YEAR – 2024ENCRYPTED RUINS | EDGE OF THE WESTERN DEAD ZONE[2:13 PM]
The rain had stopped, but the sky hung heavy with grey. The trio stood before a half-sunken relic—a broken kiosk from a forgotten era, moss clutching its frame like it was trying to bury a secret.
TIVANA – (hesitant)This thing's still pulsing… barely. Radrin, can you pull anything from it?
RADRIN – (already kneeling, connecting wires)Give me thirty seconds. If it's really old tech, it might still talk to me.
The holo-screen flickered weakly, glitching between static and fractured command lines. A low, digital whine started to hum under Radrin's touch.
SPECTRE – (scanning the tree line)We shouldn't be out in the open like this. The trees here don't cast the same shadows twice.
TIVANA – (frowning)You saw that too?
SPECTRE – (dryly)Third time today. Not exactly comforting.
Suddenly, the kiosk emitted a garbled digital chirp. Text streamed across the screen in crimson code. Radrin's eyes narrowed as he read.
RADRIN –It's an old Sart Labs field log… encrypted. But I just cracked a segment.
TIVANA – (stepping closer)What does it say?
RADRIN –Coordinates. But not here—miles deeper into the zone. And look… it references something called "Project Aurora."
SPECTRE – (deadpan)Sounds friendly.
There was a rustle in the trees. Leaves twisted in an unnatural breeze, falling upward.
SPECTRE –Movement. Three o'clock.
He dropped into a crouch, hand on his stunblade. A faint shimmer moved through the trees—a cloaked sentinel, barely visible.
TIVANA –It's scanning us. Radrin, kill the connection!
Too late.
The kiosk sparked violently. The screen blazed a final line of text—"Aurora must not wake"—before shorting out completely.
The shimmer in the trees charged.
SPECTRE – (low growl)Brace!
He darted forward, intercepting the figure with a low spin-kick that knocked its cloaking field offline. The sentinel—a twisted hybrid of bone and synthmetal—snarled mechanically.
SPECTRE –New model.
He swung his blade. Sparks danced as steel met alloy. Tivana grabbed a rock and hurled it at a node in the sentinel's back. It shorted out, twitching, and collapsed.
Panting, the trio stood in silence.
RADRIN – (quietly)Someone didn't want us reading that file.
TIVANA –But they left it anyway. Like a trap… or a breadcrumb.
SPECTRE – (straightening)Either way, it's a path.
The camera in Radrin's wrist gear whirred, scanning the dead sentinel.
RADRIN – (grim)Definitely Sart Labs design. But there's an added layer of something… foreign. Like it's learning how to build itself.
He looked up at the others.
RADRIN –We need to follow the coordinates. This wasn't just a warning—it was an invitation.
The wind shifted again. Far in the distance, a low pulsing hum echoed across the ruined landscape.
TIVANA – (softly)Aurora…
FADE OUT.