The Strider rumbled to a halt, its core engine humming low as dust swirled around its wheels. Eve peered through the reinforced window, her breath catching slightly as the containment zone came into view. The terrain outside was dry and fractured—like a scar carved into the earth. A faint haze hung in the air, flickering with unstable energy currents. It wasn’t dramatic or cinematic—no great portal gaping open—but the air buzzed with something wrong. Wrong enough that it made her stomach clench.

  “Welcome to the edge,” Arel muttered beside her, checking the calibration on her energy pulse scanner. “Void exposure levels are stable but fluctuating. The veil’s thin out here, so we’re just here to take readings and deal with any stragglers that might’ve slipped through. Small leaks happen at containment zones—our job’s to make sure they don’t turn into something worse. But don’t worry—it’s the small ones that get through. They’re the little creeps, honestly—I could handle 'em in my sleep. The nastier ones need a stronger grip on this side to break through, so if we see anything bigger, we’ll know it’s more than just a leak...but that almost never happens on recon”

  Levi was already out of the transport, boots crunching over fractured stone as he surveyed the area with sharp eyes. Kael stepped down after him, quiet as ever, his expression unreadable.

  Eve followed Arel out of the Strider, the moment her boots hit the ground sending a jolt through her legs. Not of fear—of anticipation. She had trained for this. She was ready.

  Still, the hum in the air felt like it was crawling across her skin. The sais Nyra had crafted were secured at her sides, their weight oddly comforting. As she gnced around, she noticed small flickers in the distance—distortions. Like heat waves in the shape of shifting silhouettes.

  No one spoke for a long moment.

  Then Levi turned to them. “Standard recon formation. No unnecessary noise. We sweep the perimeter, record energy spikes, and get out. If anything moves, we engage with restraint. This isn’t a purge—it’s an assessment.”

  His gaze met Eve’s for half a second. Not cold, not unreadable this time. Just focused.

  “Let’s move.”

  Arel and Eve peeled off to the left, heading along the outer edge of the fractured terrain while Levi and Kael silently took the opposite direction. The wind whispered through the broken ndscape, brushing dust over bckened stone. Eve scanned the area with a look of quiet concern, her expression softening into something close to sadness as she took it all in.

  Arel, ever open and unfiltered, started talking like she always did—easy, casual, and genuine.

  "You know," she began, her voice softer now, "this zone colpsed about ten years ago. Back then, it used to be a town—a real one. Shops, homes, schools. A whole community. All gone when the portal broke through."

  Eve gnced at her, listening carefully.

  "It was bad," Arel continued, scanning the area with her pulse reader. "They say the energy levels here fluctuated and the portal became unstable. It didn’t just open—it snapped. Sucked in everything around it when it colpsed. People, buildings... whole families. Some were vaporized instantly. Others... they were pulled straight into the void. What’s left now is sealed behind our strongest barriers. We can’t even send drones in for long—whatever’s in there doesn’t like to be watched."

  Eve shivered.

  Arel exhaled slowly, gaze distant. "Levi’s father... he was stationed here. Captain of one of the containment units back then, he was leading the team when the breach started. They don’t know exactly what went wrong—it was chaos. The comms went dark, and by the time reinforcements arrived, the perimeter was shredded, and the soldiers were completely overrun. Almost no one made it out. Levi was barely a teenager."

  The silence between them thickened.

  Arel offered a sad smile. "So yeah, it’s stable now. Mostly just readings, maybe a stray creeper or two. But this pce... it still remembers."

  They walked on in silence for a moment longer, the ndscape stretching before them like a scar that never quite healed.

  Then, without warning, Eve stiffened. A strange pressure bloomed in her chest, deep and electric—like her energy was reacting to something unseen.

  Her bracelet chirped, followed by a sharp beep from Arel’s scanner.

  "Wait—" Arel’s brows furrowed. "My readings just spiked."

  Eve barely nodded before both their devices began to go haywire, flickering with red alerts. Static hissed from Arel’s comms.

  They looked around.

  In the distance, just past the barrier line, something rippled.

  Shadows.

  Dozens of them.

  Figures broke through the shimmering edge of the containment veil—small, spindly, fast-moving creatures that skittered unnaturally across the fractured terrain.

  "Oh no..." Arel whispered. "This is not good." Panic edged into her voice as she tapped her comm unit. "Levi? Kael? Come in. We’ve got movement—repeat, multiple breaches at the perimeter!"

  Nothing.

  Only static.

  She turned to Eve. "We need to get back. Now. We’ll report for backup and—"

  But Eve wasn’t behind her anymore.

  She was on her knees.

  Eve’s breathing had turned ragged, her chest heaving. The vitals bracelet around her wrist fshed red, pulsing wildly.

  "Eve!" Arel rushed to her side. "Eve, are you okay? What is going on—we have to get out of here!"

  Eve clutched at her chest as waves of energy pulsed from her skin. The static in the air grew louder. The creatures were coming closer.

  And the chaos had only just begun.

  Arel turned, trying to get a better read on the situation. Her scanner flickered wildly, but what caught her attention wasn’t the number of creatures—it was their behaviour. They weren’t moving chaotically like usual. No erratic swarming. No aimless aggression.

  They were heading straight for them.

  Locked in.

  "What the hell..." she murmured, her breath catching. "They’re coordinated. They never move like this."

  She looked down at Eve, still kneeling, energy surging unnaturally around her like static clinging to the air itself.

  A chill ran through Arel. Her eyes darted back to the creatures—and then back to Eve.

  Were they being drawn to her?

  With a burst of urgency, Arel dropped to her knees and grabbed Eve by the shoulders, shaking her gently but firmly.

  "Eve! Snap out of it! We need to get to safety. I think they’re after us..." Her voice cracked, rising with panic. "No—after you."

  Something clicked in Eve’s eyes. Her breath hitched, but she pulled herself upright in one fluid motion, her instincts overtaking the dizziness. She turned to face the direction Arel had been watching—and froze.

  The creatures weren’t just running wild. They were charging. Dozens of them, eyes glowing red, their movements eerily synchronized.

  "Shit..." Eve whispered.

  Arel grabbed her wrist. "This isn’t like training," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "This isn’t a safe situation. You’re not ready for this, Eve. It’s my job to get you to safety."

  They broke into a sprint, boots pounding over cracked stone and loose debris. Behind them, the creatures gave chase—no longer a random threat, but a focused stampede.

  As they ran, static fred again in Arel’s comm.

  "Arel—" a voice crackled through the device. "Arel, are you there? Can you hear me? There’s been a portal break—we’re on our way to you!"

  Levi.

  His voice was strained, as if he were running too.

  Arel tried to respond. "Levi, we see them! They're—" But her words were swallowed by distortion.

  "Dammit," she muttered, smming her palm against the receiver. "Come on, come on..."

  Still just static.

  Then the ground shifted—an unnatural ripple that cracked the earth in a thin, jagged line directly in their path. It stopped them cold.

  Eve and Arel skidded to a halt, breathless. The terrain ahead was unstable, fracturing by the second. Behind them, the swarm was closing in.

  Arel turned sharply to assess. Her eyes widened.

  The creatures weren’t fanning out. They weren’t scattering. They were zeroed in—straight toward them, cutting through terrain with terrifying speed and unity. It was like they were hunting something. No... someone.

  Arel’s gaze flicked to Eve.

  It had to be her.

  She turned, pnting her feet firmly in front of Eve.

  “This is it,” she said, voice low and steady despite the panic in her eyes. “We need to try to survive this. Stay behind me—backup should be on the way soon.”

  The first creature burst from the pack and lunged. It unched straight at Eve, talons stretched wide.

  Without hesitation, Arel stepped forward, drew the energy bster from her hip holster—a compact pulse-gun glowing with soft white light—and fired.

  A brilliant arc of amplified energy surged from the barrel, striking the creature mid-air.

  It disintegrated on impact, obliterated into a fine spray of shadowy dust that scattered with the wind.

  Arel didn’t flinch.

  She recharged the pulse chamber in one smooth motion.

  “Next one’s yours, if you’re up for it,” she said, not looking back.

  The rest of the creatures caught up.

  One by one, they unched themselves toward Eve, shrieking as they leapt. Arel held her ground, bsting through as many as she could—but her bster’s core began to fizzle. On the next charge, the weapon sparked and powered down completely.

  “Great,” she muttered, tossing it aside. Without missing a beat, she switched to her raw energy strikes—pulses of light surging from her palms as she fought to keep the tide back.

  A few smaller creatures slipped past her, aiming straight for Eve.

  But Eve was ready.

  Her sais fshed into her hands, humming with energy as if they recognized the threat. With a surge of movement, she struck—one after another. Each blow released a sharp burst of brilliant blue lightning, vaporizing the creatures on contact.

  She moved quickly, instinctively. Her agility kicked in; the training drilled into her at the Academy now guiding her reflexes. She ducked, spun, and jumped.

  But her foot caught on a loose chunk of stone.

  She stumbled—just enough.

  One creature swiped across her right arm with jagged cws, slicing through her sleeve. The sais cttered from her grip.

  She hissed, feeling the warm trickle of blood run down to her fingers. Her arm burned.

  Still, she stepped back into stance, breath sharp, teeth grit. The next creature was already mid-air.

  And then—

  A streak of blue energy fshed across her vision. Followed by a blur of bck. The creature exploded into dust before it ever touched her.

  Levi.

  He nded like a storm given form, rising beside her as if he’d never been gone.

  He didn’t speak, just turned toward the next wave.

  Arel, now beside him at the front line again, let out a shaky breath and grinned. "Knew you’d make it," she said, giving him a quick, pyful wink.

  The battle raged on.

  Kael moved into position near a crumbling ridge and raised his arms, summoning a wall of crystalline ice that erupted from the ground. It arched into a solid barrier, bottlenecking the incoming creatures into a narrow corridor of exposed terrain. Trapped and funnelled, they surged forward blindly.

  It was a perfect kill zone.

  Levi moved like a ghost through shadows, striking with such speed and precision that the creatures never even saw him coming. Each blow disintegrated a target, his energy bdes leaving trails of flickering blue light in the air. He made it look effortless.

  Only a few remained.

  Kael, sensing the tide turning, nodded once to Levi before breaking off. He sprinted toward the heart of the containment zone—toward the fracture line near the portal. His job now was to seal the breach before more could slip through.

  Arel, Levi, and Eve stayed behind to handle the st of the swarm.

  The battlefield crackled with residual energy, smoke and dust coiling in the air like the remnants of a storm.

  Levi and Arel struck down the final creature in front of them, exhaling in near sync. Just as Levi lowered his bdes, a sickening sound ripped through the air behind them—a wet, piercing impact.

  They turned.

  Eve was on her knees.

  She hunched forward; arms wrapped protectively around her middle.

  Behind her, a creature loomed.

  Much rger than the others. Its body was semi-humanoid but grotesquely elongated, shrouded in bck tendrils and leaking shadow like smoke from a fme. One massive cw had pierced clean through Eve’s stomach, holding her like a broken doll.

  Blood trickled from her mouth. Her eyes were wide in shock, breath catching shallowly as she began to colpse forward.

  Arel let out a choked cry. Levi’s face twisted, a fsh of something primal and horrifying breaking through his usual composure.

  They both stood frozen for a second that stretched unbearably long.

  Then they moved.

  Levi was the first to unch, a blur of fury and light. His energy surged as he dove toward the towering creature, aiming to slice straight through it.

  But just before contact, the beast dissolved into bck smoke.

  It reappeared behind him in an instant.

  With a guttural screech, it swiped its massive cw across Levi’s back, sending sparks of energy scattering as it connected.

  Caught off guard, Levi staggered forward from the impact but nded cleanly on his feet. He spun on instinct, already facing the creature again, his bdes igniting in a fsh of blue fme.

  The monster stood tall—unchanged, unbothered—its burning red eyes locked on them with eerie intelligence.

  Arel rushed forward toward Eve, energy already gathering in her hands as she dropped to her knees beside her. "Hang in there, okay? I’ve got you. I can fix this—just stay with me."

  But the creature was faster.

  With a snarl, it turned and backhanded Arel with terrifying force, smming her aside like a ragdoll.

  She hit the ground hard, skidding through dust and fractured stone, her energy dispersing mid-cast. She groaned and tried to sit up, dazed, blood trailing from the side of her lip.

  Levi didn’t hesitate. He surged forward again, bdes ready, sshing at the creature with renewed fury. The first few blows struck, sparking on contact—but the creature barely flinched, its inky form absorbing the attacks like ripples through liquid shadow.

  But then Levi focused.

  He drew deeper on his energy, his aura fring blue-white as he shifted his stance and struck again—this time with force meant to kill.

  One of his bdes sliced clean through the creature’s upper arm. It recoiled for the first time, a shriek of rage tearing from its throat as bck mist sprayed from the wound like smoke under pressure.

  It staggered back.

  Levi nded in a crouch, eyes locked onto it, breath controlled—but his stance sharper now. Measured. Ready for more.

  Behind him, Eve coughed weakly.

  She moved her head, blood trailing from her lips, and looked toward the towering shadow. From the ground, pain burning through her body, she forced her limbs to shift beneath her.

  She couldn’t lie there.

  If she did, she would die.

  Levi and Arel were too far to reach her in time. The creature—wounded but still pulsing with dark energy—vanished in another swirl of smoke.

  And reappeared directly in front of her.

  Its glowing red eyes bore down on her, its remaining cw raised.

  It was here to finish the job.

  Eve, breathing heavily and soaked in pain, braced her hand against the ground. She grit her teeth, legs shaking beneath her, and tried to rise.

  She couldn’t run.

  So she would face it.

  In an instant, the pain vanished.

  Not numbed. Not dulled. Gone.

  A sudden surge of energy swelled from deep within her, like something ancient had awakened. Her heartbeat roared in her ears, her breath steadying. Adrenaline pushed her upright. Her legs, once trembling, now held firm beneath her.

  Light danced at her fingertips.

  Her eyes began to glow.

  She raised both hands in front of her, her posture suddenly commanding.

  And then, as if the heavens answered her call, a brilliant fsh of lightning split the sky.

  A deafening crack.

  Bolts of pure energy rained down like divine cannon fire, striking the ground in rapid succession, converging on the towering creature.

  It shrieked in fury, tendrils filing, body writhing as the sky punished it. The ground quaked beneath the assault.

  And then it was gone.

  Disintegrated. Blown apart like dust in the wind.

  Silence followed.

  Levi and Arel stood frozen where the creature had just been, staring at the space it once occupied.

  At the girl who had summoned the storm.

  Eve’s glowing eyes dimmed. Her shoulders slumped.

  And she colpsed.

  Arel was the first to move. "Eve!"

  She and Levi sprinted toward her; the crackle of residual energy still alive in the air.