Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Sixty Four: God's Eye.

Something clicked in his mind and he saw faint images of a woman bleeding out on a pile of rubble, her quiet voice calling out to him, begging him to help her. The scene flickered and sometimes the woman was Dawn, other times it was him mother.

"No," he shut his eyes, "this can't be happening."

"No match found." Kathryn announced after a moment of silence.

"Increase the search area." The minister bit back his anger, kicking away a stray piece of shrapnel in his way. Anger wouldn't solve anything, he just needed to see Dawn. It had been too long since he had seen her.

He just needed-

"Command acknowledged. Loading process at 42%."

"So find her!" Corey was loosing his mind, suddenly overwhelmed by panic. Dawn was in the capital. She had to be around the gate so why weren't the scans picking her up?

"No match found." Kathryn answered dully.

"Increase-" he started again. Their had to be a mistake somewhere. Dawn had to be at the entrance of Auro, there was no other way for her to activate Operation Cipher.

"Pair activation code has been disassembled, no trace remaining."

Now, Corey paused, his mind growing fuzzy with trepidation. "What does that mean?" No part of him wanted to know the answer but he had to ask.

"Primary Code host has lost possession of authentication sequence, pair code has been deactivated. Full access now granted to the minister."

Most of the words flew over Corey's head, he didn't care about any of it. The A.I had not answered his question. "What is the location of the Primary Code host?" He bit out.

"Primary Code host no longer exists."

Corey balked. "What?"

"In other words," pain flared through his wrist, "Dawn Draekon has seized to exist. Loading process at 50%, preparing for attachment sequence."

Before Corey could fully comprehend what he heard, the pain in his wrist intensified and spread through his entire body.

The minister collapsed to the ground, curling up in pain as his body twitched and convulsed.

Corey didn't remember ever moving or making a sound, but the tortured screams echoing in the background seemed to be his. He had never experienced such pain in his life. It made him wish for death.

Every cell in his body seemed to be screaming in agony. He couldn't move, not because he was paralyzed but a simple twitch sent spasms of pain through him.

He didn't know how long he had endured the pain but he was aware when it stopped. Silence, like it had never existed.

Corey sat up slowly, still hesitant to make sudden movements. There was no pain anymore, in fact it felt like a dream. Even the memory of it seemed to vanish slowly.

If not for the fact that he was covered in mud, he would have had a hard time believing that just moments ago he was in so much pain that he subconsciously wished to die.

"Congratulations Minister, you are now fully integrated into North's defense systems. Continuing loading process, 64%"

It took a moment for Corey to register Kathryn's words, but when he did they knocked the air right out of him. His head felt heavy but strangely he was refreshed, like he had shed old skin and been reborn.

Corey cracked his knuckles, relishing the crisp sound they made as he took the time to examine what had changed.

He stood up and blinked, gaping at the ruins around him in both shock and wonder. He could see. It wasn't just his body that had gotten stronger, his sight had improved as well, but that wasn't all.

"Kathryn, what is this?" He asked, his voice wary as he stared at the spot in front of him and also seemed to be looking at it from far away and from every angle possible.

"You have been granted access to the satellite images of the entire nation."

Corey blinked again then reached up to rub his eyes. "So, omnipresence?" He seemed to ask himself. "Dawn really outdid herself this time."

The thought seemed to sober him up and he cleared his throat, tempted to keep his eyes closed to evade the sudden bugeye vision he was granted.

No god's eye. He corrected himself as he told Kathryn, "I want to view the entrance of Auro."

"Yes minister," she said. "But you don't need to tell me. The satellites are now your personal binoculars."

Corey almost smiled, it seemed like whatever had overridden Kathryn's programming had worn off. She was back to her animatronically bubbly self.

The minister focused and thought of the fallen gate. Instantly, as though he were there himself, he saw it.

He saw everything. The melting snow, the limbs that speckled the outskirts of the capital; the mush of blue and red that was mixed in.

Corey saw the battered bodies of humanoid beasts and the massive, featureless creature that had tumbled down with the gate, but he didn't see Dawn.

Running out of the capital, he zoomed in, searching every piece of crumbling building, and body parts that seemed to have been lost in an impossible fight.

Corey felt bile crawl up his throat at the thought of one of the twisted limbs belonging to Dawn and his stomach churned at the thought of her being buried under wreckage.

He was so lost in thought that he barley heard Kathryn's next announcement.

"Loading process at 100%, commencing weapon activation."

†