The drop thrusters hissed sharply as the Orion-X pierced through the upper atmosphere of R22, fire licking the hull as turbulence rocked the cabin. But inside, Kael and Tyren remained composed—eyes cold, grips steady.
The landscape below revealed itself through the ship's tactical viewport—yet it looked nothing like it did when they left.
Once a dull, fog-choked wasteland, R22 had become darker, the clouds thicker and stained with a toxic green tint. The land shimmered faintly under the overcast sky, but not from sunlight—from radiation.
Everything pulsed like a dying heartbeat.
The terrain writhed with radioactive signatures—hot zones, abnormal particle flow, and fluctuating gravitational density. Something had changed. Something massive.
As they touched down, a Geiger alert blinked red across the dashboard.
Radiation levels: x2 baseline. Prolonged exposure not recommended.
Kael grunted. "Perfect welcome."
The ramp dropped with a hiss, releasing a short vacuum pull of air. Kael and Tyren stepped onto the ground—Ravager and Brawler thudding behind them like gods stepping into old territory.
---
"Something's off," Tyren muttered as his boots sunk into the ashen soil. "It's hotter. But not in temperature—like the planet itself is reacting."
Kael crouched, swiping some of the dust into his scanner.
The readings were insane—uranium, thorium, lead composites, all spiking beyond safe thresholds.
Even the fog felt thicker, heavier—almost sentient.
Ravager's sensors flickered for a moment before recalibrating. The upgraded shielding was holding. Barely.
"This isn't natural evolution," Kael said. "This is mutation. The radiation's not just seeping into the environment. It's being... eaten."
Tyren raised an eyebrow. "Eaten?"
Kael nodded toward a ridge in the distance. "Come on. Let's see what we're dealing with."
---
They moved carefully, keeping low beneath radar pulses. Half an hour into the trek, they found it.
A massive crater—collapsed rock and twisted metal scattered around its edge. And at the center, shimmering like corrupted gold, was a mine shaft, thick with uranium deposits and glowing like veins of hellfire.
Dozens of lizard-like Kaiju—each about the size of a tank, with long necks, glimmering dorsal plates, and translucent claws—were slithering around the entrance. Their skins looked metallic, like scales forged from the very ore they consumed.
"They're eating the uranium," Tyren whispered. "Literally consuming radiation."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Which means their biology adapted. Which means they're more dangerous than before."
One of the lizards hissed, lifting its snout as if tasting the air. For a moment, it locked eyes with Ravager—but didn't attack.
"They're not aggressive," Kael muttered. "Not yet."
"Should we test that theory?"
Kael glanced at a smaller one near the edge of the group—maybe three meters long. Slower than the others. Isolated.
"That one," Kael said. "Let's bring it down fast and clean. See what it's made of."
Tyren smirked. "Let's go hunting."
---
Ravager moved first—silent, smooth, deadly. The redesigned exoskeleton shifted with ghostlike precision, systems purring as Kael selected the high-frequency vibration blade.
Tyren activated Brawler's power gauntlets, the energy cores humming with restrained destruction.
The two flanked the lizard Kaiju quickly, staying just out of its sensory range.
Then—
> WHRRRRRRR—SHHHHHTK!
Kael struck with surgical speed, blade slicing through the creature's spine just above its hind legs. It shrieked—a warbled, metallic sound—as it reared up in agony.
But the other Kaiju didn't react.
"They don't protect each other," Tyren noted, grabbing the flailing tail and smashing it into the ground with Brawler's fist. "Lone minds. Not a pack."
Kael stabbed once more—this time through the skull—and it went limp.
The silence returned.
Steam rose from the corpse. Kael's sensors flared red.
"Readings are off the charts. Its internal organs are crystallized. Bone density doubled. Blood's... viscous, glowing."
Tyren bent down. "Smells like burnt metal."
"We'll harvest what we can and bring it back. Oris is gonna want this on a table."
Kael paused.
Then looked up at the larger lizards—still feeding on the mine walls.
"They're not just surviving. They're thriving. R22 isn't killing them. It's evolving them."
Tyren cracked his knuckles inside Brawler. "Then we better evolve faster."
---
As they prepped the corpse for transport, Kael's comm device buzzed once.
A private frequency.
He paused, flicked it open.
> Ryssa [Private Line]: "Reading your first scan data. Radiation's far beyond predictions. You alright?"
Kael typed back one line:
> Kael: "We're breathing."
Then paused. And added:
> Kael: "Planet's changing."
> Ryssa: "So are you."
Kael didn't respond.
But for a moment, the weight of the world felt... shared.
Just for a moment.
---
With the corpse locked in Orion-X's contai
nment bay, Kael stood silently in the mist, eyes locked on the flickering glow of the lizard mine.
"Tomorrow," he whispered. "We go deeper."