The cave exit was silent, almost ritualistic. One by one, the children were led through the narrow evacuation tunnel by Sol and the caretakers, while Kaela and Yuli worked to erase every trace of their passage. Liane brought up the rear, tense, her senses drawn taut like a bowstring ready to snap.
The air outside was thick, saturated with an unnatural silence. What had once been fertile farmland was now scorched earth, charred remnants and collapsed structures telling the tale of recent violence. In the distance, smoke still rose from the place where the agricultural center had once stood.
Sol pulled out her portable tablet and gestured.
"We're heading to the transport, but we're close to the perimeter where the scanner picked up irregular activity. There's movement… not animals."
Kaela nodded. The vanguard pushed on through the wooded slope until they reached a high vantage point. From there, they could see what remained of the agricultural outpost.
"Damn it…" Yuli murmured.
Below, an armed camp sprawled, camouflage tents, makeshift watchtowers, and several uniformed figures patrolling the perimeter. From a distance, they looked like kingdom soldiers, until they moved. Too fast. Too precise. Too... familiar.
"Do you see it?" Kaela whispered. "They don't move like regular soldiers. That's... our movement pattern."
"I taught that myself," Liane said, her face steeling. "Back when I first became a tutor. Whoever's training them knows our methods."
A chill ran down Yuli's spine. What kind of enemy could so perfectly replicate the Guardian's teachings?
They descended cautiously. Kaela issued orders, triangle formation. Sol in the rear, Yuli up front, Kaela on the flanks. When they reached the lower ground, they encountered the first group.
Four of them, dressed in worn kingdom uniforms with no visible insignias, were throwing knives at a tree for sport. The moment they spotted the Guardians, tension crackled in the air.
Yuli didn't hesitate.
Her weapon carved a swift arc, deflecting a thrown blade. Kaela slid low, disarming another with a precise joint lock. From cover, Sol lobbed a pulse grenade, stunning the remaining two.
"They're not soldiers!" Kaela shouted. "They're fakes!"
One man tried to cry out, but Yuli intercepted him, slamming him against a tree trunk and pinning him down.
"Who's training you? Why are you attacking orphanages?!"
The man opened his mouth, and his expression shifted. A red light blinked behind his eyes.
The Guardians dove away just in time.
BOOM.
A dull explosion, straight through the skull. The body dropped, lifeless.
"Implants!" Sol shouted. "Self-destruct triggers! Fall back!"
But they couldn't retreat yet. Five more attackers emerged from the eastern flank, this time clad in lightweight tactical armor, glowing visors, and modified energy weapons.
The battle turned brutal. Kaela and Yuli fought hand-to-hand while Sol deployed an energy shield to protect them. A spear nearly pierced Kaela's side, but Sol neutralized it with a timed electric blast.
"They're studying us!" Liane shouted from atop a boulder, firing with a customized sniper rifle. "They want to test our responses in real combat!"
Panting, Yuli blocked a strike and shoved her opponent straight into a tent, collapsing it. Kaela took hers down with a leg sweep, pinning him hard.
"Who sent you?! Speak!"
But again… that red light.
BOOM.
The heads detonated in sync. No names. No answers.
"This was a makeshift camp!" Sol called out, yanking a data panel from a destroyed console. "This was their command center! They were transmitting battle data in real time!"
A mechanical roar rippled through the air. Flames suddenly burst from the tents, as if programmed to ignite upon loss of signal. A self-cleaning system. The enemy wasn't just copying the Guardians.
They were surpassing them.
"Tactical retreat!" Kaela ordered. "To the transport! Priority: the children!"
The Guardians fled just in time. Behind them, fire consumed everything. The camp burned like a dark ritual of silence and ash.
As Yuli ran, one thought echoed in her mind:
"Who could erase every trace, even life itself, with such precision?"
And in the pit of her heart, she knew, this enemy was more than a threat.
It was a twisted reflection of what they themselves might become...
if they ever lost their way.