The morning sun filtered through the thick canopy above, casting golden shafts of light that broke the cold mist clinging to the forest floor. Ember's breath misted in the air as she crouched near the forest's edge, one hand gripping the hilt of her dagger, the other brushing aside dew-laced ferns. Every muscle in her body was coiled, tense, listening. Behind her, the others waited, silent but alert.
"What do you see?" whispered Kael, crouching beside her.
Ember narrowed her eyes. Just beyond the tree line, a once-silent village now stirred. Not with the movements of the living, but with the unnatural, jerky twitching of those the infection had taken. In the center of the square, an Obsidian-class Revenant paced in circles like a predator inside a cage of its own madness. Its skin was a patchwork of decayed flesh and armored growths. Faint tendrils of corrupted energy pulsed from its spine, warping the air around it.
"They're nesting," Ember muttered. "Using the old temple as shelter."
Kael cursed under his breath. "And the signal?"
Ember reached into her coat and pulled out the tracker Aria had repaired. The blinking light pulsed with steady rhythm. "It's here. Whatever's sending that signal—it's under the temple."
Behind them, Juno stepped forward, her staff lightly tapping against her armored knee. "Then we don't have a choice."
"Charging into a horde of infected isn't a choice," Marrow growled. "It's suicide."
"It's necessary," Ember replied. "Whatever's broadcasting this energy is drawing them in like moths to flame. We shut it down, or this entire quadrant will fall within days."
Silence fell over the group. The stakes had never been higher.
Juno knelt beside Ember and began drawing symbols into the dirt. "I can cloak us long enough to reach the temple door, but once we're inside…"
"They'll sense us," Kael finished grimly.
"Then we make it quick," Ember said, rising to her feet. "Gear up. We move in five."
The approach was a blur of breathless movement and whispered chants. Juno's protective shroud settled over them like an unseen veil, muffling their steps and masking their scent. They passed within feet of several Stalkers, the gaunt creatures tilting their heads in confusion but not attacking.
Inside the temple, the air grew heavier. Runes long since darkened pulsed faintly, flickering between ancient divine light and the corrupted aura now infecting the land. Moss-covered statues of forgotten deities lined the walls, many now cracked or defaced.
As they descended deeper into the structure, a low humming grew louder.
They found the source in a chamber carved into the earth—an altar of obsidian, radiating energy like a heartbeat. Atop it sat a crystal sphere, cracked but still intact, suspended within a lattice of glowing chains.
"It's a Beacon Core," Juno whispered. "From before the Collapse."
"I thought those were all destroyed," Kael said, voice hushed in awe.
"Most were," Juno replied. "But this one's corrupted. Look at the chains—it's feeding off the infection, not resisting it."
"Can we shut it down?" Ember asked.
"I can try," Juno said, stepping forward cautiously. "But it'll take time—and it won't go unnoticed."
As if on cue, a tremor shook the chamber. Above them, the snarls of the infected grew louder.
Kael unslung his rifle. "We've got company."
What followed was chaos.
As Juno began her incantation, light burst from the core, illuminating the room in pulses of white and violet. The infected began pouring in through the temple halls—howling, gnashing, mutated horrors no longer remotely human.
Ember met them at the threshold, blades flashing. She danced between them, precise and fluid, her body remembering old instincts honed in blood and desperation. Kael held the line beside her, his rifle spitting controlled bursts of fire, every shot deliberate, deadly.
Marrow, roaring like a beast, slammed into the largest of the creatures with hammer and shield, a bulwark of steel and fury.
But the Revenant from the village square had followed them. It forced its way into the chamber, its eyes glowing with a sickly intelligence. With a roar that cracked stone, it charged.
Juno's voice rose in intensity. Glyphs burned into the floor, spiraling around the Beacon Core. "Almost there!"
The Revenant leapt.
And Ember did the only thing she could—she intercepted.
The impact flung her across the chamber, pain lancing through her ribs as she crashed against a statue. Her vision swam. The Revenant turned, ready to finish her.
But Juno's voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
"Veritas Lux!"
The Beacon exploded with light.
When Ember awoke, the chamber was silent.
Dust hung in the air like falling snow. The Beacon Core was gone—shattered into nothingness. The infected were dead, their bodies crumbled to ash. And in the center of it all, Juno knelt—barely conscious, blood trailing from her nose, her hands burned.
"You did it," Ember whispered, crawling toward her.
Juno looked at her, smiling weakly. "For now."
The others were gathering, silent in the aftermath. No cheers. No celebrations. Just grim acknowledgment of what they'd survived.
"What was the cost?" Kael asked quietly.
Juno stared at the empty space where the Beacon had been. "We shut down a signal… but we also sent out another. A pulse of light powerful enough to be felt across the entire region."
Ember understood. "They'll come."
Juno nodded. "And we'll be waiting."