The figure spoke, its voice a deep rumble, reverberating through the building and my mind like a ripple in a still pond, its words were not in a language I should know, yet understood them perfectly.
"Ah... yet more have come."
we were silent, awestruck, it continued, "Look upon me, you who have entered my cage."
My eyes widened, my hand reaching for my sword, we may not live to see the sun again. The man, as he now clearly was, despite his uncanny appearance, looked at the first lieutenant. He held her gaze for a moment, apathetically, almost disdainfully, before speaking once more.
"Unworthy," as he said this, blood spattered, and a head rolled. As the second lieutenant looked up at me with eyes of shock, her body fell lifelessly to the ground. The man looked at Amir, and spoke in his strange, alien speech again, "Unworthy," this word fell like a hammer on my psyche, I ran to Amir, arriving almost instantly to intercept the being, hoping to save him, but I had arrived at a corpse with its heart ripped out.
The being was still standing before us, as if it had never moved, its hands now dripping with blood. It flicked the blood off expressionlessly, calmly as if it were brushing a speck of dust, and then it turned to look at the second lieutenant. Before their eyes met, we were gone, rushing at an impossible speed through halls upon halls, the corpses, behind us, step, the immense hallway, gone, step, step, step, I didn't hear pursuit, the entryway was in view, meters upon meters passed every step, yet I was too slow, I knew he was doomed if the man caught up, so I ran. A sonic boom was created as I exited the door. I saw the moon, above, how long had we been gone? I began to run faster, faster than I had ever run before, faster than I thought was humanly possible, then, those dreaded words were heard again.
"Unworthy" the sound seemed to emanate from the earth itself, vibrating my bones, yet not shouted, simply spoken. I was in our camp when I heard it, my face turned pale, dread built, and blood spattered again. This time, it didn't come from the second lieutenant, it came from everywhere - everyone - else, it was suddenly raining, but the rain was not cold; it was red.
I ran and ran, my body felt as if it would explade from the force, I was 100, 1,000, 5,000, 7,000 Kilometers, I ran and ran, more, 10,000, I ran directly through any trees in my path, ignoring the pain as they splintered to pieces. I was, for the first time in a very long time, afraid; if I was a god amongst men, this was death, this was fate, and I was not fast enough. I felt a cold breeze, and I knew it was time; I threw the second lieutenant in front of me and turned to attempt to hold up the sky.
as soon as the lieutenant was safe, or so I thought, the being was in front of me, it was not behind me when I ran. It looked at me, and I held its gaze. Suddenly, it blurred, and it was holding a head, the second lieutenant's.
"He was not worthy." With these words I began the process of backing up my mental core using the armor module, as well as engaging all of my tools requiring aura. A thick shield coated my body and my sword glowed red, a voice played in my mind.
[Backing up last 24 hours, state change if you would like a change]
"Change! Start backup from eleven today, quickly!" a ,mechanical whirring signified my instructions were being followed.
My eyes met the man's, or perhaps the god's, I knew not what he was for certain, and as they did, I felt his gaze, within me, burning, scanning my strength, my power, all there was. This time, he did not speak, he dispersed, I focused my mind, relaxed my thoughts, let go of the rest of the world until it was only myself, darkness, and the man rushing towards me at a speed I could not match.
Clang, Clang. What would have been one parry and a killing blow was nullified by the man's sheer speed, I fended off his right hand with my blade, his left was behind his back. Clunk Flesh parried steel, and I was blocked. I felt like prey being played with by a large cat, paw flick, feigned injury, consumed. I moved my blade in a flowing motion to recenter it towards the man, keeping him in my field of vision. He reached forward towards my face with his hand, I blocked with the edge of my blade, his blood sprayed, yet I was still flung back. I was almost giddy, I had made god bleed, but my joy did not last long.
The man's hand, injured not even a qaurter-second prior, was unharmed. what should have been debilitating was seemingly nothing at all. I took initiative, moving in to slice his leg, it was a feint, I was hoping to use my shimmering blade technique to instantly change my target to his neck, hopefully ending his regeneration. My blade came down, his hand moved to block, a shimmering red light appeared, and my blade was at his neck, I thought I was too slow, that he would dodge, yet I felt my blade cut through flesh, watched his neck come apart like a slice of meat from a whole, and I was the butcher. It felt too easy, but I was hesitantly excited.
Then, he smiled. His slowly falling head adopted a grin, and his body dissolved, as if from acid. All of a sudden, he was behind me, I heard a ding signifying the backup was complete, and I knew I had to act now. I leapt forward, removing the grey orb from my shield apparatus, and threw it as hard as I could in the direction of the communications outpost. As the orb left my fingertips, creating a sonic boom along the way, I felt a pain in my back, and I was gone.
[TRANSMISSION END - RETURNING TO CONSCIOUSNESS]
All of a sudden I was back in the briefing room, the others' bodies were beginning to shift, to awaken. everyone had expressions of absolute shock - or complete despondence - on their faces.
The briefing room was dead silent; the atmosphere felt like a cold breeze through a dark room. a shiver ran through my spine.
"Your objective is to reach the camp set up by the previous regiment and collect reconnaissance on the entity," the commander began, his voice sharp and unwavering. "Do not engage. I repeat - do not engage. You've seen the footage, this thing isn't something anyone here, including myself could fight and live, you'd only be placing yourself and those around you in more danger."
He let the weight of his words press against our chests, then exhaled slowly. The lines on his face seemed deeper than they had minutes ago.
"All we need is information—on its abilities, its aura, and, if there's any way in hell to understand what it wants, we need that. That's it."
The commander stepped down from behind the podium and sat on the edge of the stage, resting his hands on his knees. His voice softened, but the weight of it only deepened.
"Gentlemen, ladies, I won't lie to you. You might not make it back." A pause. "No… you probably won't."
A few glances passed between soldiers. No one spoke.
"You'll each be issued a pre-charged memory recorder. It's equipped with stealth tech—top-tier cloaking, sound masking, the works. But let's be honest, it's more likely the recorder makes it back than you do."
He looked up and scanned the room. "You're here because you're the best stealth and recon agents the U.S. Army has. I know some of you are pissed that I'd even imply you could be caught. And under normal circumstances, you'd be right."
He stood again, slowly, and turned to pace in front of the team.
"But this isn't normal. This thing—it erased a forward ops battalion in under three minutes. No signs of combat. Just… gone. The only trace left was radiation we can't identify and an aura signature that doesn't match anything on Earth or beyond. Magic, aura manipulation, cultivation bases, pretty much everything, we're flying blind."
He stopped walking and looked directly at us.
"If less were at stake, I'd give you the option to stay behind. I'd let you walk away and forget this ever happened. Gods know, I'd rather not send any of you into a suicide mission. But this—this thing—is beyond any one nation, beyond anything this planet has dealt with in thousands of years, and history isn't very well documented before that."
He took a breath. Slower now.
"Say your goodbyes. To family, to friends… to the world you know. Odds are, this is the last sunrise you'll ever see."
A long silence.
"I won't insult you with false hope. But I will say this: if you die, let it mean something. Let it be the intel we need to survive the next week."
He stepped back, shoulders squared, eyes cold again.
"Good luck, soldiers."