The valley shook as Kael and Zara sprinted through the collapsing sector. Smoke spiraled upward like black serpents, swallowing what little moonlight remained. The distant explosions grew louder, closer, carrying the unmistakable rhythm of coordinated artillery.
Zara glanced back. "If Black Reign is deploying a second wave, they're not here for recon. They're here to erase something."
Kael tightened his jaw. "Or someone."
He didn't need to say who.
The symbol still flickered in his memory—the circle split by two diagonal cuts. He saw it carved in the walls from his flashbacks, painted on soldiers' armor, branded onto a steel door right before everything exploded.
Black Reign wasn't just attacking.
They were resurfacing.
---
Reaching Outpost Echo
By the time they reached Outpost Echo—a half-functioning comm station sitting crookedly on an old bridge—Kael's breathing had settled, but his thoughts hadn't.
Inside, the building buzzed with panicked radio chatter. Screens flashed with red warnings. Soldiers scrambled between consoles while alarms blared relentlessly.
Lieutenant Marris saw them and rushed forward, wiping soot from his face. "Sector Delta is compromised! Drones are swarming across the ridge. High Command is demanding immediate intel."
Zara motioned to the destroyed drone she'd dragged with them. "We brought you a present."
Marris' eyes widened. "That's not Alliance tech."
"No," Kael said. "It's Black Reign."
The room went silent.
Someone whispered, "Black Reign…? I thought they were wiped out decades ago."
Kael shook his head. "They weren't. They went underground."
Marris tapped a trembling finger on the drone's cracked lens. "You're sure?"
Kael didn't hesitate. "Positive."
Marris swallowed hard. "Then everything the Alliance believed is wrong."
---
Interrogation Room B
The damaged drone lay on a metal table, cables connected to a large terminal. Sparks popped occasionally from its fractured core as engineers attempted to access its memory.
Kael stood with Zara behind the observation glass.
Zara folded her arms. "If they pull data from that thing, we might finally know why Black Reign is after you."
Kael clenched his fists. "If it even has data. They wipe everything on impact."
The engineer, a thin woman with silver goggles, tapped her wristpad. "Initializing extraction sequence…"
The drone's eye lit up.
Kael felt his heart drop.
Red.
The same shade from his flashbacks.
The screen manifested lines of code, symbols, encrypted signatures—and then, abruptly, a visual file played.
Static.
Then a room.
A bright white room.
Cold. Sterile. Terrifyingly familiar.
Zara inhaled sharply. "Kael… that's the place from your flashback."
Kael stepped closer to the screen, chest tightening.
Inside the room, three figures in black suits stood around a reinforced cradle.
A child lay inside it.
Dark hair.
Blue eyes.
Thin oxygen mask over his face.
Zara whispered, "Is that… you?"
Kael's breath trembled. "It has to be."
One of the figures spoke, voice distorted by interference:
"Subject K-01 is stable. Proceed with neural conditioning."
Kael's stomach twisted violently.
Subject K-01.
Zara turned slowly toward him. "Kael… K. Kael—"
"No," he whispered, backing away slightly. "No. That doesn't mean anything. It could be random—"
But his voice faltered.
The recording shifted again.
Now the room flashed red with alarms.
Scientists ran. Soldiers shouted. One man slammed his fist against a console:
"He's waking up early—contain him! CONTAIN HIM NOW!"
A blinding white flash erupted—then the recording cut off.
The command room plunged into silence.
Zara grabbed Kael's shoulders gently. "Kael… they experimented on you."
He shook his head, teeth gritted. "I don't remember. I don't know if that's even real."
"But Black Reign does," she said softly. "They've been searching for you."
Kael pressed a hand against his temple, as if trying to force thoughts back into order. "Why? For what purpose?"
Zara didn't answer.
No one could.
---
A New Threat
A sudden boom rattled the station, sending dust from the ceiling scattering across the floor.
Marris burst into the room, pale and frantic. "Unknown vehicle inbound! It's moving fast—too fast!"
The alarms roared to life.
Kael and Zara rushed to the balcony overlooking the bridge.
In the distance, a black armored transport barreled toward them—its wheels skidding against the rubble, sparks flying.
Zara narrowed her eyes. "Hostile?"
"I don't know," Marris stammered. "No ID. No response to calls."
Kael's instincts screamed at him.
"Get the barricades up," he ordered. "Prepare to fire."
The soldiers scrambled.
The armored vehicle swerved wildly—then flipped.
Metal screeched as it rolled across the bridge, crashing violently until it slammed against a pillar and came to a smoking stop.
Zara raised her rifle. "What the hell…?"
The rear door burst open.
A figure stumbled out—covered in blood, limping heavily. He collapsed to one knee, waving a trembling hand.
"D-Don't shoot!" he wheezed.
Kael moved forward cautiously, rifle still ready. "Identify yourself!"
The man lifted his head—revealing a face Kael had never seen, but his eyes…
His eyes were full of terror.
"Please… you have to listen. They're coming."
"Who's coming?" Kael demanded.
The man coughed violently, blood staining his shirt.
"Black Reign," he rasped. "They… they sent me. I escaped… with a message…"
Zara exchanged a tense look with Kael. "A message?"
The man nodded weakly and pointed directly at Kael.
"Subject K-01," he whispered, "they want you back… before you remember everything."
Kael's entire body froze.
The man collapsed unconscious as the sky erupted with dis
tant engines.
Dark aircraft—silent, triangular, and marked with the symbol—approached from the horizon.
Black Reign was here.
And the truth Kael feared most was no longer avoidable.
End of chapter 4
---
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