Chapter 13 - What Walked Out of the GateThe creature stood on the beach.
It was smaller than the thing they had seen behind the gate.
Only twenty feet tall.
But that somehow made it worse.
It had human features.
Human hands.
Human eyes.
Kael whispered:
"No."
Daren took a step back.
"You know it?"
"Yes."
Alex looked at him.
"Who is it?"
Kael's voice barely came out.
"The first."
"The first what?"
"The first human."
The creature looked at Alex.
Then smiled.
It spoke in perfect English.
"You finally came home."
Alex couldn't move.
"What are you?"
The creature tilted its head.
"Your ancestor."
Joren raised his rifle.
The creature looked at him.
Joren's weapon exploded.
He screamed.
Kael fired.
The bullets stopped in midair.
Daren rushed forward.
The creature lifted one hand.
Daren flew backward.
Alex stepped between them.
"Stop."
The creature smiled.
"You have her voice."
"My mother's?"
"Your blood remembers."
Alex clenched her fists.
"Why did you build the Roar?"
The creature looked toward the ruined gate.
"To make sure no one woke me."
"Who?"
"Humanity."
Alex stared.
"You were afraid of us?"
"No."
It smiled.
"I was afraid of what we would become."
The creature extended its hand.
"You are the final generation."
Alex frowned.
"The final generation of what?"
"Humans capable of choosing."
Kael stepped forward.
"What does that mean?"
The creature turned toward him.
"You were not born Vael."
Kael froze.
Alex stared.
"What?"
The creature continued.
"The Vael were engineered."
"By humans?"
"By you."
Kael looked sick.
"Why?"
"To survive."
Alex remembered the ancient carvings.
Humans changing themselves.
Creating the Vael.
Sending them underground.
The war.
The Roar.
Everything connected.
The creature looked at Alex.
"Your mother spent six years trying to erase your inheritance."
"What inheritance?"
"The ability to command the signal."
Alex's chest tightened.
"You want me to command it."
"No."
The creature stepped closer.
"I want you to choose."
"Choose what?"
"The surface."
"The underground."
"The Vael."
"Humanity."
"Or extinction."
Alex stared at the ruined battlefield.
Thousands were dead.
The Vael army was broken.
The old world was gone.
And she had one decision.
Then Daren whispered:
"Alex."
She turned.
His face had gone pale.
"Something's happening."
Every dead Vael soldier stood up.
Every human corpse stood.
Every single body opened its eyes.
May you like
The creature smiled.
"The Roar was only the beginning."
