A sharp pulsing of violet and white light forced Cipher's eyes open. He groaned, his hand moving up to clutch his space helmet. The impact from the rearrangement had been brutal, leaving a deep ache across his temples. He shook his head to clear the static from his vision as he slowly pushed himself off the cold ground.
"Ouch... my head," Cipher muttered, his voice echoing inside his enclosed helmet.
He tapped the activation module on his wrist guard to check the short-range grid. "Hey... guys?Anyone copy?"
Nothing but a harsh layer of white noise hissed back. Cipher sighed, typing a rapid code across his console. "Shit. The signal is completely jammed."
He stood up, dusting off his armor plates, and took a look at his surroundings. He was standing in a massive subterranean cavern. The walls, ceiling, and rock formations were completely covered in massive, glowing crystals that pulsed with a soft energy. The beauty of the cave was staggering, but Cipher's technical mind knew the crystals were dense with radiation, acting as a natural jammer.
As he took a step forward, a faint rustle of fabric caught his attention. Cipher snapped his head around, his hand dropping to his sidearm. But he froze when the glowing light illuminated a figure slowly waking up. It was Temi Nova, the Vice-Captain of the 5th Division.
She rubbed her helmet's visor, her breathing heavy. "How did I get here?" she murmured. She turned her head, her eyes locking onto Cipher's 10th Division armor markings. "Wait... you're Cipher from the 10th, right?"
The moment her eyes met his through their helmets, Cipher felt a sudden wave of heat rush to his face. A vibrant blush crept across his cheeks beneath his visor. Even with the protective space helmets separating them, her presence threw his calculated brain into chaos.
"Y... Yes... nice to meet you," Cipher stammered, his voice jumping an octave before he quickly cleared his throat. "Nice to meet you, Vice-Captain Nova."
Temi Nova let out a soft chuckle as she sat down on a smooth crystal ledger. "Yeah, same here. So, how do we leave?" she asked, looking up at the glowing ceiling. "This place sure is beautiful."
"Yeah, it is," Cipher said softly, looking directly at her.
Temi shifted her gaze back toward him, making direct eye contact through the dual layers of their space helmets. Cipher's face flushed an even deeper shade of crimson. He ripped his gaze away, coughing awkwardly to break the tension.
"...Yeah, I should be able to track my teammates or anyone," Cipher muttered, his fingers suddenly flying across his wrist console.
He pulled up a tracker that projected a dense holographic map into the air. "Ok, let's go this way."
Miles away, the morning sun cast its soft lavender light through the dense canopy of the violet forest. Elias and Kiki were moving with steady steps through the undergrowth.
Suddenly, Elias stopped, crouching low near the root of a twisted purple tree. "Footprint," Elias said flatly, tracing the edge of the indentation. "Looks like it's a human."
Kiki let out a long breath of relief. "Finally some good news."
As they stepped over the root, Kiki looked over at Elias. "Elias, I forgot to ask what happened to those aliens that attacked me yesterday?"
"They exploded after I asked them some questions," Elias replied smoothly, his hands casually resting in his pockets. "They said the controller of the moving planet is Malkor, and then they exploded."
Kiki's eyes widened in absolute shock. "Exploded...?"
"Yeah," Elias replied, his pace never slowing. He stared ahead, his silver eyes darkening. "I really feel bad, after all their living beings....Ok, let's go."
Kiki stood frozen for a beat before hurrying to catch up to his side. "He's really different from the others," Kiki said in her mind, her respect for him deepening.
After a few hours of continuous walking, the dense trees began to thin out, revealing a hidden camp. Elias instantly raised his hand, signaling Kiki to halt.
"Ok, Kiki, stay here let me go check it out," Elias whispered.
"Be safe," Kiki said, taking cover.
"I will," Elias replied.
He moved like a phantom around the edge of the camp. Suddenly, a sharp gasp shattered the silence.
"Haaaa!"
"Ha!" Elias also screamed in pure reflex, leaping backward.
Standing in front of him was Elena Voss from the 1st Division, a member of the Agris Prime
"Ha, shit you scared me," Elena Voss said, clutching her chest plate.
"Oh, sorry," Elias replied. He turned back toward the woods and screamed, "Kiki, you can come!"
"Ok, I'm coming," Kiki replied.
Kiki ran out from the brush and met Elena. They hugged tightly, celebrating because they were old friends.
Then. She activated her evoliths to track if anyone else was still on the planet. Her face grew incredibly serious. "Something has been interfering with my tracking," she said, pointing toward the dark horizon. "And it's coming from the mountains."
Meanwhile, far away from the planetary spheres, the silence of the moving planet's upper atmosphere was violently shattered.
There was no sound of a descending transport ship. There was no hum of an anti-gravity propulsion system or the shimmering light of a cloaking shield.
A single, brilliant streak of white energy cut through the inner void of the world-eater like a falling star.
Zane finally landed in the moving planet.
He didn't use a space ship at all. Leaving the fleet behind, Zane had launched his own physical body directly into the dark vacuum of space, flying solo across the interstellar gap at an absolute velocity of Mach 50. His trail left a searing white line cutting through the darkness.
He touched down on the metallic surface, his boots slamming into the plating with enough force to crack the ground beneath him. He stood up slowly, casually putting his hands in his pockets as his cold silver eyes looked into the moving planet.