2026-08-30 06:35:00
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The Clinic Door
The Level 1316 cargo transit station felt like a tomb made of rusted steel. The air inside here was freezing, dry, and smelled of industrial dust that had settled for years. I sat leaning against a container wall, staring at the small screen of the communicator device on my wrist. Its indicator light blinked green in a slow rhythm, signaling that our encrypted frequency channel was still open, yet not a single sound came from the other side.Forty minutes had passed since the explosion that destroyed The Garage. Forty minutes since I saw Grox enter the drainage sewer carrying Jax on his back.Across from me, Cora sat in silence. The administrator was tinkering with a datapad she had managed to save in her jacket pocket. The blue light from the device's screen illuminated the sharp lines of her face and the dried blood stain on her right temple.I pressed the transmission button. A static hiss immediately filled the silence of the room."Grox. This is L. Come in," I called, keeping my
Antiseptic Gel Spray
Noctis Reach's acid rain seeped through the cracks of the overpass, dripping sporadically and soaking my red jacket, which was torn and scorched in several places. We kept moving in awkward silence. The wail of security authority warning sirens blared in the distance, bouncing between the towering buildings on Level 1313. Cora and I navigated the damp, narrow alleys, deliberately avoiding the main streets and the glare of lights still on at the block intersections.I forced my brain to focus on my footsteps, on the reflection of light on the wet asphalt surface, and on every suspicious shadow that might move in the dark corners. However, when the night wind blew, carrying the smell of ozone, ammonia, and burnt wiring from behind us, my mental state instantly wavered.A flash of memory forced its way into my head uninvited.Suddenly, I no longer saw the narrow alley in front of me. I saw the first stack of steel plates I bought from an old scavenger years ago. Back then, I spent three
An Awkward Silence
A wave of heat roasted my back, burning my chest cavity every time I took a breath. This maintenance shaft felt like an oven ready to bake us alive. The two of us crawled through thick piles of concrete dust, leaking pipes, and optical cables scattered everywhere. Our movement was guided by the glow of the massive fire raging behind us. The vibrations from the workshop's explosion still rippled through the walls.I used my shoulder to push the remaining thick steel plate blocking the end of the tunnel. The metal shifted with a harsh screech, allowing Noctis Reach's cold air—smelling of burning waste from the factories—to sweep across my dust-covered face. I crawled out of the shaft, my knees hitting the floor on a narrow balcony facing the street of Level 1313. The falling acid rain hissed as it touched the hot metal around us.Cora followed behind me. I reached out my right hand, grabbed her still-trembling arm tightly, and pulled her until she stood beside me. We both turned simulta
Eye of the Storm
Time seemed to freeze, locking us in a fragment that refused to move. Before me, the Eclipse Agent stood amidst the rubble of the destroyed door. His gauntlet-encased right hand was raised toward us.The air in front of him suddenly rippled, distorting. A massive, dense, and lethal gravity wave shot across the room, heading straight to crush my body and Cora's into a pulp of flesh and bone.There was no more room to hide. There was no longer any use in pretending to be a mechanic.I released my grip on the detonator in my left hand, letting it dangle by its safety lanyard on my wrist, and thrust my palm toward Cora. I drew a current of energy from the Veil, focused it into my palm, and unleashed a push.Cora's body was thrown backward, flying two meters through the air before finally landing beside the opening of the maintenance shaft.Right as Cora's body cleared the attack's trajectory, the enemy's gravity wave slammed into where I stood. I instantly lowered my stance, pivoted on my
Evacuation
Chunks of concrete fell from the buckling roof. The sound of tearing and scraping metal sounded like the screams of a dying giant creature. Outside the destroyed doors, the Eclipse Agent stepped forward once again.In the corner of the room, behind a ship engine block, Jax's breathing was ragged and choppy. His jacket was soaked with blood flowing from his crushed pelvis and leg. Vex pressed bandages against the wound with both hands, but it wasn't enough to stop the bleeding.Cora leaned near her ruined terminal, holding her right forehead. Blood flowed from a metal shrapnel scratch, yet she kept her sharp gaze fixed on me. Kael and Risha hid behind the shield generator, their faces covered in dust and fear.We had run out of time, out of ammunition, and out of cover. The Garage, the home and fortress I had built with my own hands, had crumbled."Listen to me!" I shouted, my voice booming, cutting through the crackle of the building's destruction. "We can't hold him here anymore. We
The Garage
Ten meters. Five meters. Zero.The seismic radar on Cora's terminal stopped blinking. The red dot halted right on the other side of our wall. The ensuing silence felt far more deafening than the barrage of the firefight at the intersection earlier. The sound of the shield generator humming in the background sounded like the panting of a monster running out of air. The sound of the acid rain pouring down on the street outside the workshop sounded incredibly heavy.I raised my right hand, clenching my fist in the air—a signal understood by my entire family. No one move. My left hand slipped beneath my jacket extremely slowly, my fingers gripping the arcblade. I restrained myself from igniting its blade right now.Not yet. It wasn't time yet for me to reveal my final card in front of them.A horrifying sound of grinding metal came from outside. The Eclipse Agent touched our door. A low hum traveled across the entire surface of the steel plate. He was testing our door's durability with hi
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