Chap 196: The Omega Choice

Tee was alone in the elders' sanctum. Their presence still lingered in the air, like something that refused to fully leave. Her mind was made up on what she had to do. She had to sway fate in her favour by herself.

She could imagine her teammates all having a grand time wherever the hell they were. They didn’t care about her. Especially not Kie.

Just imagining everyone knowing a Xeno-victim found the cure for the Xenogene… people bowing down before her, praises rising, celebrations filling the streets and skies. It was a dream to behold. She wanted that dream to be her future. She had to take steps to make it happen. Time was not her friend.

Asking Aven or Engel to help was not a wise idea. She knew they would say no.

She walked out of the room and forced the elders out of her mind. Moving through the halls, she used her enhanced foreseeing vision to scout the place. She eventually stopped along a pathway overlooking a lower level, where many Vergants passed by below.

Her vision pushed further—into a grand room. Inside, Vergants sat together in some kind of ritual, all dressed in similar, elaborate robes. Glowing symbols clouded the ground beneath them, pulsing faintly.

Several of them rose, and new Vergants waiting along the edges stepped in to take their place.

Tee stood on a higher stairway, watching the last one leave the large room. She focused. Tried mind control.

Show me the location of a fragment of the Alpha Seal.

Nothing.

That only worked on mindless creatures.

Drastic measures had to be done.

From where she stood, she reached out and hacked the Vergant’s Verge—entering without permission.

Their Verge opened before her.

A vast, mountainous, crystal-clean heaven. Glass-like surfaces reflected everything in perfect clarity, like reality had been polished into something flawless. It felt like stepping into a perfect dream. Peaceful. Beautiful.

Nothing like her Verge the first time she went there.

The Vergant sensed someone enter their Verge and followed. They appeared before Tee almost instantly.

Before they could utter a single word, she raised one hand and blasted them straight at the head. The clash was over in seconds—at least to the conscious world. In the Verge, it was decisive. Overwhelming.

She won.

They wouldn’t know it was her.

She moved quickly, pulling what she needed from their Verge—intel on the whereabouts of the Fragments. The ones the Primus Vergants had recovered were scattered, stored in caverns across different locations. Too many to track. Too many to note.

But one stood out.

The very first Fragment they ever retrieved… was still there. Stored at Primus.

After she exited their Verge, the Vergant collapsed in the physical world, hitting the ground hard. White foam gathered at the side of their lips.

It stirred a commotion almost immediately.

But Tee had already gotten what she wanted.

Like a thief in the night, she slipped away, leaving alarms and confusion thick in the air behind her.

At an elevator door, she was stopped by three Primus soldiers.

She paused.

Was she going to knock them out and cause even more chaos? She’d definitely be stopped—or at least they’d try to. And in their eyes, she’d become something worse.

She hesitated, then chose something different.

Not to give them more reasons against her.

She remembered the Vergant village mission—how her Vergant allies had willingly obeyed her and followed her into battle without question. She was a Sentinel. That meant authority. Chosen by the planet—

She almost laughed.

There was nothing righteous about her. But still…

“I need access to this elevator. As a chosen Sentinel of the planet, that is an order.”

Her voice came out layered like many speaking at once. Her eyes glowed white, her hair lifting as if caught in an unseen wind.

She hadn’t meant to sound like that. Hadn’t meant to strike fear.

The guards didn’t even look at each other. They stepped aside immediately.

Tee stood there for a beat, staring—almost not believing it worked.

Then excitement kicked in.

She rushed into the elevator and pressed the lowest floor.

She tried that same trick on several more guards, and each time it worked—smooth, unquestioned. It carried her deeper and deeper until it finally led her to a large vault beneath Primus HQ.

A vast, circular chamber carved from black stone opened before her. At its center stood a pedestal of obsidian, holding the relic like it was something sacred… or feared. Ancient runes lined the walls, glowing faintly, pulsing like a slow, steady heartbeat. Towering statues of forgotten guardians loomed around the chamber, standing watch in eternal silence.

And there, in the middle of it all, the fragment hovered.

Motionless.

She gasped at the voice that came from her far right—almost swallowed by the dark.

“You cease to disappoint me,” came Elder Earvangar’s deep, thick voice.

Tee gritted her teeth. She lifted her chest, standing tall.

“You cannot stop me.”

Like before, her voice layered into many, her glowing white eyes illuminating the dim chamber.

“Get in my way, and you’ll feel my wrath.”

Elder Earvangar slowly raised both his wrinkled hands, mostly hidden beneath the long sleeves of his robe.

“I won’t even try,” he said plainly.

Tee blinked, caught off guard.

He stepped forward, making a series of controlled hand movements. The Fragment responded—shifting from its still position in the air and drifting toward her.

“This is a trap,” she said, unconvinced.

“My mind remains unchanged regarding the council’s collective decision,” Elder Earvangar said. “Yet you have come this far, and given what I know of your capabilities—and the absence of your teammates—there is, in truth, little here that could prevent you from proceeding.”

His voice turned crusty, thick with spite.

“Who am I to stand against the anointed of the planet?”

The Fragment reached her. Tee grabbed it from the air and beheld it. She shut her eyes, focusing on its aura.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

“What?”

Elder Earvangar folded his hands together, hiding them beneath his sleeves.

“It seems that is the case for you as well. Once the Sealed Bond has been deactivated, any hope of obtaining further information about it—or about the Omega Stone—becomes futile. We, along with countless others, have attempted it before. All to no avail.”

Tee restrained herself from crushing the Fragment into dust. Slowly, she lowered it from her sight and fixed her gaze on the elder in the fiery orange robe.

“How do you sense for fragments?” she asked.

He answered her—and not long after, he led her back to the same large room. Vergants sat on the ground in a massive ritual, arranged with quiet precision. At intervals, some would rise and others would take their place, keeping the process going twenty-four seven.

“I need to join the ritual,” Tee said.

Elder Earvangar let out a short, choking laugh before clearing his throat.

She turned to him. “I’ll help verge the planet to sense for disturbances. I’ll stay however long it takes. Since I’m Ether… it must make a difference somehow.”

“You are so full of yourself,” Elder Earvangar said.

Tee blinked, thrown off by how… modern that sounded.

“As you wish,” he continued. “The process is not as simple as merely verging with the planet. But once you attune yourself to the wavelength of the Lifestream—as our fellow brethren below have done—you will come to understand.”

Tee bent the air beneath her feet and floated down from the higher platform to the ground, descending carefully among the many Vergants. She made sure not to disturb anyone.

Once she settled onto the symbol-covered floor, she shut her eyes and entered her Verge.

Instantly—

She was pulled into the wavelength.

That wasn’t her Verge.

It was somewhere else.

Bright white waves of light surged in every direction. Fragments—images, memories, pieces of something—floated around in no clear order, yet everything felt structured. Controlled. Peaceful. Glowing symbols drifted through the very air itself.

Auras were different there. Amplified.

Anything with a stronger aura stood out—clearer, sharper, impossible to ignore.

It didn’t take long for her to understand the process. She was supposed to wait. Wait for a random disturbance. Something that might signal a Fragment being sensed.

But she wasn’t going to do that.

Waiting would only give her the same result as before.

Instead of waiting, she pushed.

She gathered all her might and enhanced her foreseeing vision, forcing it to scan everything within the wavelength realm. It stretched far beyond what the other Vergants were doing—deeper, wider, reckless.

Then she saw it.

Something massive.

Like a black hole.

Without hesitation, she went in.

The deeper she pushed, the more it demanded. It pulled at her, draining more and more Ether energy with every inch she advanced. But she kept giving. It kept taking.

Any normal Vergant would have been overwhelmed by then.

But she wasn’t normal. She was an Ether source.

Her outcome was different.

Unwilling to give in, she poured everything into it—pushing past the strain, past the limits—until Ether energy burst from her in a violent surge.

And she broke through.

Inside it wasn’t just a fragment.

It was something far greater.

A large, glowing stone—crystal-like, shifting with many colours—anchored at its core. From it, lines stretched outward, connecting to fragments scattered across existence. Some were close. Others were so far they couldn’t even be seen.

She stared, taking it in.

Unaware of what she had just done.

The force of her intrusion sent an enormous shockwave through the wavelength—an epic ripple that exposed the location of what she found to everything connected to it.

Not long after, she was ripped out.

Tee’s eyes snapped open. Her body felt numb—heavy, unresponsive.

Dozens of multi-coloured eyes stared down at her. Vergants. Watching.

It was… unsettling.

“Are you certain?” came Elder Menrith’s voice.

Tee tried to stand only to collapse back onto her feet. They wouldn’t respond. Too numb.

She looked around as the Vergants slowly parted, making way. The other elders approached.

So.

Elder Earvangar had ratted her out.

“It is as they say,” said Elder Caledor.

Murmurs spread. Low chatter filled the air, building with unease.

“The Omega Stone has been found.”

The Omega Stone had the power to pull all fragments together. Only then could the Alpha Seal, in its complete form, be destroyed. But the Omega Stone also held a vast storage of Ether energy—so immense that, if it fell into the wrong hands, it could become something truly dangerous.

Over the next few days, Primus HQ and the surrounding villages buzzed with talk. News spread fast.

Engel wouldn’t stop praising Tee for what she did.

Aven, on the other hand, scolded her—for hijacking a Vergant’s Verge, for coercion, for going too far. But even he couldn’t hide his curiosity about what would happen next.

With the Alpha Seal potentially out of the picture, the role of the Grand Elders might not even be necessary anymore. His lifelong goal of becoming one… could become irrelevant.

A large council meeting was called. Elders from several Vergant villages gathered. Tee was allowed to partake. She sat close to Aven and Engel, but none of them spoke.

The air was thick. Heavy with tension.

The chamber itself was massive—a circular structure with rising and descending levels that surrounded a central podium, the clear focus of everything.

After long deliberation, a decision was made.

They would change strategy.

Instead of only focusing on destroying the Harbingers and hunting fragments of the Alpha Seal, their priority would now shift to retrieving the Omega Stone.

Tee was satisfied with that decision.

The Omega Stone was her chance.

With that kind of Ether energy—possibly the very source of the planet’s power—she could erase the Xenogene completely. She wouldn’t even need to understand it. She could just… remove it.

The thought of that future overwhelmed her.

She couldn’t stop daydreaming. Couldn’t stop smiling.

Hana mistook it for something else. As they moved through a calm yoga session, incense drifting through the air, she assumed Tee was just… happy. Maybe even too happy. Tee lagged behind in the movements, sluggish, distracted.

Aven was there too—moving through each pose with precision, following Hana like a pro.

Tee didn’t mind her slip-ups.

Soon, none of that would matter.

She wouldn’t be a Sentinel anymore. Maybe not even a Vergant. She could leave all of that behind—go back to the modern world, live without a crest, without duty.

Then a thought hit her.

The modern world might never even know it was her who created the cure.

She paused on that for a moment.

…But it didn’t matter.

Equality and justice would prevail either way.

Those nasty government tools—the MG offs—would become irrelevant.

So would the Mid-Guard.

She realized in getting rid of the Xenogene, that would get rid of all the Xenosapians alive, both on the surface and below. Fear would vanish. There would be longevity of life. Money wasted in scientific research towards Xenogene studies could be put to use. It would be a happier world. Too bad Tetra and Jack would have died too early to see it. 

A dark thought snuck in. What if she mutated before she got the Omega stone? The thought hurt. 

No, that couldn’t happen. Time was of the essence. 

She stood up straight and spoke strictly, “Aven, Hana, I’m sorry but I have to go.”

She dashed off to the village library. In the long quiet hallway leading towards a teleportation room it hit her. A powerful hit in the head numbed her entire body, and then in another second she was inside the aura filled crystal memory chasm of her own Verge. 

Before her stood a taller woman in a white robe. Same facial features. Dark brown complexion. But black hair and dark brown eyes.

Those red, teary eyes—and the veins tightening along her neck, like she was about to scream or barely holding something back—were… concerning.

But she looked too familiar.

Too exact.

Like staring into a mirror.

Crap.

It was her future self.

Her hair, once white, had changed to a new color, most likely a mark of the enchanted Vergant color-theme gems.

Time travel through the Verge could only go backwards.

But Tee couldn’t take her eyes off the blood smeared all over her.

Still, she didn’t let the blood shake her. Not yet.

It could mean anything.

She could’ve just fought off a Leak.

Something with red blood.

“You’re me. You hijacked my Verge from the future?” Tee asked. She stepped back a bit and said, “Impressive.”

“It’s all pointless,” said her future self in a lost voice.

“They’re coming—”

They both turned to see another person materialized in the Verge. Another version of Tee, but wearing a black body suit and also smeared in blood. She flickered in and out of the realm before vanishing. 

Another one came, but her face was narrower. Then another with shorter hair. Another with tattoos, nose rings, different robes… Next after next they appeared—all different versions of Tee. Saying the same things. 

The creators were coming and a cure would not save the world. They wanted her to use the stone to destroy the world before pain and agony befell them all. 

Tee couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She shook her head.

That had to be a mistake. Some kind of test.

Maybe someone had hijacked her Verge—messing with her, trying to break her focus.

But whoever it was…

They messed with the wrong Vergant.

Her future selves began to turn hostile. Their voices rose—shouting, overlapping, chaotic.

“You have to do it!”

“It’s the only way!”

“We cannot win this war. Not this time.”

“Save them all from an eternity of suffering…”

One stepped close enough to grab her by the shoulders, forcing eye contact.

“Forget about a cure. Use your one chance with that stone. Do the right thing.”

Her eyes twitched uncontrollably. Red veins spread through them.

Tee knew madness when she saw it.

Another one lunged forward, grabbing her left arm.

“Promise me—you’ll do it! Use the Omega Stone to do it.”

Tee yanked her hand away—but they came from all angles.

She reacted instantly, enclosing herself in an energy orb.

It didn’t stop them.

Her future selves slammed against it, hitting, banging, clawing—

All saying the same things.

Over and over.

Until it blurred into a loud, suffocating buzz of nonsense.

She forced herself out of her Verge and shut it down completely.

Her breath came out hard.

The long hallway snapped back into view in front of her, and she froze mid-step. Everything that had just happened—

Had taken mere seconds.

It was insane.

All that talk about creators… about destroying the world.

Why would she ever want to destroy something so beautiful?

No.

Someone was trying to twist things. Make her look like the villain. Push more blame onto Xeno-victims.

Whoever planned that… they weren’t random.

They were a Xenogenist.

And not just anyone could pull off something like that. It had to be someone on the level of a Grand Elder.

A face crept into her mind.

The elder in red. The one with the spiky eyebrows.

Her expression twisted, like she’d just tasted something bitter.

Elder Earvangar.

…It was possible.

Slowly, she smiled.

Did they really think they were going to stop her?

If anyone got in her way…

She would show them what fear was.