From the pitch black world...
Comes out a dream...
The same dream that comes and goes for nearly a month.
A dream about a war in the heavens, a dream that is filled with the sensation of dread and despair with the sensation of cold sweat, as if it was a losing battle. The dream shows a lot of starship-like constructs, beams and explosions appear in rapid succession, and at the background of space, the stars... its losing it numbers as each stars fading into the void, like the light itself being snuffed out by an unseen force.
Then, the dream also included a strange spherical construct slowly appearing into his view, it almost looks like a celestial body. The details of this construct is blur but whatever it is, it radiates something, a strange sense of ease or hope.
Then there is a voice again, almost at que.
A disembodied feminine voice close to the ears, speaking softly, almost a whisper, a voice that can only described as "angelic".
Whoever that was, it somehow repeats the same message. The dream ended with...
"It is time... time to wake up... the lost stars..."
Find Me, Find Arg—
Wait. What!
<<<[ @ @ @ ]>>>
Lio's eyes snapped open. Dust choked his lungs with every gasp, his chest heaving as if he had been underwater too long. A sharp ringing drowned out the world, shrill and merciless, while a splitting headache made it feel like his skull was about to burst. Blinding light seared his retinas, forcing him to blink rapidly just to make sense of his surroundings.
Shapes swam into view. Colors blurred. And then—motion. Someone was shaking him violently.
"—io! Lio!"
The voice was muffled, distorted, like it was echoing through water. His eyes focused enough to catch Lynx's frantic expression, her blue hair whipping about, her robotic arm gripping his shoulder like a vice. Sparks flashed at her back, bright bursts of light accompanied by a staccato rhythm—muffled pops in rapid succession, like distant thunder. No, not thunder. Gunfire.
"Lio! Say something, dawk it!" Her voice cracked, edged with panic.
He groaned, clutching his temples as he tried to sit up. "Ngh... what... happened?"
"I don't know!" Lynx's words tumbled out fast, her face pale with desperation. "You just dropped—out cold—then everything started shaking! The whole chamber's coming apart!"
Her explanation was cut short as his hearing returned all at once, the ringing peeling away like torn cloth. Sound crashed back in—screeches, gunfire, the thunder of heavy impacts.
And then he heard it.
The furious crack of Corrin's assault blaster rifle spitting a storm of superheated blaster bolts. The shrill hiss of Zom's drones unleashing bursts of plasma fire. The guttural laughter of Arlin echoing across the chamber as his mace smashed through chitin and stone alike.
Whatever happened when Lio was blacked out, it seems something causes a violent vibration across the mines, which seems to awaken the Cave Bugs swarm like shaking the hornet's nest, turning their fortunate event of riches to a sudden state of survival.
Lio's vision cleared enough to see it: the blocked tunnel, their only entrance, now writhing with movement. From the cracks and shadows spilled an endless tide of chitinous bodies, their mandibles clicking, their claws scraping against the stone. A swarm, endless and ravenous, pouring straight toward them.
Arlin bellowed with wild glee, his mace tearing through the first wave in sprays of its disgusting green blood all over him. Corrin and Zom stood their ground, weapons blazing, turning the tunnel mouth into a kill zone. But for every bug that fell, three more seemed to crawl over its corpse.
The cavern quaked under the swarm's advance. Dust and shards of stone rained from above.
And in the middle of it all, Lynx still clung to him, her eyes wide, shouting over the chaos:
"Can you stand, rookie?!"
Lio staggered upright with Lynx hauling him by her robotic arm, the servos whirring as she pulled his weight with ease. He scooped up his oversized pack—still heavy with Auralite—and slung it onto his shoulders without bothering to dust himself off. His eyes darted wildly across the cavern, searching for any possible escape.
The plasma lantern flickered violently, casting long shadows of broken machinery and half-buried bones. But every path was cut off, and their only exit was already swarming with chittering bodies. The Cave Bugs poured in like a living flood, mandibles snapping, their alien screeches echoing with ravenous hunger.
"Come on, Lio... think! Think!" he muttered under his breath, panic squeezing at his chest. His mind ran circles, flashing between the sight of his companions fighting tooth and nail and the grim certainty that they were seconds from being Cave Bug's dinner. They were trapped. They were prey. And the thought of his party being devoured alive burned in his skull like fire.
Then, like a spark in the dark, an idea hit him.
"Zom!" he shouted above the chaos, his voice cracking. The insectoid Marauder didn't even turn, his drones firing plasma bursts into the advancing swarm. "Do you still have the echolocation mapping of this mine?!"
Zom's antennae twitched in surprise. His multifaceted eyes flicked toward Lio briefly, his expression one of disbelief. "Of course I have it—why would I discard such valuable data?!"
"Then display it! Now!"
Zom's mandibles clicked in irritation. "Now?! I am... somewhat occupied, rookie!" His drones zapped another Cave Bug trying to flank them, sparks raining across the stone floor.
Lio's desperation burst out in a roar. "There might be another way out, but I need that map- RIGHT NOW!"
Another Cave Bug lunged, but Corrin's rifle barked, tearing it down in a spray of its green blood. The veteran didn't miss a beat, his voice booming across the chamber as he reloaded mid-sentence:
"ZOM! ROOKIE! WHATEVER YOU TWO ARE PLANNING TO GET US OUT- IT'S NOW OR NEVER!"
The echo of his words mingled with the roar of gunfire, the screeches of the swarm, and the thunder of Arlin's laughter as he smashed another wave to pulp. The cavern shook again, dust raining from the ceiling as the party's fate balanced on a knife's edge.
Zom's antennae flicked with irritation as he pulled the holographic projector from his belt and tossed it across the cavern. Lio caught it in both hands, nearly fumbling it against the weight of his oversized pack. The blue-white grid sprang to life in midair, flickering with wireframe tunnels and jagged chambers.
"Cover him!" Lynx barked, snapping up a spare blaster rifle from her kit. Her cybernetic arm steadied the weapon with uncanny precision, bolts of plasma tearing through the advancing swarm as she stood protectively in front of Lio.
Frantically scanning the glowing map, Lio's eyes locked on a faint route just beyond the chamber wall. A tunnel, faintly marked, branching off from their current position.
"There—!" He jabbed a finger at it, breath sharp. "A tunnel on the right side wall. It's angled upward... about 55.7 degrees... and 500 meters long."
Lynx's head snapped toward him, face pale with disbelief. "There's no tunnel, that's a wall! What the hell are you—"
But Lio didn't hesitate. There was no time.
He sprinted across the chamber, swerving past falling stone and stray plasma bolts. The bugs screeched behind him, claws clattering on rock, but he didn't look back. His minds races while his heart beating with adrenaline. His legs screamed. Still, he ran.
"Lio!" Lynx shouted after him, her voice cracking with panic as she fired into the horde. "What are you doing?!"
Reaching the marked spot, Lio skidded while clenched his right fist tight, his knuckles whitening. For a heartbeat, fear and doubt clawed at him—but then, a strange resolve, a power that felt surged inside him.
"Move... DAWK IT!!!!"
He drove his fist forward with every ounce of strength, every spark of will, and a suspicious glow.
The impact boomed like thunder.
The entire chamber shook as if a quake had erupted from within. The shockwave blasted outward in a rippling wave, hurling Cave Bugs away in shredded pieces, their screeches drowned beneath the deafening roar.
Dust and shattered rock swallowed everything. The world vanished in gray.
When the cloud finally thinned, all eyes turned in stunned silence.
There stood Lio, his fist buried into solid stone. But where there should have been nothing but unyielding rock, there was now a gaping cavity. A tunnel mouth, raw and jagged, torn open by nothing but his bare hands.
The rookie Marauder, the F-Rank nobody, turned back to his stunned companions, chest heaving, voice raw but resolute.
"EVERYONE! THIS WAY!" Lio shouted. "THIS IS OUR WAY OUT!!!"
---
The others didn't hesitate. Corrin and Zom laid down suppressive fire, plasma bolts searing through waves of chittering bugs as they sprinted toward Lio's position. Lynx's cybernetic arm rattled as her rifle spat bolt after bolt, while Arlin laughed like a madman, swinging his mace to pulp any bug that slipped through the barrage.
Corrin's rifle barked in controlled bursts, covering Lynx and Zom as they closed the distance. "Kid! What the hell did you just—"
They reached the tunnel mouth—just in time to see Lio do the unthinkable.
Instead of resting from that seemingly impossible blow he'd just landed, the boy planted both hands against the raw stone and began tearing into it. His fingers plunged into the rock like claws through clay, ripping chunks away at blinding speed. The sound of tearing rock echoed louder than the hissing swarm. Dust and shards sprayed around him, and with every furious swipe, the manmade tunnel grew deeper before them—carved not by drills, but by the bare hands of a boy they thought they knew.
The party froze for half a heartbeat, stunned.
"By the Throne..." Corrin muttered between bursts of fire. "Kid's digging us a damn tunnel."
Zom's antennae twitched rapidly, his voice buzzing with incredulity. "Statistically improbable. A human of his build... even Level Three metahumans cannot—"
Lynx's eyes widened, disbelief written across her face. she cut him off, wide-eyed, her voice breaking. "He's scrawny, awkward teens we once met—and now he's doing this?! Lio, what the hell are you hiding?!"
Arlin bellowed over the chaos, his grin wolfish despite the danger, half-shocked, half-excited. "Oi, Pujak! If you've been holding back on us, I'm gonna wring the truth out of you after this!"
But Lio didn't stop. Dust streaked his face, sweat glistened on his brow, yet his eyes burned with raw determination. He glanced back only for an instant, voice cutting sharp through the thunder of gunfire and shrieks.
"Less talking—more shooting and escaping!"
With a guttural roar, he dug deeper, carving a passage wide enough for his team as the swarm closed in behind them.
That was all the answer they got.
The veteran Marauders exchanged brief glances—then tightened their grips and turned their firepower toward the horde.
"Cover his back!" Corrin barked.
Plasma fire lit the tunnel mouth as Zom's drones zipped past, blasting Cave Bugs that tried to crawl over their comrades. Lynx stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Arlin, her blaster roaring while his mace shattered any bug that dared get too close.
And ahead of them all, Lio tore through the earth like a human excavator, his body straining with effort but his will unbroken. Each clawed handful of stone brought them closer to the tunnel Zom's map had shown—the only chance they had at survival.
The bugs shrieked louder, clawing into the makeshift passage. But for the first time since the swarm appeared, the party felt the faintest spark of hope.
<<<[ @ @ @ ]>>>
Deep within another shaft of the mining facility, two figures clad in plated armor and armed with blaster rifles, stood guard beside a flickering floodlight. Their silhouettes looked human at first glance—until the pale, synthetic sheen of their skin, semi-minimalist color codes, and the cold glow in their eyes betrayed what they truly were.
Shellwalkers.
Their "souls," if one could still call them that, existed as digitized Atman—consciousness uploaded and locked in a contract with their parent megacorporation. Their semi-organic Somata bodies were durable, replaceable, and fast. But their so-called immortality was no gift. It was a subscription. And the renewal fee was steep.
One Shellwalker slung his rifle over his shoulder, voice buzzing faintly through his modulator. "Seismic spikes. Bug activity off the charts. Honestly, partner... you think this is worth it? My subscription service just recently ended. If I die here, they'll just slap me with another expensive renewal penalty before I wake up again."
The other scoffed, checking his weapon's charge.
"Yeah. That Shinkai Innovations Megacorps squeeze us even from beyond death. But you know how it is—skip too many jobs, fall behind on payments, and poof... no more body waiting for you on the other side. Might as well be a real death."
For a moment, silence hung between them. Even for digitized minds, the weight of that thought was heavy.
Then—
>thoom< >thoom< >thoom<
The ground beneath their boots trembled, followed by the unnerving scrape of stone tearing apart. Both Shellwalkers froze, their systems flashing alerts. They raised their rifles toward the source, aiming their weapon on the floor beneath them, while their weapons humming with energy.
"Bugs?" one muttered, his tone edged with static tension.
The floor just ahead burst open with an explosive crack. Dust blasted into the air, shards of rock skittering across the ground. The Shellwalkers braced, fingers tightening on their triggers—only to see a dirt-streaked boy, somehow claw his way out of the new tunnel while hauling an oversized pack. Behind him, four more Marauders scrambled out, weapons firing back into the passage.
"MOVE!" the boy shouted, his voice raw and desperate. "THE SWARM'S RIGHT BEHIND US!!!
The Shellwalkers blinked, their targeting systems wavering in hesitation.
Behind Lio, the tunnel roared with the chittering shrieks of Cave Bugs closing in.
There was no time to explain, as both Lio, his party, and the two Shellwalkers book it to the mining shaft to the surface where they all came from while shooting the Cave Bugs that where chasing them.
Gunfire, plasma bursts, and the crunch of chitin echoed through the collapsing tunnels as Lio and the party pushed forward with the Shellwalkers at their side. The swarm of Cave Bugs poured after them like a living tide, mandibles snapping, wings buzzing in a deafening cacophony. Each step brought them closer to the main mining shaft—the only known way back to the surface.
"Keep moving! Don't stop!" Corrin roared, firing a plasma burst that scorched three Bugs in one shot. "We fall now, and we're just bug food!"
Arlin, laughing through blood and sweat, smashed his mace into the creatures, pulping their chitin. Lynx's rifle flared beside him, short controlled bursts cutting down stragglers. Zom's drones zipped overhead, spitting concentrated beams of light to hold the swarm at bay.
The two Shellwalkers were human minds in a machines of efficiency, their semi-organic bodies absorbing blows that would shatter bone. They moved like soldiers who had died lifetimes ago, gunning down Cave Bugs with mechanical precision, suppressing the swarm with volley of sizzling blaster bolts, and their desperation fuels their survival rate.
But behind their cold visors, one of them had noticed something. Something shimmered faintly from these Marauders.
Flicked a quick glance toward boy's oversized pack in front of him as they ran. His augmented eyes flashed briefly— unmistakable shimmer of Auralite, and a lot of it. A motherlode of one of the precious crystals in the New Frontier. They found it. Here... at this deathtrap of a dungeon.
A silent thought lodged itself in his data-stream: That haul alone could cover decades of subscription fees, maybe even upgrade into better subscription service. Enough to buy "freedom".
He said nothing. Not yet.
But a slight tug on his synthetic lips.
The Shellwalker's gaze lingered for a moment too long before snapping back to the battle. For now, survival came first.
<<<[ @ @ @ ]>>>
Elsewhere, deep within the chamber they had just abandoned, silence had fallen. The Cave Bugs lay in piles of twitching corpses, their shells cleaved with surgical precision.
Two masked figures stood amidst the carnage.
The first—clad in black and blue—planted his metallic bo-staff into the ground. His movements had been blinding, each strike cutting through the swarm like lightning. Beside him, a female figure dressed in black and yellow spun a pair of tonfa-like blades, the edges still slick with insect blood. Their breathing was calm, measured—as though the massacre had been little more than exercise.
And behind them, a third presence approached. A masked female in black and yellow robes stepped into the lantern's dim glow, her voice low and commanding.
"There. That deposit." She raised a gloved finger toward the smooth marble wall, the very place where Lio had uncovered the strange relic.
The bo-staff wielder snarled but obeyed. With a sweeping arc of his weapon, he shattered the rocky walls, loose rock and debris with great force, rocks tumbles and dust cascading down like ash.
From the rubble emerged a grand statue—a knight-like figure, chiseled in smooth and unknown ancient stone, standing proud beneath a starlit motif. A statue that was buried under rocks and drifted in the cold void of space for untold millennia.
At the base of the statue, a hollow slot yawned empty.
Where once a palm-sized coin should have rested, there was now nothing.
The black-and-blue figure slammed his staff against the ground with a thunderous crack, his frustration echoing across the chamber.
"DAWK IT! ITS GONE! SOMEONE TOOK IT! Someone took the relic. I was supposed to claim that relic—we agreed!" His voice carried the weight of anger, metallic distortion buzzing through his mask.
"Cool your jets, Mav. Throwing tantrums won't solve it." The masked woman in yellow responded to his tantrum. She activated a scanner on her wrist, a cone of blue light sweeping across the marble deposit. A moment later, the hologram pulsed with results.
"...The relic was removed recently," she muttered, voice calm but edged with intent. "Within the last few minutes. Which means..." She raised her head, her visor locking onto the freshly-dug tunnel. "...whoever has it isn't far."
As soon she finished, the ground is rumbling with more of the Cave Bugs swarmed in, with the intent to devour them to their bones.
The male figure's grip on his staff tightened, his breath sharp with barely contained rage.
"Then we hunt."
<<<[ Act 01, Ch 04: END ]>>>