The sterile hum of machinery filled the dimly lit war room, blending with the soft flickering of holographic displays. Shadows stretched across the walls, elongated by the cold glow of blue light. The air carried a weight—one thick with tension, anticipation, and something more primal. Everyone in the room knew this wasn’t just another briefing. It was a reckoning.

  Raphael leaned against the console, arms crossed, his smirk as sharp as a knife. The casual posture did little to hide the steel in his voice.

  “Let me bring you all up to speed.” His gaze swept across the assembled squads—new recruits, hardened veterans, and those caught somewhere in between. “You’ve all felt it, haven’t you? The chaos. The escalation.” A slow pause. He let the silence stretch before delivering the first blow. “It started with the attack on the WEO base. The day the rift barrier fell.”

  A murmur ran through the room, hushed but unmistakable.

  Raphael tapped the holographic display, and a projection of the city skyline materialized—except this one was fractured, marred by spreading veins of violet energy. “For years, the rift barrier acted as a buffer, minimizing rift openings and slowing their spread. The moment it collapsed, that changed. Rift activity surged. And the Astra Spire—our first line of defense? They weren’t ready for the flood.”

  A new projection flickered into view—Espers in Astra Spire uniforms, engaged in frantic battle against towering rift creatures. The scene was brutal. Raphael didn’t spare them from the truth.

  “They’d spent years containing controlled breaches, handling minor incursions. But the real war had been fought by places like Fort Goliath, where soldiers cut their teeth against wave after wave of monsters.” His voice hardened. “When the barrier fell, Astra Spire was forced into a fight they weren’t prepared for. Casualties skyrocketed.”

  A beat of silence. The weight of those words hung heavy in the air.

  Aiden’s jaw tightened. “How bad?”

  Raphael exhaled through his nose, expression unreadable. “Enough that we’re still counting.”

  Tension crackled through the room. Rei felt it in the tightness of his chest, the way Oliver shifted beside him, jaw clenched. Even Lysander, usually relaxed, stood straighter. The implications were clear—if Astra Spire had struggled, then the enemy had gained ground.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Raphael didn’t give them long to dwell. “That was just the beginning. Then came the market district attack. An evolving Cyclops tearing through civilians. And after that?” His smirk vanished, replaced with something colder. “The return of the Vekar’yn.”

  The name sent a ripple through the room. Aiden’s squad went rigid. Elijah’s hand curled into a fist.

  Rei inhaled sharply. The Vekar’yn. A nightmare given form.

  Raphael’s fingers danced over the console, and new images appeared—grainy surveillance footage of a monstrous figure wreathed in shifting energy. “I know you’ve all heard the rumors. Today, you get the truth.”

  The display changed again, this time showing the grotesque, mutated form of a rift monster, its limbs distorted, its eyes disturbingly human. “You think these attacks are isolated? They’re not. Every single one is connected.”

  Violet spoke first, her voice as sharp as a blade. “You’re saying there’s a single force behind all of this?”

  Raphael met her gaze, unflinching. “Yes. And we’ve only seen the beginning.”

  His fingers tapped the console again. Another image flickered into existence—this time, it was the Cyclops, but layered with anatomical diagrams. “That creature wasn’t just a rift-born monster. It was *made.* A fusion of human and rift DNA.”

  Disbelief rippled through the room.

  Rei’s stomach churned.

  “Wait.” Oliver’s voice was quiet, but firm. “You’re saying people were—”

  “—taken,” Raphael finished. “Repurposed. And not just for monsters.” His voice dipped lower. “How many missing persons reports have you seen lately?”

  Rei’s breath hitched. His mind snapped back to the patrol with Daisy and Oliver—the bulletin boards covered in missing posters, faces of the lost staring back at him.

  Raphael’s voice cut through his thoughts. “They aren’t missing. They’re being *harvested.*”

  Elijah’s squad went rigid. Aiden’s fingers twitched, a subtle but telling reaction.

  “What about the Apexs?” Aiden’s voice was sharp, demanding.

  Raphael gave a humorless chuckle. “Fleshy cyborgs. Modified humans, stripped of their identity and turned into weapons. Every limb, every organ—replaced. They aren’t just enhanced. They’re rebuilt from the ground up to fight. And guess what?” His smirk returned, edged with something darker. “They were test subjects.”

  The realization settled like a stone in Rei’s stomach.

  Raphael stepped forward, the hologram shifting again. “We’ve found their base. The place where they’re making these things. And in one month’s time, we’re burning it to the ground.”

  Silence.

  A charged, electric silence.

  Serena was the first to break it. “So, what—you’re telling us we’ve got thirty days to prep for war?” She huffed. “Great. No pressure.”

  Lysander pushed off the wall, rolling his shoulders. “Are we seriously about to take down an entire syndicate in one raid?” A slow grin. “I’m in.”

  Violet’s eyes gleamed. “What about you, Mishal? You ready for the heat?”

  Aiden met her gaze, his silver eyes gleaming with unshakable resolve. “Always.”

  Raphael raised a hand, silencing them. “We’re not just facing a syndicate. We’re facing an enemy that’s rewriting the rules of humanity itself.” His voice lowered. “Make no mistake—this next month is critical. Train hard. Prepare yourselves. Because when we hit that base, there’s no turning back.”

  Rei exhaled slowly, the weight of the mission pressing against his ribs. The missing people. The twisted creations. The knowledge that everything was connected. His squad stood beside him, silent but present. He knew they felt it too.

  “We move together.” His voice was steady, cutting through the heavy air. “No one gets left behind.”

  A moment of stillness. Then, one by one, nods of agreement.

  Raphael’s smirk returned, approving. “Then prepare yourselves.”

  His eyes swept across them, his next words laced with something dangerously close to excitement.

  “We’re heading into the storm.”

  [End of Chapter]