The ascent back to the surface was agonizing.
Their bodies ached, every step a brutal reminder of the battle they'd just survived. The lights overhead flickered intermittently, casting the narrow hallways into eerie, stuttering darkness.
Lan kept glancing behind them, half-expecting another Harbinger to rise from the shadows.
But nothing came.
When they finally reached the hangar bay, Minh immediately activated a distress beacon, summoning extraction.
Bao secured the perimeter, his heavy weapon humming with stored energy.
Nam slumped against the wall, trying to catch his breath. His armor was little more than molten scrap now, held together by sheer will and the Shard's residual energy.
Lan approached him, handing over a ration pack.
"You need this."
He took it wordlessly, tearing into it like a starving man.
Minutes passed. Then—
A low rumble.
At first, they thought it was the extraction team arriving. But when the floor started vibrating, and a dull roar built into a deafening crescendo, realization hit.
"This place is rigged!" Minh shouted.
"They're going to bury the evidence!"
Nam cursed and pushed himself upright.
"Move! Everyone out!"
The walls cracked. Fires erupted along the ceiling. The hangar door shuddered, struggling to open.
A massive transport VTOL hovered just beyond the door—Delta Command's extraction craft. A ramp extended toward them.
They ran.
Behind them, the facility collapsed, entire sections falling away into bottomless chasms.
Lan was the last to leap aboard, Bao yanking her up as the ramp slammed shut.
The VTOL peeled away from the crumbling ruins of Site Epsilon just as the ground split open and swallowed the entire complex.
Inside the craft, silence fell.
Everyone was too exhausted to speak.
The pilot—a grizzled veteran named Captain Ortega—glanced back at them.
"You people look like hell," he said.
"And that's coming from someone who survived the Titan Rebellions."
Nam managed a weak smile.
"You should see the other guy."
The joke fell flat.
There was too much weight in the air—too many unanswered questions.
Nam finally forced himself to sit up straighter.
He looked at Minh.
"Pull up satellite feeds. I want to know exactly what we just survived."
Minh nodded, accessing the on-board systems.
It took only seconds.
And what they saw turned their blood to ice.
Site Epsilon wasn't the only facility under attack.
Across the globe, similar facilities—hidden research stations, black sites, ancient containment vaults—were erupting in chaos.
Some had already been destroyed.
Others were broadcasting desperate SOS signals.
Worse—everywhere, strange disturbances were spreading: black storms, gravitational anomalies, massive disappearances.
Lan leaned forward, voice tight.
"This wasn't an isolated event."
Nam clenched his fists.
"No. This was coordinated."
A prelude.
Minh stared at the screen, disbelief written all over his face.
"The Harbinger wasn't the main threat... It was a warning."
Suddenly, a new alert flashed on the console.
Unknown transmission—encrypted.
Captain Ortega raised an eyebrow.
"Someone wants to talk to you, Nam."
Nam hesitated only a moment before accepting.
A figure appeared on the monitor—a woman, cloaked in shadow, face hidden behind a shifting holographic mask.
Her voice was calm, almost mocking.
"Congratulations, Commander Nam. You've passed the first test."
Lan stiffened.
Bao growled low in his throat.
Nam leaned closer, eyes burning with fury.
"Who are you?"
The masked woman tilted her head slightly.
"Merely a messenger."
The screen behind her shifted, showing an orbital view of Earth.
New anomalies—huge, swirling vortexes of darkness—were blooming across entire continents.
"The true awakening has begun," she said.
"Your Shard is one of many keys. And soon... all doors will open."
The transmission ended abruptly.
Silence fell again—heavier than before.
Nam stood up slowly, the Shard on his back humming ominously, as if sensing the coming storm.
He turned to his team.
"Get ready," he said quietly.
Lan, Bao, and Minh nodded grimly.
They all understood.
The real battle hadn't even started yet.
And the world they knew was already slipping into darkness.