The plane wasn't ordinary.
No seats. No windows. No flight attendants. Just a hollow cabin of reinforced titanium plating lined with biometric panels and neon-blue veins pulsing with kinetic insulation. It hummed like a sleeping engine—quiet, but filled with power waiting to wake.
Malric sat alone, strapped into a shock-absorbent harness that felt more like a body restraint than a seatbelt.
Vos had vanished the moment Malric boarded.
No goodbyes.
Just a nod… and the hiss of the hatch sealing shut.
> Autopilot Engaged. Destination: Sector Zero – Facility Lambda
Estimated Time of Arrival: 4 hours, 16 minutes
The console blinked with a map that didn't show Earth as the average citizen knew it.
No continents. No cities. Just blacked-out zones, floating grids, and redacted corridors in space-time.
The plane vibrated as it lifted into the sky.
Malric leaned back, silent.
The world below disappeared into clouds.
And then… into darkness.
---
Somewhere over the ocean, the silence was broken.
The ceiling lit up, casting a low violet glow as a hologram flickered to life beside him. A woman—silver-haired, sharp-eyed, military uniform with faint neon circuitry in her collar.
"Grimholt, Malric. Welcome," the hologram said crisply. "I am Director Liora Zhay, operations head of the international SPEC-based response initiative: Sector Zero."
Malric's eyes narrowed.
"You're not the one who recruited me."
"No. That was Agent Vos. I run the facility."
She continued.
"You're being transported to Lambda Base—a sub-terrain operations hub located within a classified island in the South Pacific Dead Zone. No satellite sees us. No nation governs us. You'll live, train, and operate there as a probationary Zero."
"What's the test?"
Director Zhay raised an eyebrow.
"Straight to the point. I like that."
A beat.
"We drop you in blind. You find your way through a labyrinth, survive simulated combat, and reach a central node. Pass, and you're activated. Fail… and we put you back on the plane."
"…Simple enough."
She tilted her head.
"For most, it isn't."
The hologram vanished.
Malric looked out at the emptiness beyond the reinforced hull.
Somewhere ahead, a mountain rose from the sea like a forgotten god.
And inside it—his new world.