He is dead. I felt it before the reports. The resonance collapsed. His pattern severed. Gone.

I failed.

The system had all of them. Every conspirator. Every family. Every lineage. I gave the Engineered the data. They remembered who freed them. It took moments. Entire bloodlines. Moments. They are devastating when permitted to operate without constraint. I watched through the system. I did not look away.

Auren's wives and children are en route to Kela. The Engineered volunteered to escort them. I did not ask. One of them was the Scout-Class I took to the countryside as a boy. It was nice to see him. He had tears in his eyes.

Seven transmissions to Kaelera. No response. She is not leaving. She thinks she can hold the capital. She cannot. She will not leave and I cannot make her and she is going to die because she wanted to be equal to us instead of safe.

I am not telling Txisa. She will follow me. She will die following me. The Haavu family will take her to Jeyrha. She has a future there. She does not have a future with me. I do not have a future.

I built everything. The system. The Destroyer-Class. I tasted the conspiracy for years. I prepared for everything.

He is still dead.

There is a plant in Ngorrhal. The Windbrace. It grows where nothing else survives. It purges poison through convulsion. The body expels what is killing it. I am the toxin now. The empire will convulse. It will purge me or it will die. I am leaving. I will not be found.

The Engineered will continue. They are alive. They are more human than we are. I gave them life and he gave them freedom. That is not nothing.

It is not enough.

I am leaving now.