The tower stood like a dying sentinel in the distance—rusted metal ribs rising from the cracked earth, half-swallowed by the creeping mist. Its beacon eye, long dark, flickered as if it remembered what it once was. Alexander's group trudged toward it, wounded but unbroken.
"That's it?" Jace muttered, panting. His shoulder bled where a creature's claw had grazed him. "Looks more like a scrap heap than a signal tower."
"Still functional," Alexander said, scanning its structure with his system. "Just heavily corroded. And it's built with self-repairing alloys. Some parts are still alive."
Zeke wiped ichor off his blade and nodded. "Then we get in, reboot the core, and hold out."
Calen adjusted the settings on a pulse scanner, then frowned. "No major threats on the radar... but I keep picking up feedback loops underground. Something's humming."
Milo shivered. "Maybe it's haunted."
Jace glanced at him. "Ghosts would be an upgrade."
They reached the base of the tower as the sun—or what passed for it in this place—vanished behind swirling cloud. The mist was heavier now, pressing against them like a living thing. Alexander activated his Hive Sense again. Faint pulses beneath. Not movement. Vibration.
Something down there was breathing.
"Alright," Alexander said. "Zeke and I will head up to the core. Calen, Milo, and Jace, secure the base and set up perimeter defenses."
No one argued. They moved like a unit now—scarred, wary, but in sync.
---
The tower groaned under their weight as Alexander and Zeke ascended the inner ladder. Each level creaked with decay. On the fourth floor, they reached the core chamber: a hollow sphere wrapped in cables, some of which still glowed with flickers of power.
Alexander approached the central console. His fingers hovered, then tapped the panel. His system synced instantly.
> SYSTEM INTERFACE LINKED. AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
He glanced at Zeke. "Keep watch. This might take a bit."
Zeke gave a short nod and turned to the stairwell.
The console responded to his energy signature. A thin pulse radiated outward—activating dormant circuits. Lights blinked on. The tower vibrated.
> SIGNAL CORE BOOTING. ERROR: POWER IRREGULARITIES DETECTED. SECONDARY FUEL SOURCE REQUIRED.
"Figures," Alexander muttered.
Zeke called out. "Incoming!"
Three shadows lunged up the stairs—twisted, quadrupedal things with glowing mouths and no eyes. Zeke met them head-on, a blur of strikes and counters. One slipped past.
Alexander activated Corrosive Strike and slammed into it mid-leap. Acid hissed as it melted through its torso, reducing it to slag.
He turned back to the console.
"System. Use Crystal Cache. Feed remaining cores into auxiliary."
> TRANSFERRING ENERGY... SIGNAL CORE ACTIVATED. TRANSMISSION IN PROGRESS.
Outside, the beacon flared like a flare piercing the storm.
---
At the base, Milo and Jace fended off a fresh wave of attackers. Calen's disruptor grid sizzled as a creature touched it and screamed.
"Tower's active!" Milo shouted.
Jace skewered a creature, panting. "Then where the hell is our evac?!"
From above, a sharp whistle.
"Fall back to the base floor!" Alexander's voice cut through the chaos. "We hold until they get us out!"
They regrouped, backs to the tower wall, as more shadows emerged from the mist.
Calen crouched beside Alexander. "We're surrounded."
Alexander looked to the beacon above. "Then we make a wall."
Zeke grinned beside him. "Let them break themselves on us."
And so they came—waves of aberrations, each more grotesque than the last. Alexander burned through them with Toxic Spray, searing paths with Caustic Blast. Jace danced through them like a devil on fire, Milo shielding the group, Calen picking off targets with surgical precision. Zeke, calm and cold, held their flank like a statue of death.
They fought for minutes that felt like hours.
Then—
A roar split the mist.
A larger creature approached—twenty feet tall, armored, its skull-like face cracked open to reveal twitching eyes and a gnashing spiral of teeth.
"Oh, come on," Milo groaned.
"That's not a scout," Zeke said. "That's a damn warden."
Alexander stepped forward. His body pulsed.
> RESONANCE MODE AVAILABLE. WARNING: HIGH EXP CONSUMPTION.
He glanced at his party. They were bloodied, tired.
He triggered it.
Power surged. His acidic aura expanded, his veins glowing faint green. The air vibrated.
He blurred forward, slamming into the Warden's leg. Acid burned through its armor. It shrieked.
Jace took the cue, slashing its exposed joint. Zeke rammed a blade through its neck. Calen's precision shot blinded its right side.
Alexander leapt, and with a final Acidic Venom strike, melted through its skull.
The beast collapsed.
---
Hours later, extraction arrived. Five students stumbled onto the carrier, half-conscious.
Alexander sat near the ramp, still yet glowing faintly. His EXP had dropped drastically—but he felt no regret.
Zeke dropped beside him. "We did it."
Alexander looked out over the Barrens.
"Yeah. But what comes next... won't be this easy."