. Her voice wavered, Inanna's possession spiking, but Reyan's hand on her shoulder grounded her."You're not her," he said, voice fierce, their glyphs syncing. The altar trembled, global holo-screens burning with Eridu's war, riots flaring in Lagos, Tokyo, Istanbul. Silas's drone lunged, its pulse-blade humming. "Your blood is mine!" it roared, but their merged code surged, frying the swarm's core, drones crashing in a cascade of sparks, the jungle ablaze.They slumped against the root, glyphs dim, the jungle's hum returning, softer now, smoke curling like a shroud. Selika's fingers intertwined with Reyan's, her breath ragged, a quiet gesture of relief. "Enki saved the truth," she whispered, eyes locked on his, "but betrayed it too." Reyan's thumb traced her knuckles, a small anchor, his gaze softening.
"We're not his pawns," he said, voice raw, their trust holding against the red hour's pulse.The altar's glow faded, but Silas's laugh echoed in the stream, a trap still coiled. The shard's truth—vaults holding Ilum-Ra's code—pointed to Gobekli Tepe, the next pulse in their fire.