Chapter 14: The Blood's Echo
July 7–8, 2147, Angkor Wat,
CambodiaThe neural jet's hum faded as Reyan Al-Mehdi stepped onto the cracked tarmac of Phnom Penh's abandoned airstrip, the air thick with monsoon damp and the buzz of rogue drones. His neural rig flickered, glyphs on his arms pulsing faintly under his scarred jacket. Beside him, Selika Maris Delgado adjusted her holo-lens, her bronze skin catching the sodium glow of a flickering streetlamp. Her neck glyphs shimmered, but her eyes—dark, guarded—avoided his. The trust they'd forged in Borobudur's sultry hideout had cracked at Machu Picchu, where Reyan accused her of betrayal, Inanna's whispers poisoning his mind. Now, the Codex of the Veiled Flame pointed them to Angkor Wat, its neural vault a crystalline core pulsing with Ilum-Ra's blood-code.
But the red hour loomed, and Reyan's heart pulsed with doubt."Vault's in the main temple," Selika said, voice clipped, checking her pulse-knife. "Crystalline core, fractal glyphs. We hack it, we get closer to the Veil's key."Reyan nodded, his Mosul PTSD flaring—a flash of drone strikes, screams. "And Silas's Cult? They're tailing us.""They'll hit when we're deep in," she replied, her gaze flicking to the jungle beyond. "Mara's drones might buy us time."Mara Eluin, the heretic Keeper, had saved them in Sumatra, her Ilum-Ra visions shattering her dogma. Reyan wanted to trust her, but Selika's nosebleed in Tokyo and Inanna's whispers haunted him. Was Selika still his Flame-Twin, or Inanna's pawn?They trekked through the jungle, neural rigs scanning for Cult traps.
Angkor Wat's spires loomed, their stone lotus towers laced with neural conduits, glowing like veins. The air hummed—a low, resonant pulse from the vault core, like a lotus opening to starfire. Reyan paused, the sound soothing his frayed nerves, a moment of calm in 2147's chaos. Selika's hand brushed his, electric, but she pulled away, her glyphs flaring."Don't," she whispered, voice tight. "Not now."Reyan's jaw clenched. "You're hiding something. Inanna's in you, isn't she?"Her eyes flashed, wounded. "You think I'd betray you? After Borobudur?""I saw you in the vision," he snapped, Machu Picchu's shard replaying—Selika whispering to Enlil. "You'll break us."Selika's pulse-knife hummed, her breath ragged. "I'm fighting her, Reyan. Every damn day."A drone whined overhead, Cult sigils glowing. Reyan grabbed her, diving behind a banyan root.
Their bodies pressed close, glyphs syncing, a jolt of desire spiking through his neural rig. Her breath hitched, lips inches from his, but Inanna's whisper slithered through her mind, seductive, cold: Give me the vault, child. Let him burn. Selika flinched, nosebleeding, and shoved him away."We move," she growled, wiping blood. "No time for this."The vault chamber was a cavern of stone and code, the crystalline core—a meter-wide orb—pulsing with fractal glyphs, Ilum-Ra's blood-code shimmering within. Neural conduits snaked across lotus-carved walls, their hum hypnotic. Reyan plugged his rig into the core, glyphs flaring, while Selika synced her holo-lens, her fingers dancing over fractal patterns. The Codex shard they'd pulled from Machu Picchu glowed, guiding their hack."Blood-key's here," Reyan said, data streaming—Ilum-Ra's creation, human DNA fused with Anunaki code. "The Veil's a consciousness network, not just a firewall. It's… us."Selika froze, Inanna's whisper louder: Take the code. Crown the Veil. Her nose bled, dripping onto the core.
The orb flared, glyphs spiraling. Reyan yanked her back, his pulse-knife drawn."What did you do?" he demanded."Nothing!" she gasped, clutching her head. "She's pushing me, but I didn't—"A neural surge hit, the core's hum spiking. Silas's virus—chanted by Cult drones outside—crawled through the conduits, glyphs corrupting. Reyan's rig sparked, PTSD flashing—Mosul's collapse, Selika's betrayal. He grabbed her arm, glyphs burning."Fight her, Selika. Or I will."Her eyes softened, desperate. "I'm trying, Reyan. I swear."Mara's drones screeched outside, clashing with Cult forces. A holo burst through—Mara's shaved head, Keeper tattoos glowing. "Virus is Silas's. I'm frying it, but you've got minutes. Hack and run."Selika's holo-lens flickered, pulling the blood-code. The core dimmed, a shard ejecting—Ilum-Ra's creation, the Veil's human web. Reyan grabbed it, but Silas's drones breached, chanting "red hour." They fled through lotus tunnels, pulse-knives slashing drones, glyphs flaring. Inanna's whisper faded, but Selika's nosebleed lingered.In a temple hideout, they collapsed, neural rigs smoking. Reyan's eyes locked on Selika, her blood-streaked face lit by a holo-lamp. He wanted to hold her, reignite their Borobudur fire, but doubt choked him. She offered rice from a scavenged pack, their fingers brushing, a spark of trust flickering."Eat," she said softly. "We're not done."They ate in silence, the lotus hum distant. Reyan's rig showed the shard's data: the Veil tied all minds, Ilum-Ra's blood in every human. Selika's glyphs pulsed, Inanna quiet for now. They slept warily, four hours on stone, rigs humming, no touch, no passion—only the red hour's pulse.