Chapter 4 – Syncfall: Prelude to Invasion
The night was unnaturally still.
In the undercroft of the academy, Squad 404 gathered in silence. A low, electronic pulse echoed through the walls as if the very bones of the facility were vibrating under strain. On Aaron Velcris's retinal HUD, the RS-I displayed a warning no cadet had seen in centuries.
RIFT SECTOR: BREACH IMMINENT
Class: UNKNOWN
Estimated Sync Disruption: 91%
Projective Survival Rate [Standard Cadets]: <18%
Directive: Deploy Prototype Unit – Squad 404
Confirmation Required: [Y/N]
Aaron's jaw tensed. He didn't hesitate.
He tapped [Y].
---
Rift Beacon – Sector 9
The Rift Beacon had stood inactive for over two decades, a forgotten ruin perched between fractured mountains and entropy-twisted forests. Meant to stabilize dimensional breaches, it now pulsed erratically—bleeding red mist into the twilight sky.
As Squad 404 arrived aboard a stolen relic skiff—patched together by Vayne using salvaged hover cores—they stared in silence at the tear in reality widening across the horizon. It looked like the world had been scratched open by claws made of gravity itself.
Nessa shivered. "I feel like I'm being watched by something older than time."
"You are," Reen replied grimly. "Every relic within a thousand klicks just screamed."
Vayne activated a data-drone swarm, scattering spectral pixels into the wind. "This isn't a normal breach. This is pre-invasion behavior."
Aaron's RS-I interface erupted in flashing glyphs.
System Update:
Symbiotic Protocols – Phase I Access Granted
Tactical Overlay Enhanced
Sync Threshold Achieved: 10.01%
Squad Sync Mode: ONLINE
Unlocked Feature: Phantom Thread
A sensation rippled through them all—subtle, invasive, almost spiritual.
They were now connected.
---
Symbiosis: Phantom Thread Activation
The Squad Sync engaged like a second pulse in their blood. Aaron saw glimpses of Reen's inner flame, felt Vayne's tactical abstractions like dancing lines of light, sensed Nessa's movement prediction instincts, and touched the edge of Solen's fractured thoughts—images bleeding across a shared cognitive link.
This was the Phantom Thread.
Not full telepathy. Not hive-mind. But a battlefield tether.
And it would save their lives.
"Squad," Aaron said, "this is no longer a drill. This is war."
---
Contact
The rift snapped open like a jagged maw. Something pulled itself through—massive, armored, half-phased. A creature unlike any they had trained against. Its body flickered with quantum static, limbs shifting between organic and mechanical states.
Reality groaned beneath it.
And worse—behind it—hundreds more pulsed in the void.
"Name?" Vayne asked.
Aaron checked the scan logs. "System has no name for it. Classification: CODEWRAITH."
"Perfect," Reen muttered, flames licking her palms. "I've always wanted to burn a myth."
---
Battle Formation: Alpha Sync
Aaron issued his first synced command, and it resonated through the Phantom Thread.
"Formation Alpha. Vayne, overload beacon resonance and funnel it into localized distortion. Reen, create a firewall perimeter. Solen, veil our position. Nessa—watch our backs and feed me movement reads."
They moved instantly. Together.
For the first time, they felt like a unit.
The Codewraith lunged, phasing forward in erratic jumps. Nessa's reflex sent a burst of predictive data into Aaron's HUD, allowing him to dodge half a second before the thing materialized. He struck low with his relicblade—one forged from the RS-I itself.
The blade passed through it.
No contact.
"Shifted again!" Vayne yelled. "It's anchored between real layers!"
Aaron's RS-I updated.
New Combat Mode Available:
Phase-Lock Algorithm Detected
Target: Codewraith
Weakness: Temporal Anchors – Flicker Timing Patterns
Deploy Protocol: Phantom Spike [Ready]
He shouted through the Thread. "Everyone—hit your combat rhythms. I'm syncing the spike."
Time slowed.
The battlefield became a blur of movement, light, and shadow. Aaron wove through chaos, counting flickers, watching the creature phase between reality fragments.
On the fourth flicker, he struck—and landed.
The Codewraith screamed, the world rippling outward like an echo across shattered glass.
---
The Collapse
The fight continued for minutes that felt like years.
Reen's fire warped in tandem with Vayne's field distortions, turning bursts of corrupted light into weaponized radiation. Solen projected fear itself into the enemy's mind, halting its movements. Nessa weaved like a phantom through near-death trajectories.
Aaron... fought like a man who had already died once.
They brought it down.
The first Codewraith vanished in a shuddering pulse of broken light.
But behind it, the rift yawned wider.
More were coming.
System Alert
Dimensional Stability: FAILING
Sync Field Fluctuation: RISING
Phasefall Event Detected
Squad Status: CRITICAL
Auto-Recall Option: AVAILABLE
Deploy Emergency Protocol: Squad Lockdown?
Aaron stared at the HUD. Then, at his team—his family now.
"No," he whispered.
He selected Override.
"Everyone," he called through the Thread, "get ready for war. We hold the line here."
---
Back at the Academy – Shockwave
The academy commandant watched from the tower as the rift exploded in size. Reports flooded in—unauthorized breach combat, forbidden Sync protocols, relic energy spikes not seen in generations.
She slammed her fist against the console. "They'll die out there."
A soft voice beside her spoke. "Or they'll evolve."
It was the old Archivist, the one who maintained the code vaults. His eyes shimmered with something ancient.
"I warned you," he said, "that boy isn't from this timeline. He carries a version of war we've yet to witness."
---
Last Stand
As the second wave hit, Squad 404 pushed beyond their limits.
Their Symbiosis deepened. Memories bled. Secrets unlocked.
Reen's flame no longer burned—it sang, alive with symbiotic harmony.
Vayne mapped not just combat zones but probabilities. He began to see outcomes before they happened.
Solen began merging illusions and solid code, warping enemy attacks.
Nessa moved faster than sound—reflexes syncing with Aaron's command pulses.
And Aaron…
…he began to rewrite the battlefield itself.
---
Reality Rewritten
The RS-I pulsed with ancient energy.
Warning: Unauthorized Ability Access
Reality Sync Threshold Crossed: 18.4%
Rewriting Field Parameters...
Command Class Elevated: WAR-ARCHITECT
Accessing Locked Archive: "Project Ascendant"
A new tab opened on Aaron's HUD. A symbol appeared—one he'd seen in his final hours on Earth before reincarnation.
The Ascendant Sigil.
In that moment, he remembered.
Not just the battles, not just the systems—but the truth.
Project Ascendant wasn't just a relic.
It was him.
---
End Scene: Echoes of Tomorrow
As the dawn broke and the breach stabilized, Squad 404 stood bloodied but unbroken. A dozen Codewraith corpses dissolved into void dust. The Rift sealed behind them, the ground still smoking.
They had no medals. No announcements.
Just one another.
Aaron stood in the ruins, eyes distant.
This was only the beginning.
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>End of Chapter 4 –