Mike didn’t respond immediately to Hilary’s question. His thoughts were a whirlwind inside his head, but something compelled him to keep walking, as if a powerful magnet refused to let him stray from his path, no matter how much he tried. The forest carved its way through the night’s mist, and after a stretch of sepulchral silence, the two of them found themselves standing before a fissure in the mountain.It didn’t look natural. The rocks formed a sort of perfect arch, and a cold, dense air escaped from within, as if that entrance were breathing on its own, giving Mike and Hilary the unsettling impression that it was alive.“A cave…” Hilary murmured, rubbing her arms against the sudden drop in temperature. No matter how thick her long-sleeved uniform was, it wasn’t nearly enough to keep her warm the way an ordinary jacket would have.Mike stepped forward, holding the flashlight in one hand and the weapon still trembling with red energy in the other. The glow barely skimmed the surfac

"Mike? Are you okay?, Hilary asked as she approached and sat next to him, trying to accompany him at that moment of silence after the conversation with the wise man".Mike hesitated for a few seconds before answering."I don’t know… honestly, I don’t know how I feel. Everything has been too confusing. How is it possible that from the very beginning there was already an alien invasion, that the government itself—the one that has ruled us for centuries—was involved, and that now, after sending us on this mission, it turns out I’m the only one capable of facing this evil that’s rotting our world?"Hilary looked at him, unsure of what to say.Mike wasn’t wrong to feel that way. Everything had happened so fast, as if fate had decided to twist his path in the blink of an eye."I don’t know what to tell you, Mike, —she finally admitted—. But I understand. You’re overwhelmed because you left your family at the air base the government built for us as part of their elite. You’re worried they’re

A strange crack echoed through the darkness. It wasn’t the wind, nor branches breaking, nor the roar of some unknown animal that might have alerted them to what was about to happen. It was something deeper, as if the very air were tearing itself apart from within, waiting for the perfect chance to awaken.Hilary tensed instantly, her hand instinctively reaching for the small pistol strapped to the fine leather belt that wrapped around her elegant Greek-style dress. But Mike raised an arm, stopping her.Hilary’s pistol was the kind pilots always carried for their own defense; they could never allow themselves to be unarmed, for their missions were almost always matters of life and death, and they could not risk giving their greatest enemies the chance to bring them down.Besides, they were now submerged in a place utterly unfamiliar to them.From the mist emerged a towering silhouette. Its steps made no sound on the damp ground, yet each movement made the earth vibrate as if it were fa

The roar of the engines thundered like a caged storm in the throat of the metallic beast by the time Mike powered up the plane. For a few minutes, the pilot thought he had forgotten how to fly a military aircraft—something clearly very different from a commercial plane. However, the instant his eyes fell on the control system of the machine, it all came back to him.Mike turned the keys and pressed the necessary controls, hesitating for a moment, wondering if, after ten years, that plane would still respond. Then, the cockpit lit up with flickering flashes, the systems slowly coming to life, recovering bit by bit from their deep slumber, as though the machine were awakening from an eternal lethargy.At last, Hilary climbed inside, shutting the hatch behind her and locking it to avoid accidents. She sat beside Mike, her hands gliding over the controls with a blend of nostalgia and hard-earned certainty. Her fingers trembled, but the moment they touched the familiar buttons, confidence r

Night fell over the base, tinting the hangars and metallic corridors with a deceptive calm. The constant hum of the generators accompanied the silence, broken only by scattered conversations in the main dining hall, where everyone was gathered.Mike walked in with heavy steps, like a man carrying an invisible weight. He picked up a metal tray and sat beside a group of soldiers he didn’t know. Young men, some with scars on their faces, others with the vacant eyes of those who had seen too much in too little time. They exchanged jokes and trivial remarks, but Mike barely touched his food. His mind was still trapped in Amanda—her tears, her reproaches, that wall between them that seemed impossible to tear down.He never imagined his return would be this disastrous.As he chewed a piece of stale bread without appetite, a movement across the hall caught his attention. Hilary. She was sitting at another table, bathed in brighter light, surrounded by a group of soldiers who seemed to be comp