The hum of Colorado Fortress's energy shield faded behind Elias as Delta Squad's transport vehicle rumbled through the mountain pass. His head still throbbed from the strain of warping space, and blood crusted at his nostrils, but the bronze shard against his chest pulsed gently, soothing his fatigue like a living heartbeat. Through the vehicle's viewport, the dark red aurora stretched across the eastern horizon, a menacing stain on the night sky—where New York City lay.
"Command just relayed the latest intel," the squad leader, Sergeant Miller, said, his voice gruff behind his helmet. He tapped a holographic display, and a satellite feed flickered to life, casting a blue glow over the vehicle's interior. "New York's outer boroughs fell three hours ago. The Shadow Devourers breached the Hudson River defense line, and the National Guard's holding out in Manhattan—for now."
Elias leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he studied the footage. Skyscrapers that once defined the skyline stood shattered, their upper floors collapsed into heaps of rubble. Dark smoke billowed from Central Park, where a massive swarm of Shadow Devourers swirled like a black tornado. Between the buildings, tiny figures—soldiers in exoskeletons, civilians fleeing—moved like ants, their desperation palpable even through the grainy feed.
"What about the evacuation?" Elias asked, his throat dry. He thought of the millions of people who'd called New York home, now trapped in a warzone.
"Partial success," Miller replied, his tone grim. "We got about 200,000 out before the Devourers cut off the bridges and tunnels. The rest are holed up in bunkers or fighting for their lives. But here's the kicker—satellite data shows a concentration of void energy in Midtown, right under the Chrysler Building. Command thinks it's a secondary portal, bigger than the one in Yellowstone."
Elias's hand tightened around the bronze shard. The first portal had unleashed the Shadow Devourers' vanguard; a larger one could flood Earth with an army. "Can we stop it?"
"Only if we shut it down from the inside," Miller said. "But that's not our mission. We're transporting you to the fortress's research wing—Professor Alan's old lab. The scientists there need to study your Primal Bloodline, figure out how to replicate it. Without more Primal Force users, we can't win this war."
As the transport vehicle raced east, Elias closed his eyes, focusing on the Primal Force within him. Since his awakening, he'd felt a strange connection to the Shadow Devourers—a sense of their presence, their hunger, their link to the void. It was like a faint hum in the back of his mind, growing louder the closer they got to New York. The bronze shard amplified that sense, its star-cluster pattern glowing whenever a Devourer's energy signature passed nearby.
Suddenly, the vehicle jolted, and the alarm blared. "Incoming! Multiple hostiles, fast!" the driver shouted.
Elias's eyes snapped open. Through the viewport, he saw a dozen Shadow Devourers—high-rank variants, their scales glinting in the aurora's red light—darting across the highway, closing in from the left. Miller roared orders, and the vehicle's turrets spun, firing blue energy bolts that tore through three Devourers before they could strike. But the rest kept coming, their speed unmatched.
"Elias, can you hit them with that space warp trick?" Miller asked, grabbing his rifle.
Elias nodded, gripping the bronze shard. He focused on the Devourers, visualizing the space around them twisting and contracting. The Primal Force surged, and the air rippled—but this time, the distortion was weaker, less precise. His head spun; he was still recovering from the battle at the checkpoint.
"Not enough," he gritted out. "I'm drained."
A Devourer lunged at the vehicle's rear tire, its claws slicing through rubber and metal. The transport swerved, and Elias was thrown against the wall. Another Devourer slammed into the side, denting the armor, and a third tore through the viewport, its jaws snapping inches from Elias's face.
He reacted on instinct, channeling the last of his Primal Force into his fist. Golden-red light blazed, and he punched the Devourer square in the head. The creature screeched, its skull caving in, and dissolved into black mist. But the effort left him gasping, his vision blurring.
"Hold on!" Miller shouted, firing his rifle at a Devourer clinging to the roof. The bolt hit, and the creature fell, but not before tearing a hole in the armor. Cold wind rushed in, carrying the stench of void energy.
The driver swerved onto an off-ramp, heading toward a derelict industrial park. "We need to lose them in the buildings!"
As the vehicle crashed through a chain-link fence and into the park, Elias stumbled to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. The bronze shard pulsed faster, and a new fragment of information etched itself into his mind—"Primal Adaptation: Life Law – Minor Regeneration."
He felt a w