The wind howled between skeletal towers as Kael advanced across the shattered highway, his boots crunching over debris and bones. The light from his cracked visor illuminated fragments of war—spent shells, torn banners, burnt-out drones.
His HUD pulsed.
Environmental Hazard Index: 91%Radiation Levels: ModerateBiological Contamination: Active
Recommendation: Avoid open-air exposure exceeding 120 minutes.
Kael narrowed his eyes. The farther he moved into the ruins, the more twisted the world became. Trees had fused with rusted scaffolding. Wildlife didn't exist here—only aberrations. He passed a skeletal tram with its windows melted, and inside—organic tissue lined the walls like fungal veins.
Proximity Alert: Hostile signature—30 meters.Classification: Type-Bio | Unstable | Unidentified
He raised his rifle. Static flared across his neural sync, followed by a deep vibration in the ground.
The street beneath him cracked.
From the rubble, something rose.
A humanoid figure—its body a fusion of sinew and metallic growths, its face melted into a single, glowing eye. It moved with uneven, insect-like steps, dragging a bladed limb across the asphalt.
Biotech Mutation Detected:Warning: Adaptive behavior possible.
Kael's fingers tightened on the trigger.
The creature shrieked and lunged.
He rolled left, sliding under a collapsed street sign, the blade missing his chest by inches. The exosuit whined in protest as he dove behind a burnt-out vehicle.
Initiating Combat Analysis...Weak point detected: Rear neural spine.
Kael darted from cover, rifle blazing. Blue-white plasma rounds tore through the creature's arm, but it regenerated instantly—flesh knitting over with living metal.
"What the hell—"
The monster screamed again, slamming its bladed arm into the ground. Shockwaves rippled through the air.
Kael staggered back, HUD glitching.
Suit Integrity: 22%Neural Sync Disruption: DetectedWARNING: Fatal impact threshold approaching
"Iris, override combat lock. Full manual."
Override granted. Survival priority engaged.
Kael exhaled, narrowed his stance, then ran straight at the creature. He vaulted over its sweeping attack and slammed a pulse grenade into its back.
The explosion tore open its neural spine.
The beast convulsed. A high-pitched screech echoed through the ruins—and then silence.
Black ichor sprayed across the cracked pavement. The creature twitched once… and collapsed.
Kael stood over the corpse, breathing hard.
The creature's body bubbled and hissed as its internal pressure failed. Ichor leaked into cracks in the asphalt, releasing fumes that clouded the air with a coppery sting. Its organic-metallic armor began to calcify, turning gray like volcanic ash.
His hands trembled slightly. Not from fear—but from something deeper. Instinct. Precision. Execution.
Kill confirmed.Initiating Biomass Scan...New adaptive strain absorbed: [Nanofiber Regeneration Lvl.1]Activating System Integration...
His gauntlet lit up with a spinning DNA helix.
Congratulations: System Evolution Path Activated.Class: Adaptive Engineer.Trait Unlocked: Rapid Repair (Passive)
Description: "The system within you has accepted biotech material. You are no longer human in the traditional sense."
Kael stared at the screen, silent.
His vision flickered. A wave of heat passed through his body, and then the dull ache of wounds... faded.
Suit Stabilizing.Vital signs improving.Minor tear in synaptic mesh repaired.Recalibrating motion gyros... Complete.Neural latency reduced by 0.03 seconds.New strain cataloged: Subject Type-B / Code 874-Z.
The system spoke in its neutral, cold tone. No emotion. Just functions and alerts.
And yet, it was always there. Always helping.
"I don't know what you are," Kael whispered to the air, "but... thanks."
Acknowledged.
He gave a half-laugh. "That's as close to a compliment as I'll ever get from you, huh?"
Silence.
He looked back at the battlefield. Nothing remained but black smoke and twitching limbs that no longer moved. For a moment, he could almost hear wind rushing through the bones of the city—like the place itself was breathing, hollow and dying.
Kael walked slowly through the street, glancing upward at the ruined spires overhead. Structures that once scraped the sky now bent like broken fingers, reaching for nothing. Rust had become bone. Bone had become roots. Everything was merging.
Piles of shattered electronics blinked in short, dying rhythms—remnants of drones and combat mechs lost in a war no one remembered how to explain.
System Note: Ambient magnetic field fluctuating. Source unknown.
"Yeah, I feel it too," Kael muttered. The hairs on his arm stood as invisible pressure passed through the air. Somewhere far off, a low hum resonated beneath the earth like a sleeping beast rolling over.
He turned his gaze toward the skyline. A flare burst faintly in the distance—green, flickering like a distress signal.
Signal Source: Unknown. Code: VERA-8Encryption Match: Former Corporal Signature Detected.Signal Strength: 14% and stabilizing.
That was his old unit's identifier.
"I thought they were all dead..."
Recommendation: Investigate. Estimated travel time: 2.3 hours.Route Analysis: 4 paths available. All hazardous.No fast travel enabled.
Kael checked his cartridge count—3 remaining.
He picked up the blade-arm the monster dropped. It pulsed faintly, now disconnected from the hive. A temporary melee weapon. Its edge still glowed with residual bio-energy.
He moved forward, one boot at a time, scanning corners and rooftops. A dead city was rarely quiet for long. From alleys, distant clicks echoed. Machinery that wasn't fully dead. The metallic cry of a drone dragged under rubble. And always—the sound of things shifting just out of sight.
He crossed a collapsed rail bridge, its structure humming with residual power, then ducked through the remnants of a half-demolished checkpoint. Bits of ash still floated through the air, clinging to his visor.
As he took one step beyond a blown-open security gate, a distant sound echoed. Not a roar—but a chorus. Multiple voices. Things... answering.
The ruins weren't empty.
"Let's see what the hell's left of this world."
✦✦✦
As Kael vanished into the ruined streets, the corpse behind him twitched again.
From beneath its scorched skin, tiny filaments of biotech began to move—searching.
A pulse of dark-red light flickered in its chest, barely visible beneath the cracked metal.
And deep underground, something ancient stirred.