The wind in the ancient grove didn't whisper; it sighed through the colossal, moss-draped branches high above. Below, in a clearing of crushed ferns and splintered wood, lay the source of the silence—a heap of monstrous forms, their impossible anatomies already beginning to dissolve into shimmering, unnatural mist.
Perched atop the pile like a king on a grim throne, Sylas let the breeze cool his skin. A streak of dark purple blood, almost artistic, graced his cheekbone. His hair—the colour of fresh ash—stirred, catching the dappled light filtering down from the distant canopy.
Bzzt.
A cerulean hologram panels materialized in the air before him, painting his sharp features in cold, electric light. His dark hazel eyes, which had been closed in something approaching peace, slid open. He scanned the lines of glyphs and coordinates.
> ANOMALY HUNTER CODE: 37-29-81
> DIRECTIVE: ELIMINATE / ANOMALY-CLASS BEAST
> LOCATION: PLANET 73_67_8268 (LOCAL DESIGNATION: 'VERIDIAN VEIL')
> ASSESSED THREAT: PLANETARY
Sylas stared. The last of the tension bled from his slim shoulders, replaced by a profound, weary slump. A long, slow breath escaped him, fogging the edge of the hologram for a second.
"A planetary threat," he murmured to the giant, silent trees. "Wonderful. Do I get a coffee break first? Or do I just skip straight to the world-saving?"
He pushed himself up, his black boots slipping slightly on the unstable, fading biology beneath him. His coat, a stark slash of shadow against the vibrant green and gold of the primordial forest, settled around him. One hand went instinctively to the sleek, dark metal of the blade at his side—its twisted, golden veins dormant for now.
The hologram blinked, awaiting confirmation.
He swiped a thumb through it, dissolving the message.
"Fine," he said to no one. "But I'm billing for overtime."
With a resigned sigh, Sylas drew his sword. Not to strike, but to part the air itself. The Axiom Fragment gleamed, its golden veins flaring as he made a single, vertical slash. The tear in reality hissed open—a wound of shimmering violet energy, just wide enough to step through. He sheathed the blade and walked into the light without looking back.
The other side wasn't a jungle.
The rift snapped shut behind him with a sound like a sigh, leaving him standing on the sun-warmed gravel of a rooftop. A gust of wind, carrying the smells of petrol, concrete, and distant food, hit him first. Then came the sound: a low, relentless roar of traffic and life. He stepped to the edge.
A modern civilization sprawled before him, a canyon of glass and steel. Sunlight flashed off countless windows; ant-like cars streamed through deep streets. Skyscrapers, like polished mountains, pierced the smog-hazed sky.
"Huh," he breathed, a genuine smile touching his lips. "What a view. Seeing a place that's still… standing… is a rare sight." His dark hazel eyes scanned the urban maze. "Now then. Where are you hiding—"
The explosion cut him off.
It was a distant thunderclap, followed by the shriek of tearing metal and the terrible, slow-motion crumple of a skyscraper several blocks away. A plume of smoke and dust billowed upward. There, amidst the chaos, was the source.
The anomaly was a perversion of scale and biology. It stood three stories tall, a lizard-like horror the length of two city buses. Its head was a bleached, horned skull, empty sockets burning with violet pinpricks of light. A mane of thick, matted fur, like a lion's but coarse as steel wool, covered its muscular neck and shoulders, from which a dark, miasma-like aura seeped, staining the air around it. Its powerful limbs ended in three-fingered paws, each finger a cruel, scythe-like talon longer than a man. It swiped its massive tail, clearing a city block of vehicles with a casual, devastating sweep.
Helicopters buzzed around it like gnats, their gunfire flashing. Tanks fired from barricaded streets. The rounds impacted the dark aura and were absorbed with rippling, harmless flares. Annoyed, the beast lunged. One swing of a scythe-claw cut a tank in half with a shriek of sundered armor. It was less a battle and more systematic demolition.
"Woah," Sylas muttered, his earlier annoyance replaced by professional appraisal. "That's… cool. In a horrifying, city-destroying kind of way." He shrugged, his black coat flapping in the updraft. "Anyway. Let's go say hello."
He didn't leap from building to building. He simply stepped off the roof's edge.
He fell like a black comet, straight down the face of the skyscraper. The wind roared in his ears. At the last second, he angled his body and landed not with a cat-like grace, but with the deliberate, earth-cracking impact of a meteor.
CRUNCH-THOOOM.
The intersection cratered beneath him, asphalt buckling and concrete powdering into a thick cloud of gray dust. Car alarms for blocks erupted into a symphony of panic.
The anomaly froze, a half-shredded tank in its grasp. It swung its skull-head toward the new impact site, sensing not a missile, but a presence—a cold, sharp point of pressure amid the city's heat.
Across the ruined boulevard, the dust began to settle.
Slowly, a figure emerged, walking with a calm, unhurried stride. Sylas held the Axiom Fragment loosely at his side, its needle-like tip scraping a faint line in the debris-strewn asphalt. The stellar-blue stain along its edge caught the sun, a single cool light in the haze. He looked up, meeting the violet pits of the beast's gaze, and gave a slight, almost polite nod.
"You're making a mess," he said, his voice cutting cleanly through the distant screams and sirens.
Sylas then just smiled plainly and started walking faster.
'Okay let's end this and have a rest!'
End of the chapter-