Slaved by an Alpha, Saved by an Enigma

Chapter 11: The Hollow Verge

The chamber's seal dissolved with a whisper, not a rupture. Eden stepped through first, Kai just behind him, eyes sharp and quiet. The world outside was colder than they remembered—less in temperature, more in tone. The ley-field was fractured here, unstable, and the air carried a static charge that made Eden's skin prickle.

They were no longer in the safety of the chamber's sanctuary. They were in an area known as the Hollow Verge.

The Hollow Verge had once been a ley-line convergence zone, rich with energy and resonance. But the Architect wars had shattered it, leaving behind a landscape of broken stone, deceased anomalies, and echoes that didn't belong to the present. Time was lost here. The land bled here. Memories leaked and forgotten. And Kai felt it all.

Eden adjusted their backpacks on his shoulder, scanning the terrain. "We'll need to cross before nightfall. The Super Alphas and Clean Up Crew spike after dusk."

Kai nodded, his gaze distant. He could feel the ley-line fractures like phantom limbs—raw, pulsing, and it just felt so wrong. His neural thread flared with warning, but the bond steadied him. Eden's presence was a constant anchor, a pulse of clarity in the chaos.

They moved quickly, navigating the shattered terrain with practiced ease. Eden's body responded instinctively, his senses heightened beyond human thresholds. He was the Enigma after all—the only successful S5 Alpha—and the Hollow Verge bent around him, recognizing him as something it couldn't mindfuck like it did the rest.

Kai followed, his steps precise, his awareness tuned to Eden's rhythm. Their bond wasn't just emotional—it was architectural and deep rooted. Eden shaped their world and Kai stabilized it.

Halfway through the Hollow Verge, they encountered their first "fritz".

It shimmered like heat haze, a distortion in the air that pulsed with fragmented, implanted, and sometimes even fake memory. Kai stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. The fritz flickered, revealing flashes of a lab—cold, sterile, humming with data. He saw through Eden's memories of himself, younger, restrained, eyes burning with defiance. Kai saw himself, unconscious, surrounded by failed prototypes.

Eden stepped beside him, his hand brushing Kai's. "It's called a fritz, like a flashback. From the program laid out as an illusion to destroy your hope."

Kai nodded. "They left scars on so many," he said as he scanned the area, witnessing the memories of the many who came before them.

The fritz pulsed again, and Eden reached out, his neural thread interfacing with the distortion. He didn't try to erase it. He absorbed it. The memory settled into his system like a shard, painful but necessary. A possible outcome to deflect.

Kai watched him, silent. He knew better than to interrupt Eden's integration. The Enigma didn't just survive trauma—he metabolized it and they moved on.

By dusk, they reached the edge of the Verge, a nickname they agreed to give to the Hollow Verge due to the implied emptiness of the word Hollow, where the ley-field stabilized slightly. A ruined outpost stood nearby, half-buried in stone and silence. Eden scanned it, cleared the area for safety then nodded. "We'll rest here."

Inside, the air was stale but safe. Eden activated a low-level shield, and Kai unpacked their gear. They moved like ritual—efficient, quiet, attuned. Eden laid out the maps, tracing their route toward Haven. The coordinates pulsing in his neural thread.

Kai sat beside him, watching. "Are we close?"

Eden nodded. "But the canyon's next. And hopefully the rogue Archivist."

Kai leaned back, his gaze thoughtful. "Do you think he'll help?"

Eden didn't answer immediately. He felt the Archivist's presence like a shadow—familiar, fractured, dangerous. "He was part of the program. Not as a creator, but a witness."

Kai's jaw tightened. "Then he knows what we are."

Eden met his gaze. "He worked with our fathers so he knows what a "mated" S5 Enigma & Pulse Omega are meant to be. So he will most definitely have some useful information I'm sure."

They fell into a silence, and Eden felt Kai's unease, and Kai felt Eden's resolve. They didn't speak of fear or a feeling of inferiority because it was well known that no one they would encounter would be able to outmatch them. No one ever could.

That night, Eden dreamed.

He stood in a chamber of glass and light, surrounded by failed Alphas—bodies twitching, eyes vacant, a successful possibility collapsed. A voice echoed through the space, clinical and cold.

"Subject S5-01: anomaly. Unreplicable. Safe. If bonded, dangerous. If a suitable bond shows up we will have to eliminate early or Super Alphas will never see the light of day."

"What about that Pulse Omega over there? Has it been tested?"

Eden turned, and saw Kai—whole, radiant, pulsing with light. The voice faltered.

"Subject PO-01: stabilized. Compatibility to S5-01 100% Compatibility. They are already bonded. Impossible. ELIMINATE."

Eden woke with a gasp, Kai's hand already on his chest. "You were talking in your sleep."

Eden nodded, breath shaky. "Just a bad dream that felt a little too real, felt like it was trying to claim me."

Kai's eyes burned. "It can't. You're mine now."

Eden kissed him, slow and fierce. "And you're mine."

Kai released a soothing calm to Eden through their bond and the comfort it provided him sealed his bad dream into memory.

The next morning, they left the outpost and entered the canyon.

The terrain shifted with more narrow paths, jagged stone, whispers and cries in the wind. Eden felt the Archivist's presence before they saw him. A flicker of movement, a pulse of recognition. Then a figure stepped from the shadows—tall, but skin and bones, with eyes that looked empty and tired.

"Eden. So you survived," the Archivist said, his voice hollow.

Eden didn't flinch. "WE did."

The Archivist studied them, his gaze lingering on the mating scar, the pulse of the bond. "Hmmp. They said it couldn't be done."

Kai stepped forward. "They were wrong."

The Archivist laughed, bitter and broken. "They always are."

He led them deeper into the canyon, to a hidden chamber carved into the stone. Concealing its location in plain sight. Inside were fragments—data cores, resonance maps, failed prototypes. Eden scanned them, his neural thread interfacing instinctively.

"You'll need this," the Archivist said, handing Eden a shard of encrypted code. "Haven's defenses recognize only the true mate bond of the Enigma and the Pulse Omega. This will help prove your bond."

Eden took it, feeling the code settle into his system. "Why help us?"

The Archivist's gaze darkened. "Because you're the only ones who ever escaped. And because Haven was built for the two of you. Once Haven recognizes you, it will provide you with a way to save us all."

Kai's breath caught. "What do you mean?"

The Archivist turned away. "Haven has tour answers. Survive and you'll get them."

Eden's pulse spiked. The bond flared. Kai stepped closer, his hand gripping Eden's.

"We will," Eden said. "When we survive and make it there."

The Archivist didn't respond. He simply nodded and vanished into the shadows.

They left the canyon with the shard. Eden felt the world shifting around them, realizing something important after conversing with the Archivist.

He and Kai were no longer anomalies.

They were prophecy.