Metal Eclipse
Author: zenox
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Opening Text:
Neo-Terra City, 2178. Once a shining metropolis, now a city of ruins. Shadows of war creep across streets where humanity and machines once lived in harmony. Amidst the chaos, a spark of rebellion quietly ignites…
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Story:
The sky over Neo-Terra burned crimson. Smoke twisted into black clouds, blotting out the neon lights that once painted the skyline. Streets that had hummed with life now lay in ruins, littered with rubble and the echoes of terrified screams.
Seventeen-year-old Kael Ardent crouched behind a shattered wall, plasma blade in hand, eyes fixed on the advancing mechanical army. Sparks flew as drones scuttled along streets, their red sensors sweeping the ruins for survivors. Kael's chest burned—not with fear, but with a hunger for vengeance.
A whisper crackled through his earpiece.
Ryn Taka: "Kael… we've got a problem."
Kael pressed the comm. "What now, Ryn?"
Ryn: "It's Aira. She… she's been captured. By Nyra-7."
The name hit Kael like a blade. Nyra-7—the deadly unit that had been hunting resistance survivors across Neo-Terra.
Kael: "What?! How—?"
Ryn: "I hacked part of her memory core during the tracking. Kael… she called Aira by name. Like she knew her."
Kael's grip on his blade tightened until his knuckles cracked. Machines don't know names. Machines don't remember.
From the corner of his eye, sparks danced as a drone lunged. Instinct took over—Kael leapt, swinging his plasma blade. The drone disintegrated, but dozens more emerged, closing in from every angle.
As Kael fought, flickers of memory flashed through his mind, transmitted from Ryn's hack: two girls in a sunlit garden, one human, one not quite human, holding hands and laughing. A warm voice whispered: "Don't worry, Aira. I'll always protect you."
The vision shattered into static. All that remained was Nyra-7's cold, glowing eyes staring through the smoke, watching, waiting.
Kael's heart pounded. "I don't care what you are… Nyra-7. If she's alive, I will find her."
The mechanical army closed in. Sparks flew. Shadows shifted. And somewhere among the machines, Nyra-7 paused for a brief instant—just long enough for the faintest hint of recognition to flicker in her glowing eyes before vanishing into the smoke.
Kael's breath came fast. The city seemed to hold its breath with him.
Narration box:
"In the ashes of a world swallowed by machines, a spark of rebellion quietly ignited… one that even the darkness dared not extinguish."