VEILBREAKERS
Episode 15: "Dominion's Whisper"
[LOCATION: OUTSKIRTS – ABANDONED INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX – MIDNIGHT]
The night pulses with tension. Searchlights slice through the mist as a gunship hovers low, its rotors carving the silence into jagged edges. Boots hit the ground—elite operatives in black tactical gear, rifles raised, formation tight.
[INSIDE A RUSTED STORAGE HALL – KAEL, JETT, AND RAN]Kael sits on a broken crate, head bowed slightly, calm like the eye of a storm. Ran leans against a wall, spinning his dual short blades between his fingers, that same cocky grin tugging at his lips. Jett paces nervously, tablet in hand, scanning signals.
Jett (whispering):"They're sweeping the entire sector. Whoever these guys are, they're not street gangs. Military grade."
Kael slowly lifts his head, eyes gleaming faintly in the dim glow of a flickering light overhead.
Kael (quiet, firm):"They want us alive. That's their first mistake."
Ran chuckles under his breath.
Ran:"Alive, dead—makes no difference to me. Been too quiet lately anyway."
Jett glares at him, voice sharp.
Jett:"You think this is a game? These guys aren't playing with pipes and knives. That's anti-veil tech they're packing. One hit, and you're done."
Kael stands, rolling his shoulders, the tension rippling through his frame. The air seems heavier, pressing inward.
Kael (low, almost to himself):"Then don't get hit."
[OUTSIDE – FOOTSTEPS CLOSING IN]The operatives fan out, thermal scanners sweeping. A commander signals silently—hand gestures slicing the dark. They breach the main gate with a muffled boom.
[INSIDE – THE STORAGE HALL DOORS CREAK OPEN]First soldier steps in—CRACK. Ran's blade flashes once, the man collapses before the others realize what happened.
Ran (grinning):"Warm-up round."
Kael (calm):"Keep it clean."
The next second, chaos detonates. Gunfire erupts—suppressed but lethal. Ran darts like a phantom, blades singing in tight arcs. Jett dives behind cover, working his wrist-console, splicing their comms.
Kael doesn't move at first. He walks—slow, deliberate—through the storm of bullets. Metal screams as rounds hit the ground around him. Then… something unseen ripples outward from him, bending the air.
The soldiers freeze mid-step. Hands tremble. One man's knees buckle before he can pull the trigger.
[CLOSE ON KAEL'S EYES – GLOWING FAINTLY]Dominion Will hums—a whisper only the soul can hear.
Kael (voice low, resonant):"Kneel."
They drop. Not from choice. Their will shattered like glass under a tidal wave. One soldier vomits from sheer pressure. Another claws at his own helmet, gasping like the oxygen was ripped away.
Jett (under his breath, horrified):"…Every damn time, you scare me."
Kael steps forward, boots echoing like a war drum in the silence that follows. He releases the pressure—just enough to let them breathe.
Ran whistles, flicking blood from his blade.
Ran (smirking):"Guess that's what happens when you piss off the quiet guy."
Kael doesn't answer. He looks down at his hands for a second—flexing them slowly, as if the power is something alive, something… dangerous.
Kael (to himself):"…It's getting harder to hold back."
Suddenly—[ALERT FROM JETT'S TABLET]"Multiple signatures inbound. Reinforcements. Heavy class."
The sound hits before the words sink in—THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. Something massive approaching. The steel walls vibrate with each step.
Ran spins his blades, grinning like a madman.
Ran:"Finally. A real fight."
Kael slides his jacket back on, slow and steady. His voice cuts through the air like a blade.
Kael:"Move out. This isn't our stage."
Jett:"And where exactly do you wanna move out to?! We're boxed in!"
Kael glances toward the far end of the hall—an old service tunnel choked with rusted pipes.
Kael:"There."
Before Jett can argue, the main doors blast inward with a deafening BOOM. Steel buckles. Sparks shower the dark.
And through the smoke… silhouettes. Hulking. Armored in black exo-suits, glowing blue with anti-veil resonance.
Commander's Voice (metallic, booming):"Kael. Surrender. Or be erased."
Kael's jaw tightens. For the first time tonight, he smiles.
Kael:"Try."
➔ CUT TO BLACK.NEXT EPISODE: "Hunters in the Dark."
To be continued...