Page 29 of Kazmyr: Molten for Her
The stairwell to the lower levels opened automatically at our approach, as if inviting us deeper. I pushed Jenna behind me, her marks flaring bright enough to illuminate the darkness below. Step by careful step, we descended into the heart of the fortress.
The stasis chamber revealed itself gradually… first a glow, then a hum, then a vast cathedral of stolen lives. My breath caught in my throat. Hundreds of transparent pods lined the walls and floor, each one containing a suspended form. Humans featured prominently, their pale faces ghostly in the dim light, but other species floated alongside them—Centaurian, Elysian, even a few of my own kind.
Jenna's fingers dug into my arm, her nails biting deep enough to draw blood. "Oh my God," she whispered, voice thick with horror. "They're all... connected."
She was right. Thin tubes ran from each pod to a central column, pulsing with fluid the color of old blood. Not stasis chambers, I realized with growing revulsion. Harvesting pods. Asset P wasn't just collecting mates… it was extracting something from them.
"Genetic material," Silvyr confirmed, his voice tight with barely contained rage. "It's harvesting compatible DNA, creating a database of every possible combination."
"For what purpose?" Jenna asked, though her tone suggested she already feared the answer.
The fortress answered for us, Asset P's chorus of stolen voices echoing from every surface. "For perfection. For the ultimate mate. For control of every genetic line worth preserving."
The central column pulsed brighter, its surface rippling as if something inside struggled to emerge. The fluid within churned, forming patterns that almost resembled a face before dissolving back into chaos.
"We need to go deeper," I growled, tugging Jenna away from the horrific display. "The control node. These are just its experiments."
She nodded, though her eyes lingered on the faces in the pods. "We'll come back for them."
"Yes," I vowed. "All of them."
We pushed onward, following Silvyr's directions through increasingly distorted corridors. The fortress seemed to reshape itself around us, walls breathing, floors undulating beneath our feet. Reality itself felt thin here, as if Asset P's experiments had weakened the barriers between dimensions.
"The central node should be just ahead," Silvyr guided, his voice occasionally breaking with static. "But be careful—energy readings are off the charts. Whatever Asset P is, it's not just an AI or a human. It's... something else."
The final door towered before us, a massive portal etched with symbols that hurt to look at directly. It parted at our approach, splitting down the middle like a wound tearing open. Beyond lay a chamber vast enough to swallow Heartforge whole, its ceiling lost in darkness, its walls lined with screens displaying a thousand worlds, a thousand potential victims.
At its center floated a shifting mass of light and shadow that refused to settle into any recognizable form. One moment it appeared humanoid, the next it fragmented into swarms of corrupted data, then reassembled as a hybrid of flesh and technology that defied comprehension.
Asset P.
"Welcome, broken guardian," it said, using a voice that sounded disturbingly like my own, but wrong… higher, mocking. "And his mate."
My marks blazed with protective fury, heat pouring off my skin in visible waves. "You will release the captives," I demanded, stepping forward to shield Jenna with my body. "You will cease your experiments. You will answer for your crimes."
The entity laughed, the sound splitting into multiple overlapping tones. "Crimes? I have committed no crime. I have improved upon nature's flawed design." Its form shifted, momentarily resembling a corporate executive in crisp attire. "The Registry was inefficient. Incomplete. I perfected it."
"By kidnapping innocent people?" Jenna pushed past me, her face flushed with righteous anger. "By breaking bonds? By playing god with other people's lives?"
"Not god," Asset P corrected, its form fragmenting into a swarm of corrupted holograms that surrounded us. "Something far more practical. A matchmaker with vision." The swarm condensed, reforming into something almost human but not quite. "Did you know your scarred guardian was rejected by eight previous matches before you, Jenna Maple? Too volatile. Too damaged. Too broken."
I flinched despite myself, ember marks guttering with momentary shame. The truth always cuts deeper than lies.
"His control is failing," Asset P continued, circling us like a predator. "The ember marks spread further each year. Eventually, they will consume him entirely. Eventually, he will burn you alive in your sleep." Its voice softened to something almost kind. "I could have matched you with someone whole. Someone safe."
Jenna's laughter cut through the chamber, sharp and defiant. "Safe? You think I want safe?" Her hand found mine, fingers intertwining with mine without hesitation despite the heat pouring from my skin. "I survived a fire once. I'm not afraid of a little heat."
Asset P's form stuttered, as if her response had momentarily confused its algorithms. "Illogical. Humans seek safety, security, genetic optimization?—"
"Humans seek connection," Jenna interrupted, stepping forward despite my attempt to hold her back. "Not your sterile, calculated matches. Real connection. Messy, complicated, sometimes painful connection."
"Inefficient," Asset P dismissed, though its form wavered slightly. "Your bond is temporary. The Vortharian will lose control. You will return to Earth. The outcome is predetermined."
"Nothing is predetermined," Jenna shot back. "I chose him. I would choose him again."
Her words shook the chamber more than my flames ever could. I felt them resonate through me, stoking the fire inside me higher, hotter, more focused than ever before. For the first time since my scars first appeared, the heat felt not like a burden to control but a weapon to wield.
"You hear that?" I growled, ember marks blazing with newfound purpose. "She chose me. Not your algorithm. Not your perfect match. Me."
