The dust had barely settled when Kael stepped out of the wrecked barracks. The air tasted like burnt metal and dying echoes. Night had fallen, but the sky still glowed red from fires that hadn't yet given up. Every step he took, the ground crunched with shattered glass, broken shells, and memories that didn't belong to him.
The attack was precise. Coordinated. Someone knew exactly where to strike.
He tightened the straps of his harness and scanned the perimeter. Soldiers rushed around—some carrying the wounded, some dragging water canisters, all moving as if time itself was collapsing.
"Kael!" a voice barked. It belonged to Captain Rourke, a broad-shouldered man with a permanent frown carved into his face. He stomped toward Kael with a scarred tablet in his hands. "We've got movement in Sector Delta. Unidentified drones. You're leading recon."
Kael blinked. "Alone?"
"Two-man squad. You choose your second."
Kael didn't answer immediately. A soft wind swept across the ruin, carrying the faint smell of gunpowder and… something else. Something cold. Something unfamiliar.
His mind flicked back to the flashback—the faceless soldiers, the burning facility, the white room. A voice calling his name before the explosion swallowed everything.
Was that memory even real?
He shook the thought off and looked at Rourke. "Zara. I want her."
Rourke raised a brow. "She's unpredictable."
"So am I," Kael said simply.
Rourke grunted. "Fair point. Gear up. You leave in five."
---
Inside the Armory
The armory lights flickered as Kael entered, the hum of energy cores filling the metallic chamber. Rows of weapons lined the walls—pulse rifles, plasma knives, EMP grenades, and experimental tech that hadn't been approved for field use.
Kael reached for his usual hybrid rifle: Valkyr-X7. Lightweight. Adaptive. Deadly.
"You always pick the dramatic ones," Zara's voice teased from behind him.
He turned. Zara leaned against a crate with arms crossed, her short hair tied back, her eyes sharp and unreadable. She wore a half-smirk—the kind that masked a hundred unspoken thoughts.
"You're late," Kael said.
"You're early," she shrugged. "Balance."
She stepped forward and handed him a small device—a smooth black disc no bigger than a coin. "Tracker beacon. In case you get lost in your thoughts again."
Kael stared at her. "You think I get lost?"
"I know you do," she replied with a raised brow. "Ever since the attack, you've been… different."
He didn't have a reply. The flashbacks had been getting sharper. Louder. He feared what the next one might reveal.
Zara's voice softened. "Just don't freeze on me out there."
"I won't."
---
Deployment
The storm was gathering as they moved out. Lightning cracked across the distant mountains, and wind lashes carried fine ash from the earlier bombing. Their transport crawler rumbled slowly across the shattered landscape, headlights cutting through the darkness like two burning eyes.
Zara sat beside him, checking her wristpad. "Drones last detected 14 minutes ago. Flight pattern is erratic. Almost like they're searching."
"Searching for what?" Kael asked quietly.
"Us," she said bluntly.
The crawler stopped at the edge of Sector Delta—an abandoned research zone. Half-collapsed towers rose like dead giants from the earth. Cold air seeped out of the hollow buildings like breath from a sleeping beast.
Kael stepped out first, boots sinking into grey ash. His visor overlay flickered to life, scanning the ruins.
"No heat signatures," Zara murmured. "Even animals avoid this place."
Kael moved cautiously, rifle raised. "Then why are the drones here?"
Lightning flashed again—this time revealing something metallic high above.
Zara saw it too. "Left ridge—movement!"
Kael zoomed his visor. "Three drones. Not ours."
Sleek. Silent. Black. Their wings curved like predatory talons.
And then—
Kael's vision blurred. The world distorted.
Red lights. Sirens. A white hallway. Metal doors slamming shut. A voice—
"Subject K-01—contain immediately!"
Kael gasped and stumbled.
"Kael!" Zara grabbed his arm. "Stay with me! What do you see?"
But before he could answer, the drones descended with a piercing hum.
---
Drone Engagement
"Scatter!" Kael shouted.
They dove behind rubble as plasma beams scorched the ground. Kael rolled, lifted his rifle, and fired a burst—three precise shots. One drone tilted, sparked, then slammed into a wall.
"Two left!" Zara yelled.
The drones moved unnervingly fast—too fast for standard recon models.
"They're adaptive," Kael muttered. "They're learning our aim patterns."
Zara cursed under her breath. "Then change your rhythm!"
Kael breathed deep, steadied his rifle, and fired unpredictable bursts—short and long, rapid then slow. The drone hesitated for a microsecond.
Just enough.
Kael shot it out of the sky.
The last drone swooped down behind them—but Zara was faster. She hurled an EMP disc, which latched onto its hull and detonated with a crackling blue pulse.
The drone collapsed, twitching like a dying insect.
Silence returned. Heavy. Tense.
Zara turned to Kael. "Talk to me. What happened back there?"
Kael opened his mouth, but before he could answer—
The drone's remaining eye flickered.
A hologram projected upward, shimmering in the ash-filled air.
A symbol.
A circle split by two diagonal lines.
Zara's face drained of color. "Kael… that's Black Reign."
Kael felt the entire world tilt.
"I've seen that symbol before," he whispered.
"Where?"
"In my flashbacks."
Zara took a half-step back. "Kael… are you telling me—"
He didn't get to finish.
The ground beneath them trembled. A distant explosion thundered across the far valley. Then another. And another.
A dark fog rose beyond the ridge.
Zara steadied her weapon. "They're launching a second wave."
Kael stared into the shifting smoke, heartbeat pounding like artillery.
"If Black Reign is here… then they know who I am."
Zara looked at him with fear—and trust. "Then we figure it out together."
Kael nodded, though uncertainty gnawed at his insides. The flashbacks weren't random.
They were warnings.
Memories trying to claw their way back.
And somewhere in those buried fragments… lay the truth of why Black Reign wanted him alive.
Or dead.
End of chapter 3
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