Darkness was all there was. From the grandest of scales to the tiniest of depths, it immersed the world like thick black ink. In between this darkness, something was taking place. Seeing as it was blanketed, it wasn't visible, but vision was not the only sense available. Heaving, wheezing and the echoes of shouts and roars rang out across the dark. And in the middle of it all, sat an 18-year-old man.

  Conscious? Maybe. Awake? Most definitely not. The noise, the sensations, the unsettling feeling of it all, muffled him, kept him that way. He should have woken up from all of this noise, yet it all felt so far away... Besides, there was something else there with him. Someone else.

  “It is felt, is it not?” The presence asked, defining the void.

  “The crescendo of conflict gives life its very essence. It defines it, forms it, nurtures it. The fields of strife birth true purpose and purpose is not ephemeral, it never was.”

  “What is all this?” Ronin questioned. He but thought it, and it resonated out. The presence didn’t answer for a while, but time slowed down. The noise which had been somewhat coherent before, became a discordant chorus. Then, with bounding power, the presence answered back.

  “The precipice of purpose, the ladder of ascension, the womb of gods! Many names, now, it is but taint.”

  Despite his eidetic memory, Ronin found it hard to parse these words. The memory of them itself seemed to slip his mind as he tried to remember. They seemed to contain so much more than what was apparent on the surface. It felt as if his own vocabulary and language itself were impotent tools, scratching at something designed for a whole different realm of communication. As he did his best to chase the meaning behind what he'd just heard, a feeling of smallness overcame him. It was almost as if he was a speck of dust trying to swallow a city; he was simply too insignificant to the weight of this knowledge.

  This reminds me of when I inhaled atom spice... Did I damage my brain somehow?

  As the presence faded, the darkness, which was everything, began retracting back into something, and with something, there was contrast. Brightness started heralding dawn and awareness came with it. The slow discordant noises began speeding up and sensation returned. Pain returned!

  “…”

  As if pulled out from a fever dream, Ronin's eyes shot up to a swerving landscape of chaos. An inferno lit up his apartment complex. He’d been blown out of a window, he remembered. At least that's what it felt like. He noticed himself laying down amidst wails of pain and ruin and there was a burning body next to him. He must have fallen far. His room was on the 5th floor.

  Looking up at the burning skyscraper, the floor with his apartment seemed the worst off. The whole thing was swallowed up by the raging flames.

  Everything I have left from my parents is in that apartment, Ronin thought.

  As the fire snaked up towards the 6th floor, he could see people looking down from above. Many were rushing out the front door, likely residents from the 4th floor and below. Above the 5th floor, some were climbing up, attempting escape by searching for another path out of the skyscraper. He saw no one on the 5th floor though, there were only flames there.

  At the edge of his vision, people on the streets were hysterically running about, and as his mind stabilized further, he spotted a man.

  “Sir, are you ok?” The figure looming over him asked.

  Ronin tried to respond, but all he managed to get out was a cough and a groan.

  “We got a live one here!” The figure shouted, presumably calling for help.

  “Just hang in there, there's medical teams on the way,” he began consoling.

  Ronin didn't need consoling, and he certainly didn’t need a medical team. A medical team would scan his body, take his blood — this was dangerous. With what he’d gotten involved with, if he was discovered, he might get executed, and that would be one of the better outcomes.

  “No need,” Ronin managed to get out as he sat up, trying to act healthy. Just as he did though, a bright red light flashed past his eyes.

  What was that? The red light had been so bright he had to focus to see properly, but when he did, his eyes shot up in shock!

  “What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” The man standing over him asked, confused.

  “Your-your chest sir,” was all Ronin managed to get out.

  Right in the middle of the man's chest, a 3-centimeter-wide hole had appeared. He could see all the way straight through to the other side. As smoke began rising from the charred opening, Ronin turned around. Right where his head had been when he was lying down, there was now a melted pool of metal and concrete.

  Laser-based sniper rifle? Was this shot for me!? Ronin rolled out of the way and another shot pierced the man.

  “What the—” the man began, then crumbled to the ground.

  A third shot flashed!

  Ronin needed to find cover. He pushed himself up and began sprinting down the street as a surge of adrenaline washed away the pain. Had he broken something when he fell down 5 floors from the skyscraper? Probably. Did it matter? Not at the moment!

  He turned the first corner available, attempting to hide from the sniper.

  What in the world is happening?! Did the CLM find out that it was me? That I took from them? Maybe it's because of what happened in district 101? Could it be the rooftop bandits? No. The rooftop bandits are not capable of something like this.

  A new flash of light broke him out of his thoughts as the smell of burnt meat began rising from his left shoulder.

  Argh! There's another sniper. If it was only one guy, I should have been safe by now. Have I been surrounded? At least now I know it’s me they’re after.

  Ronin looked around.

  If he scaled the walls, he’d literally end up as target practice for any willing sniper around. Maybe he could enter another alley? Though, if someone was already stationed here, they might have a shooter ready in that alley as well.

  No, there was only one path left available now.

  He bolted for the forming crowd of gawkers, massing up to go look at the burning building. These types of "tragedy voyeurs" always came to look when misfortune befell someone else. Perhaps he could hide amongst them? After instinctively dodging another shot, Ronin dove into the crowd. The snipers, however, did not seem to care.

  The laser fire continued and people started dropping.

  Full-blown panic erupted amidst the crowd. Ronin, fortunately, still only had a burned left shoulder, but this could not go on for much longer. The laser fire would begin hitting him sooner or later as the crowd dispersed. Spotting a manhole, Ronin lunged for it, ripping it open then dove in. Just in time too, as a laser beam began melting the manhole right as he slipped under it.

  “…”

  As the nauseating stench of the sewers hit him, he was reminded of district 101. Metal cables ran along the roof and walls as processing plants churned and purified acid water and waste from the tightly packed skyscrapers above.

  Quickly accessing his mental palace, he ran down the imaginary corridor he'd made for his memories of Concordia's maps. Now, where was it? Rapidly shifting through the documents, he slowly came to the realization that, out of the many maps he knew, sewer maps was not something he’d studied.

  Nevertheless, he still knew the general direction of the planetary guard. They had several stations in Ironglades, and the closest, was but a couple of hours away. If anyone could protect him, it was them. They were supposedly in charge of law and order after all.

  He started jogging along the wall, staying away from the iron grates covering the foul sewage. Already injured, Ronin did not want his wounds getting infected as well.

  As his adrenaline began declining, the severity of his injuries became more and more evident. The burn on his left shoulder was obvious, but the 5-story fall from his apartment had hurt him bad. His jog was janky, the act of breathing hurt, and he was pretty sure he was bleeding from the back of his head.

  Wasn’t I in a situation like this just a few weeks ago? Underground structure, few people around, hurt and injured, hunted…

  After turning another corner, the sound of metal clanging against metal started ringing along the corridors. His enhanced hearing also picked up on faint voices arguing, then… the clangs of metal intensified, increasing in tempo.

  His pursuers were jogging now.

  There were two pairs of footsteps ahead of him and three behind. Was there a side tunnel he could enter? A path out? A path clear of the coming men?

  Continuing on, he scanned frantically for a way out. Anything would do. As long as he didn’t get boxed in, it was enough for him, he wasn’t greedy. Ending up in a firefight here was the worst possible option he could think of. The corridor system in the sewerage was well lit, there was nowhere to really hide, and the corridors were long. Perfect for someone with a ranged advantage.

  The eerie tune of a man whistling echoed along the tunnels.

  “Ooh Ronin? Ooooh Roniiin? You know what you’ve done,” the man shouted gleefully.

  Ronin's eyes turned bloodshot, and his heartrate increased. Was he really surrounded? There had to be another path!

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  “You’ve got no way-out Ronin. Hah! Do you have any idea how much Argus invested into this? He actually said he wanted to make an example of you! Oh… and let’s not even get started on that juicy bounty on your head.”

  As the cackling echoes of laughter rang along the sewerage system, Ronin could hear more footsteps joining the fray. How many people were chasing him now? It had been 5 before, but now? It had to be over a dozen, at least.

  Based on the sound of their footsteps and the average human jogging speed, how much time before there's a confrontation? 5 minutes? No... at most I've got 3 minutes tops before they reach me.

  One of those 3 minutes passed and, he spotted a rusty door. He almost hadn't noticed it based on how well it had been integrated into the wall. Firmly welded shut and partially painted over, this was clearly not something in active use.

  Screw it

  He went for it. Punching with all his might, his fist banged into the door and the sound of groaning metal rang out.

  CLANG!

  Another punch, then another. He walked back a distance, then stormed into the door, shoulder first, ramming it with everything he had.

  CLAANG!

  As rust from the door fell off, he noticed. The metal had begun bending. He could do this. He walked back and did it again.

  Come on you rusty piece of junk, just give!

  After the 3rd shoulder crash, the welding on the door finally gave out, snapping as the door blast open. What greeted him next should have been darkness, but Ronin's golden eyes could see.

  Hidden and forgotten by Ironglades, the city's past revealed itself. Overhangs, rusted pipes, abandoned rails and chopped up halves of skyscrapers covered the landscape. This area was wide, much wider than the sewer.

  What could cause someone to just abandon so much of the city? It's like a whole sectioned-off world down here, Ronin wondered in puzzlement.

  Jumping down a roughly 20-meters long drop, he landed with the help of his jetpack, the thrust from the device clearing out most of the surrounding dust as he did.

  As he looked around, it became evident that his janky jogging wouldn't suffice anymore. The steel jungle around him ran deep. What he’d actually landed on, was an accumulation of steel beams and pipes, supported by buildings and tangled wires. Moving through this would require care and balance.

  All of this material must have avalanched down from above, he thought. But... this is kind of my environment.

  Few people climbed and jumped down buildings like he did. It should give him an advantage. He began balancing along whatever seemingly stable beams he could find. Some beams had less rust and the wires holding them up looked more stable. Hopefully, they would hold.

  In the sewers, around an opening in the wall, there were 15 people, just standing there, looking befuddled.

  “Sir, what do we do now?” one of the men asked with a frown.

  Garnic grunted, scratching his shoulder as he thought. This was not how this was supposed to go. From the very start, surefire ways of finishing what was supposed to be an easy operation, had somehow failed, again and again. The hit job was supposed to be done shortly after they planted the whole floor with explosives, but, by some miracle, the target had survived. In the highly unlikely scenario that the target did survive, the backup snipers were supposed to finish the job. Easy right? No, not easy. Somehow every shot they fired, missed. Finally, when the target was perfectly surrounded in the sewers, some never before seen additional path out revealed itself. Once again, the target escaped.

  I don’t like it… Garnic thought.

  There were just too many miraculous coincidences happening back-to-back for something like this to be happenstance.

  If it really is random... Perhaps he's receiving help of some kind?

  It was the most likely explanation. Someone being out there, influencing events. Now, blindly unaware, they could all be under the cold gaze of the planetary guard. Besides, if they weren’t targets of the guard already, they would be now. They'd gone too far for something like this to be swept under the rug with bribes and favors.

  “Call the rest of the squads, we’re going in. And have them bring over the spectral glasses so we can see through this damn darkness!” Garnic ordered.

  He couldn't fail Argus. No matter what. He'd heard the stories of what happened to those that had failed the man before, and it was not pretty.

  Time passed by as Ronin made his way throughout the silent city. He'd gauged the distance between the "ceiling" above and the ground below to at least 300 meters. Railways, a technology from the old world, covered the steel floor below. In a way, this place felt like a time capsule.

  Above it all, he was balancing along beams, pipes and cables. Not an easy feat when injured. Having nearly fallen, he’d had to use his jet pack to get back up several times. He'd also been forced to activate it when jumping several wide gaps. Ronin was not just hurt, he was tired. Most of his near falls had happened just recently and he was losing battery power.

  He needed rest.

  Looking around for a shelter, he passed by another degraded building, and a new area opened up to him.

  There!

  Spotting a building that looked habitable, he jumped off the beam. Briefly landing on a thin vertical pipe sticking up from the depths, he swayed back and forth a few times as the pipe creaked and pieces of it started falling off. Swiftly, he jumped off, landing on the terrace of the building, then entered.

  Surprisingly, the old building didn't smell that bad.

  There were chairs, tables and a sofa. The degraded furniture barely held together, but it was better than nothing.

  This place will have to do, he thought, then began using the furniture to barricade the entrance.

  After rearranging most of the furniture, he rubbed out a small lookout hole on one of the dirty windows.

  I have nothing left from my past now, he thought as he plopped down on the sofa. I’m on the run again as well. I don’t even know who I'm running from. Argus? Who in the void is that?

  Looking out of the small, cleared up patch on the window, the sheer immensity of the dark, desolate city became evident. Far off in the distance, an enormous silo complex could be seen. Closer, amidst the broken skyscrapers, he could see a wide river flowing towards him.

  Wait, that's not a river!

  As the "river" got closer, what it actually was, became clear. Hundreds of thousands of ruddles were storming across the city. Like a horde, the hairless long-tongued poisonous rodents, swarmed along the streets, on top of overhangs, along beams and in between wires.

  What are they running for? Is it for food? How do they even find food down here? Wait, the sewers! Are they eating sewage waste? And they don’t seem to be running towards something, it's almost as if they’re running away.

  At that moment, Ronin spotted them. Pale humanoid figures were running amongst the swarm.

  What in the void are those things?! It's almost as if they are herding them!

  As the swarm got closer, it eventually reached the building and began passing by his lookout hole. He could hear hundreds of the animals bumping against the wall, but amidst the chaotic noise, there was something else there as well…

  Knock, knock, knock

  Knock, knock, knock

  What is that sound—

  Right in front of the lookout hole, a pale, eerily human-like, bald head had appeared.

  Knock, knock, knock

  The light of intelligence blazed clearly in the creature's eyes.

  Simons? No, what am I thinking! Ronin mentally slapped himself, then approached the window. Not knowing what to do, he knocked back:

  Knock, knock, knock

  For a moment they just stared at each other, the chaos outside vanishing in front of the weight of this strange interaction. Then the moment passed, and the creature was gone, lost in the storm of ruddles.

  Just what kind of place is this?

  Garnic looked over his holographic display. They were 105 men strong now. He would not fail again. Literally everyone that could be called, had been called. Those 105, were now spread out, looking for a needle in a haystack.

  “Damn kid!” He grunted out before tapping the intercom.

  [Role Call!] He shouted into the comm.

  [Team 1, ready and waiting,] a soft voice answered back.

  [Team 5, ready and waiting,] another said.

  One by one the teams responded, and nearly all of them did. Garnic looked over his display, there was one group missing. Team 3.

  [Team 3, Do you copy?]

  [Team 3, Respond!]

  Finally, the intercom opened up and heavy breathing could be heard at the other end of the line. Garnics holoscreen still showed team 3 as green, that is, the team hadn’t signaled they were in any form of distress.

  [Stand by,] he finally heard back.

  [Team 3, What's your status?]

  What in the world was going on? He could clearly hear the team leader. He was still there. He still had access to his comms. What could cause them to not answer?

  [Boss, I thought it was a river, but it's a horde. A damn stellarian horde!] The team leader finally replied.

  Garnic rubbed his head in frustration.

  [Team 3, clarify!] he all but shouted back.

  [Ruddles boss, tens of thousands of them. My team got swarmed, I'm all that's left.]

  Chaos erupted over the intercom as Garnic eventually had to forcibly silence the others.

  Damn lack of professionalism, why did I even expect a bunch of criminals to follow protocol. Not like we are risking our lives here or anything.

  With only Garnic having speaking access now, it was time to get these idiots in line:

  [Listen, and this goes to every team. When your team is in distress, flip the switch on your display so we all know what's going on. If you don’t, all hell could break loose on your end and not a single team would know. That means. No. Help. Will. Come. So, follow the damn protocol from now on. Now, Team 3, continue.]

  He gave what little remained of team 3 their access back.

  [COUGH! Sorry ’bout that boss, I'm transferring over my location right now. The swarm though... it was so big even the spectral glasses couldn’t cover it. All I know is that the swarm was headed directly towards me before I ran.]

  It dawned on Garnic then. Team 3 had scouted ahead, directly in front of them. That meant that they'd soon get swarmed too.

  A horde he called it… If it's really as large as he claims, we’re all in trouble...

  [All teams scatter! Seek shelter immediately!] He shouted.

  The teams started scrambling towards safety as Garnic restored comms access. He looked over his display. All teams besides team 3 remained green.

  Hopefully, it will stay that way.

  It did not stay that way. As the first minute passed, team 5s dot turned orange and began blinking.

  [Team 5, report.]

  [Sir, we’ve lost 2 members! The horde just suddenly swarmed us. Me, Hugin and Dappie have barricaded ourselves in an abandoned building, but I don’t think seeking shelter will be of much use. They’re breaking through the barricade as we speak!]

  Garnic immediately cut team 5s access to comms. The last thing his men needed now was more panic and confusion. Seeking shelter was the only option. They neither had the terrain nor the right weaponry to fight this. As for having subordinates question his direct orders over comms? If he allowed that, he might as well call off the mission right now and be done with it.

  As he climbed along the abandoned pipes, searching for a shelter himself, he snuck a peek at the display again. 7 new teams now showed their status as orange, BIP, another one. This team showed their status as red. In other words, everyone besides one person in that team had died.

  Out of a total of 21 teams, almost half of us has lost members...

  Garnic had been angry before, but now that anger was turning into something else... He was beginning to feel fear.