Year 217 After the Era of Ruin

  14th Day of the Month of Ashes,

  The night seemed darker in these forgotten ruins. The air was charged with an oppressive electricity, an invisible tension that chilled the bones and twisted the stomach. Kael, crouched behind a collapsed wall, listened to the silence. A silence too perfect, too absolute.

  Then, a metallic sound echoed in the shadows.

  A deep grinding noise, like rusted gears stirring after centuries of slumber. The darkness shifted.

  Kael felt his heart clench as a reddish glow pierced the void. An eye. No… multiple eyes.

  The forms emerged slowly from the abyss, their massive silhouettes exuding an inhuman presence. These creatures were neither men nor beasts. They looked like statues of metal corroded by time, yet their movements were unnervingly fluid, as if animated by an incomprehensible force.

  Around him, his men trembled. Fear was palpable, a chilling wave tightening around their throats. Some clutched their weapons so tightly their knuckles turned white, while others seemed paralyzed, hypnotized by the horror awakening before them.

  Then, a blue flash cut through the darkness.

  A shrill whistle sliced the air, and before Kael could react, an explosion lit up the ruins. A blinding burst of light, followed by a deafening blast.

  The ground trembled under the impact.

  Stones shattered, hurled like deadly projectiles. A scream pierced the night as one of the soldiers was struck head-on, his body flung backward before collapsing, a smoking hole gaping in his chest. The stench of burned flesh spread instantly.

  Panic erupted.

  "Scatter! Don't stay grouped!" Kael shouted.

  But it was too late.

  A second blast struck the ruins, pulverizing a section of the wall in a cloud of dust and flames. Lysara barely dodged, rolling on the ground before scrambling to her feet, breathless.

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  Darius, however, was not so lucky. One of the Guardians had grabbed him.

  The thing held the man by the throat, lifting him as if he weighed nothing. Its steel arm was slowly, inexorably tightening. The sickening crack of vertebrae beginning to break filled the air.

  Kael didn’t think.

  In a swift motion, he drew his sword and lunged forward. The blade slashed through the air, finding a gap in the Guardian’s joint. A screech of twisting metal rang out as the machine’s grip loosened, allowing Darius to collapse to the ground, gasping.

  But the Guardian did not retreat.

  It slowly turned its head toward Kael, its burning red eyes pulsing with an impassive intelligence.

  Then, it spoke.

  "Intruders detected… Elimination protocol initiated."

  Its voice was devoid of humanity. A fusion of metallic echoes and distorted tones, as if multiple voices from a bygone era were speaking at once.

  Kael felt a cold shiver run down his spine. These things were not just enemies. They were remnants of the past, shadows of the old world.

  Around them, other Guardians advanced steadily, synchronized, methodical. Their presence was suffocating, an inexorable force that seemed to crush the very air.

  They were all going to die.

  Kael felt panic creeping into his thoughts, an insidious whisper telling him all was lost. No. Not now.

  He forced his mind to focus. Find an exit. Make a plan.

  His gaze swept the surroundings and spotted a gap in the collapsed wall. A passage—narrow, but large enough for them to slip through.

  "This way! Run!"

  Lysara and the others did not hesitate. They dashed toward the opening, dodging the plasma shots that tore through the air around them. The ground quaked with every impact.

  Kael lingered for a second longer, observing these impassive creatures. Why weren’t they following?

  Then, he understood.

  They had not crossed a certain boundary. As if they were confined to the ruins.

  When Kael finally reached the clearing beyond the chasm, he turned back. The Guardians stood motionless.

  Their red eyes burned through the darkness. Then, slowly, one by one, their lights dimmed—until only the night remained.

  Lysara collapsed to her knees, her gaze hollow.

  "What… were those things?"

  Kael didn’t answer immediately. He stared at the smoking ruins, at the remnants of a past too ancient to comprehend. A world before theirs. A world that had burned… and still concealed its ghosts.

  "Relics of a lost time… But they are still here. Watching us. Waiting."

  A heavy silence fell over the group.

  They all knew they had just brushed against something beyond their understanding.

  And Kael knew, deep down, that one day, these ruins would no longer remain a forgotten vestige.

  One day, they would awaken completely.