The air was heavier than it should've been.
It had only been two days since the Rift tunnel opened — since the kneeling beast called him "Commander" — but the world already felt different. Like something old was shifting beneath the ground. Like breath being held too long and something was suffocating the others.
Viera stood at the edge of the base's mana lab, watching crimson pulses flicker through the holographic maps floating above her console. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. The readings were unstable — wild — growing faster than any Rift corruption she'd ever seen.
She tapped a command. Another map opened, showing a region twenty kilometers out from the tunnel site.
That part was corrupted too. Trees twisted. Soil blackened. Mana levels spiking, and it was strange because this mana wasn't normal energy.
She whispered, "It's spreading."
Inside the base, Ning Que was trying not to feel like a prisoner.
His hunter badge was gone. His weapons locked. His name now carried whispers, suspicion, distance. He walked the halls and people stepped aside. Even Linx, who never shut up, barely made eye contact anymore.
He sat at a comm terminal, fingers hovering over the screen. The only thing he had was the system.
He wanted to help. To do something. Anything. But he didn't know where to start. Every time he tried to focus, the system lingered. He was slowly beginning to hate it.
{Sovereign Protocol dormant. Emotional stability detected. Memory delay holding.}
{Target anomaly escalating. Recommendation: Deploy Reclaimer.}
He clenched his jaw. "Not yet."
The door slid open behind him.
Aeris entered, still wearing her mission armor.
"You shouldn't be here," she said bluntly.
"I want to help," he replied.
"You're not a hunter anymore."
His mouth tightened. "That wasn't my choice."
"It wasn't mine either. But if you think volunteering will win you trust, don't bother." She crossed her arms. "We sent a scout team to the tunnel site. They vanished. No comms. No beacons. Just gone."
Ning stood. "Then send me."
Aeris raised a brow. "You think we're dumb enough to put the fracture next to the wound?"
He stepped forward. "You saw what I did. What I could do."
"Yes," she said quietly. "That's the problem."
"So why not give me a fucking chance?" He roared, slamming his hands on the desk. The lights in the room flickered.
Aeris flinched, then her expression hardened. She slowly drew a small sai from her left thigh and placed in Ning Que's throat. "If you ever do that again, you won't be able to do it ever."
Ning Que stared at her, unsure how to feel.
Then she turned and left.
Later that night, Ning was in his room when the knock came.
He opened the door to find Viera, holding a portable console.
"Don't tell Aeris," she said, pushing past him.
He blinked. "Good to see you too."
She sat on the edge of his bed and turned the screen to face him. "The corruption zone's doubling in spread every twelve hours. Not random. It's… directional."
"Towards what?"
"You."
Ning swallowed. "How do you know?"
Viera hesitated. Then tapped a command.
A map flickered on screen — a red line stretching from the Rift to the base.
"Your aura signature — the energy you released when you used the Interface — it's like a beacon. The corruption's following it."
Ning dropped into the chair, eyes wide. "So this is my fault?"
"No," she said gently. "But it's your shadow. And shadows always follow."
Elsewhere, in a different corner of the base, Lyra Fen was humming to herself.
She sat cross-legged in her workshop, tuning a small detection drone. The one she'd deployed earlier near the containment zone had finally returned. Damaged, yes. But intact.
She hadn't told anyone.
She was too curious.
The drone hovered before her, its lens flickering.
"Let's see what you saw…" she whispered, tapping into its memory core.
The screen showed static, then warped terrain, then — something black. A ripple of shadows moving in impossible shapes.
Lyra frowned.
Then the drone's voicebox crackled.
"Commander…" it whispered.
Her eyes widened.
Then the drone surged forward, its claws unsheathing.
It attacked.
Ning was halfway through asking Viera another question when the alarm rang.
Red lights. Screaming.
Workshop breach. Zone 4.
He didn't wait.
He sprinted down the corridor, ignoring guards yelling after him. The closer he got, the more he felt it — that pull, that strange pressure in the air. Like the Rift was inside the base.
The door to Lyra's lab was half-melted. Smoke poured out.
"Lyra!" he shouted, forcing his way inside.
He found her slumped near the back wall, blood on her temple. The drone hovered above her, twitching.
It turned.
Its eyes glowed red.
Ning didn't think.
He stepped forward.
The drone spoke.
"You left us behind… Commander."
He froze.
Then the drone lunged.
Ning raised his hand — no blade, no weapon — just will. A crack of light pulsed from his palm, and the drone exploded mid-air, shattered into sparks.
Silence. What in the hell was that?
He dropped to his knees beside Lyra.
"Lyra—hey—wake up—"
She stirred, groaning. "Ow… Okay… no more experiments alone. Ever."
He let out a breath, laughing and crying at the same time.
Later, in the med-wing, Viera examined her.
"She'll be okay," she told Ning. "But the drone was infected. That… that wasn't just a voice. It was an echo."
"Of me."
She paused, staring at him with uncertainty. "Yes."
Ning stood alone outside the room for a long time.
Rain fell again.
And when he could no longer carry the silence, he whispered:
"I can't wait anymore."
The system flared in his mind.
{Sovereign Protocol initiated.}
{Binding legacy memory... Synchronization in progress.}
{Warning: Memory may induce trauma. Proceed?}
"Yes."
He saw fire.
Mountains burning. Cities screaming.
His own voice — older, sharper — shouting orders in a language no one alive spoke anymore.
He stood before a Rift gate — massive, pulsing, consuming. His forces behind him. Civilians crying. And then he made the call.
He ordered the seal.
And thousands died to fuel it.
He woke in his room, gasping, drenched in sweat.
His hands shook.
{Synchronization complete. Legacy ability unlocked: Rift Severance — Grade S.}
{Cognitive risk level: 42%. Emotional resilience: Reclaimer-class.}
{New Memory File Stored: "The City I Burned."}
He stumbled to the window, eyes wide.
Far beyond the walls, the corrupted forest pulsed red.
And from within… something massive was coming.
{Target Identified. Rift Node Approaching. Estimated Breach: 4 days.}