The week following Kai's unstable hunt as Umbra was one of intense, almost feverish activity within Sub-Station Epsilon. While Kai underwent a grueling new training regimen designed by Lyra to help him stabilize the volatile fusion of his Draconic Power and the assimilated Old Republic energy, Shift and Elara redoubled their efforts to decrypt the "Project Griffin" data-chips. The atmosphere in their makeshift headquarters was thick with a mixture of apprehension and a dawning, almost fearful excitement. They were tampering with forces, with knowledge, that had been buried for centuries, and the potential consequences were immense.
Kai's training was unlike anything he had experienced before. Lyra, drawing upon her esoteric knowledge and an unnerving intuition about energy dynamics, pushed him to his absolute limits. She had him practice manifesting his Draconic Arts – the Dermal Plating, the Claws, the Shadow-Coil Strike, even the terrifying Shadowflame Breath – not for combat, but for pure control, forcing him to hold the manifestations, to modulate their intensity, to feel the subtle interplay between his innate draconic fire and the cool, azure resonance of the Old Republic tech. It was agonizing. The energies warred within him. Sometimes his scales would shimmer with an uncontrollable blue light. Other times, his Shadowflame would sputter and die, or erupt with a dangerous, uncontrolled intensity that forced Lyra to erect emergency energy dampening fields Roric had somehow "acquired." His Draconic Energy Reserves fluctuated wildly, often plummeting to critical levels, forcing more frequent, though still distasteful, "sustenance" acquisitions from Roric's grimly efficient network.
But slowly, painstakingly, progress was made. The System meticulously tracked his efforts: [Draconic Power Source / Old Republic Energy Integration: 65% Complete. Volatility reducing. Conduit demonstrating improved control over hybrid energy manifestations.] [Dermal Plating Manifestation (Rank 2): Now exhibits minor energy-dispersive properties due to OR-Energy infusion. Resilience against energy-based attacks slightly increased.] [Shadow-Coil Strike (Rank 1): Now carries a faint bio-disruptive OR-Energy signature. Chance to cause minor system shock in technologically augmented targets.][Shadowflame Breath (Tier 1): Still highly volatile but exhibiting moments of improved focus and reduced collateral energy discharge. WARNING: Continued uncontrolled surges may damage Host's internal systems.] His power was changing, becoming something new, something neither purely draconic nor wholly technological, but a strange and potent synthesis of both.
Meanwhile, in the Epsilon control room, Shift and Elara finally achieved a major breakthrough. "We're in," Shift announced one evening, her voice tight with exhaustion but her eyes blazing with triumph. She, Roric, Kai, and Breaker were gathered around the main holo-display, which now showed a stable, if archaic, Old Republic interface. "Elara cracked the final encryption layer on the primary 'Project Griffin' research summary. It's… extensive."
Elara's holographic image nodded, her young face alight with intellectual fervor. "Project Griffin wasn't just about Anima manipulation, Roric. It was about understanding the fundamental nature of Anima itself – its quantum origins, its relationship to dimensional energies, its potential for artificial replication and, more alarmingly, its susceptibility to targeted negation."
She brought up a series of complex diagrams and reams of ancient text. "They believed Anima, in its purest form, was a kind of… exotic energy that permeated certain dimensions, and that 'MODS' were individuals whose biology, through mutation or catalyst, could tap into and channel this energy, manifesting it according to their own genetic predispositions or latent psychic imprints, often resulting in animalistic or elemental traits." "But they also theorized," Shift continued, "that this energy could be artificially replicated, or that existing Animas could be… rewritten. They were developing 'Anima Weaving' technology – devices that could directly interface with a MOD's Anima core, potentially altering its expression, suppressing it, or even transferring its signature."
Roric leaned forward, his eyes gleaming. "Anima Nullification Fields. Anima Weaving. This is beyond anything the MODS Corporation has ever publicly admitted to. This is the power to control, to create, and to destroy MODS at a fundamental level." [SYSTEM INTEL UPDATE: 'Project Griffin' data confirms Old Republic development of advanced Anima manipulation/negation technologies. This knowledge, if weaponized, would represent an existential threat to all Anima-based life forms (MODS). It may also offer pathways to understanding and potentially stabilizing or controlling the Conduit's unique Draconic Power Source, which shares some resonant properties with raw Anima fields despite its distinct origin.]
"There's more," Elara said, her voice dropping slightly. "The project had a… darker side. Sub-project 'Chimera.' They weren't just trying to manipulate existing Animas. They were attempting to create entirely new ones by forcibly hybridizing multiple Anima signatures, or by fusing Anima energy with advanced cybernetics and even… alien biological templates they'd discovered on deep space expeditions." She shuddered. "The failure rate was catastrophic. Most test subjects either died horrifically or became uncontrollable, monstrous aberrations."
Kai felt a cold dread. His own power, the "Shadow Wyrm," felt terrifyingly close to these "Chimera" experiments. Was his Draconic System a result of some forgotten Old Republic catastrophe? Was the package that transformed him a lost piece of that forbidden research? "Did they mention… dragons?" Kai asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Shift and Elara exchanged a look. "There are fragmented references," Shift said slowly. "To 'Primal Draconic Signatures' encountered in uncharted space. Energies of immense power, difficult to analyze, impossible to control. Project Griffin seemed to consider them the ultimate source, or perhaps the ultimate cautionary tale, of raw Anima potential."
Before they could delve deeper, an alarm Klaxon suddenly blared through Epsilon – a piercing, urgent shriek. Red lights began to flash throughout the control room. "Perimeter breach!" Breaker roared, already moving towards the armory. "North access tunnel! Multiple contacts, heavily armed! They're not using the main entrance this time!" Shift's fingers flew across her console. "It's Cerberus! A full assault squad! They're using some kind of seismic charge to bypass our outer fortifications! They know we're here, and they're coming in force!"
Roric's face was a mask of cold fury. "It seems our delving into the Old Republic's secrets has attracted the attention of its modern-day grave robbers. They want Project Griffin." He looked at Kai, his eyes blazing. "The time for training is over, Leader Kai. The Ember Knights are about to face their first true trial by fire. Show them the power of a dragon awakened by forgotten lore." The gaze of Project Griffin was no longer just on ancient data-chips. It was fixed squarely on them.