Chapter 194 : Secrets That Should Not Be Known (02)
Liora’s heart skipped.
She already knew who he was going to say.
And he did.
"Kazren," Atlas said quietly. "The man I fought today. The man you saw standing beneath that void gate with those vines crawling around his arms. He is the one who found this planet. He is the reason this world is what it is now."
Liora stared at him.
She felt like the air around her had thickened. Like she was sinking into something deeper than the soil they stood on.
"The apocalyptic world you were born into," Atlas said slowly, "wasn’t always like this. It had forests, rivers, sky cities, and settlements. Not like the central systems of the Spire, of course, but this planet once had its own growth, its own quiet life. But Kazren... he saw potential here. He saw land untouched by Spire regulations, untracked by central galactic satellites, a place with no government, no order, no eyes watching."
"He wanted to cultivate it," Atlas said, his voice sharpening just slightly. "To twist it to his will. Turn the entire planet into a controlled zone. A personal garden made from destruction."
Liora’s lips parted, but no words came.
Kazren... the smiling man who had once saved her in the early days. The man who now tore through time with vines and weapons and voids.
Atlas’s expression darkened, his gaze distant.