[Flashback – One and a Half Rotations Ago]
The Throne of Directive – Planet Hydro
The waters of Planet Hydro shimmered with reflected starlight as Queen Saumu sat high upon her obsidian egg-laying dais, surrounded by the humming coils of life-gestation machinery. The atmosphere was heavy with incense and psionic moisture; her loyal Egg Wardens moved in silence as her body prepared to carry the next cycle of chosen spawn.
But her gaze was fixed far beyond the fluid realm of birth.
A holo-sphere hovered before her, displaying a bowed figure encased in glimmering armor—Liora, the Chief Void Engineer.
"You understand what I ask," Saumu said, her voice quiet but flint-hard.
"Gharar is to be constructed beneath the crust of the dead world Ankarra-7. I want suffering engineered into its foundations. It must be alive. It must feed on its inmates."
Liora bowed lower, her voice a whisper of awe and dread.
"We will bend the geomass, Your Majesty. The vaults will pulse with shadow-psionics. Living cells. Thought-consuming corridors. Mind-veil induction in every tier. A machine-god of torment—beneath your shadow."
Saumu's lips curved faintly.
"Excellent. Make it ready within two cycles. I want it operational before the Vhalar and Lir'thar rebellions collapse. Gharar will be the crucible of their annihilation—and the proving ground of our eternal reign."
[Present Day]
Subterranean World-Prison: Gharar – Tier Initialization Protocol
Kato stood at the control nexus of Gharar, the earth above sealed by thousands of meters of reinforced crust. Around him, dozens of Umbari enforcers uncoiled from their stasis-crypts like nightmares given form—eight-limbed, crystalline beasts radiating silent malice. Red sigils activated across their armored bodies as they synced with the Hive-Mind.
"Secure every sector," Kato ordered, his voice reverberating across the command matrix.
"Deploy full squads to Subsector 19 through 27. Ensure high-risk inmates are isolated, processed, and calibrated for interrogation. Rebellion is not to be punished. It is to be restructured."
A chorus of chittering acknowledgments followed.
Above him, shadow-drone projections displayed each zone's compliance index. As cells sealed, Umbari flooded the corridors, dragging new prisoners—screaming, broken, silenced—into the digestive core of Gharar.
In the distance, the vast mechanical lungs of the prison groaned. The planet had awoken.
[Planet Hydro – The Queen Oversees]
In her obsidian chamber, surrounded by softly pulsating eggsacs, Queen Saumu stared into a flickering holo-link now active with the towering, shimmering image of Xal'taroth, the Overseer of Gharar.
"Xal'taroth," she said coldly, her voice coiling like smoke. "Status report."
"All prisoners are secured—separated, subdued, and sealed within their chambers," the Overseer intoned.
"The Umbari enforcers have completed their deployment. The system is stable. Shadow compliance is above threshold. The special cell has been reinforced, as you commanded."
Saumu leaned back slightly, eyes sharp.
"Good. The system is now under full control. Keep the special containment pristine. It will be used soon—for a demonstration of purpose."
She paused, then added with the weight of prophecy:
"We will extract not just obedience, but transcendence. I will join the inspections soon. There must be no errors."
"None shall exist," the Overseer affirmed.
The holo went dark.
[Gharar – Subsector 19: The Flayed Vaults]
Kara's containment chamber pulsed like a festering wound. The walls bled softly, organic membranes shifting with every heartbeat of the prison. Sigils etched in wet bone glowed dimly, whispering fragmented thoughts into her psyche. She clutched her head, shaking.
Another pulse struck—like fingers gouging her brain. Her scream was voiceless, drowned in the hum of the prison's psionic field.
Outside, a Shadowclaw—a towering Umbari enforcer with bone-glass cleavers and psionic tendrils—paced like a patient predator. The instruments it carried were designed for both pain and "realignment."
Across the corridor, Zalor hung suspended in a crucible of tethered shadows. His arms were pulled tight, his mind broken and reassembled—twice. He remembered betrayal. But whose betrayal? His people's? His own? The prison had rewritten his past with lies crafted so convincingly, they clung like truth.
"Zalor…" Kara gasped, barely audible.
A voice hissed into her mind—belonging to a Mind's Veil Operative, one of the cloaked Tribunal who oversaw the prison's neurological reconditioning.
"Your bond is inefficient," it said flatly. "We will rewrite it. Reforge it into utility."
Kara's cell opened with a squelching hiss—like a mouth unsealing to swallow her.
She saw the Flesh Re-Forge platform beyond. Saw the other prisoners whose minds had been turned inside out, flesh tailored for obedience. She resisted, but the Shadowclaw seized her. A lash of psionic light cracked across her chest.
[The Shadow Crux – Nexus of Night]
Far below, deeper than the warden vaults, a cold obsidian chamber pulsed with soft static.
Vraxar M'Shal, the High Shadow Architect, stood surrounded by holograms of neural activity, pain graphs, and soul-fracture analyses. Psionic feeds displayed Kara and Zalor twitching in their restraints.
Behind him, the Brood-Towers—pylons that controlled vast psychic fields of Gharar—vibrated with tension. The prison was alive with pain, and Vraxar was its composer.
"She is resisting," he murmured, eyes narrowing.
No response. No one else dared speak down here. Only Obsidian Custodians were allowed access—and none were present. None, except Saumu, should she ever descend herself.
With a flick of his clawed hand, Vraxar routed additional Umbari to Zalor's sector.
"If they break… we learn. If they don't… we create new instruments."
Behind him, a hatch slid open, revealing a fresh inmate being delivered. The cell walls rippled. Gharar was always hungry.