The woman didn't hesitate.
Her implants flared brightly, lines of energy crackling along her arms like an engine charging for a devastating strike.
"Seal the tunnel, Cyrene!" Vaxtor shouted.
She lunged forward decisively, driving her fist into the earth with unstoppable force.
Her voice erupted fiercely, commanding and cold:
"Hasai no Hōkō!"[1]
A brutal shockwave surged outward, ripping violently through stone and soil alike.
The ground convulsed, splitting apart as seismic energy shattered everything within reach.
The tunnel walls collapsed inward in an instant, boulders and debris cascading down in an avalanche of destruction.
The abomination's screech was swiftly silenced, cut off beneath the massive weight of falling rock.
A final, muted roar echoed briefly before dissolving into stillness.
Dust clouds billowed through the shattered space, filling the air with choking grit.
Vaxtor shielded his eyes, coughing through the dust.
Cain staggered backward, momentarily stunned.
Agito stood frozen, gaze locked onto the rubble-filled tunnel entrance.
Beneath the stones, something briefly twitched, emitting one last muffled gurgle before succumbing to the quiet.
Sera's warmth still lingered on Agito's skin.
Her voice still echoed in his mind.
Her scream still rang in his ears.
But the monster was gone.
He didn't feel victory.
Just emptiness.
Moments later, in the uneasy silence following their desperate escape, Cain turned sharply toward the strangers, hand tight on his weapon.
His voice was raw.
"Who the hell are you?"
Cyrene didn't answer immediately.
Her gaze shifted—first to him, then toward Agito, and finally to the ruin behind them.
After a moment, she spoke.
"We're survivors," she said.
Simple. Cold.
"I'm Val'Asari," she added coolly, violet implants gleaming softly along her arms. "He's Tinkari—a builder, obsessed with machines."
Cain clenched his jaw, but said nothing.
Cyrene turned.
"Is anyone else out there?"
Vaxtor tapped his scanner. A blue grid flickered to life.
Dots blinked in clusters.
"I'm picking up some signals," he said. "But… not many."
He frowned.
"The scanner's glitchy. Maybe too much interference. But it looks like that's all of them."
Cyrene straightened. Her voice rose just slightly.
"We were all chosen. Given the same chance. Now we stay alive—together."
Vaxtor's voice cut in again, dry as sand.
"Five thousand were dropped," he said. "We've got 4,320 left. No… 4,319. Someone just died."
A murmur ran through the cave.
People stirred. Survivors.
Huddled in corners. Whispering. Crying.
Some were silent.
Some stared into nothing.
Most didn't speak at all.
Cain looked around.
The cave walls gave way to a broken world.
Cracked streets. Rubble. Ash. The bones of a city that had lost its war long ago.
Sand covered everything like grave dust. The stench of death lingered heavily—blood, rust, decay.
Steam hissed from the cracked pavement.
Puddles of brown sludge bubbled quietly, as if the earth itself bled.
Cain spat.
"Where the fuck are we?"
Agito squinted toward the horizon.
There—a shimmering wall of light.
It stretched across the landscape like a barrier. Unreal. Unnatural.
"What… is that?" he whispered.
Vaxtor answered without emotion.
"We don't know."
Cyrene turned back toward the group. Her voice snapped into command.
"We can't stay here. Everyone—groups of a hundred. We move out now."
No wandering. No splitting off.
No one argued.
The group marched.
Their boots echoed on dead stone. The quiet around them pressed in like a weight.
In the distance—
The clang of metal echoed. Once. Twice.
Then a hush fell, abrupt and complete.
Like the final breath of a presence too weary to continue living.
Wrecked vehicles leaned against burned buildings.
Cratered walls. Crumbling signs.
Everything spoke of war.
Not a recent one.
A war that ended with no survivors.
Agito's voice was low, barely a breath.
"This place… it was already dying."
And then—
They saw it.
A fortress.
Half-buried. Cracked.
But it still stood.
Stone towers rose above the ruins, battered but unbroken.
Massive gates hung open, twisted and half-torn from their hinges.
The walls were black with scorch marks and bullet wounds.
But still, it stood.
Cain stopped walking. His voice sounded strange.
"…Maybe that's it."
Vaxtor studied the structure.
"Strategically placed. Easy to defend. Good view from the towers. Reinforced walls," Vaxtor said.
Finally, she spoke:
"Not a home," she murmured quietly.
"…But maybe a fortress."
They stood in silence.
And for the first time—
a flicker.
Not light. Not sound.
Hope.
Before anyone could move—
"Mom! Mom! Look!"
A child's voice pierced the quiet like a song.
"That looks like Exilium! Like in the story you read me!"
Too pure.
Too innocent.
Agito froze.
Cain raised his weapon.
The air grew heavy.
An ancient presence stirred beneath the surface.
An entity that hadn't perished with the city.
One that had been waiting patiently, quietly, hidden.
The storm wasn't over.
It had only just begun.
[1] Roar of the Crushing Force