Dark pseudopods flickered across the glass-like surface of the perverted Halo technology, pulsating with sick life. These weren't the sort of tentacles 13-year-old boys sought out in hentai. No, these were closer to how the thoughts -if you could call them that- of an eldritch horror show would present themselves upon reality. They redistributed probability itself, existing in quantum superposition before collapsing into singular form. They left trails like reality-scars, shimmering while the air around them froze.
It was the most bizarre screensaver Kylie had ever seen. And it made her skin crawl just to behold it.
When one brushed Kylie's hand, her scream warped through the cave with strange harmonics. Frost crystals spread from the contact point like a living neural network, painting itself on her flesh. Her fingers trembled, not just from cold, but from the shock of it. Like the touch had corrupted her at a fundamental level. If she were made of code, then she had just downloaded some nasty malware.
She dropped the tablet with a dull thud. The device powered down instantly, surface going flat and obsidian-dead, runes fading to near-invisibility.
A vacuum of silence followed. Even the cave's previous ambient sounds -dripping water, shifting air currents- just stopped. Frost patterns resembling the tablet's runes remained on the floor, a physical echo of its corruptive digital language.
Ash kept her gaze fixed on the tablet until she knew for certain it was dormant. Then, about to look at Kylie's sweat-beaded face -and wanting to ensure she was okay- she caught an echo of dark eyes staring out from the tablet's surface. Not human. Not animal. Not even properly demonic. Eyes existing as negative space, holding an ancient, fel intelligence that experienced reality sideways.
She blinked, and they were gone.
Reality rippled as they vanished. A metallic taste coated Ash's tongue, high-pitched ringing filling her ears -psychic radiation sickness from something her angelic being wasn't built to process.
"That-." She didn’t want to just leave it, but she didn’t know what else to do. She felt a pull that was impossible to resist. And that scared her.
She had to know what it was, to uncover its darkest secrets. And yet a part of her knew that if she did, the trouble that would bring would cause irreparable harm.
However, knowing it was a threat and resisting its gravity was a daunting task. One that she failed.
She ground her teeth in frustration, a habit that her teachers at the University had chastised her routinely for, as she crouched, waving fingers near the tablet. It reactivated instantly, that sickly green glow returning. The air tingled with not-quite-painful electricity. The tablet responded differently to her than to Kylie -more diagnostic in nature.
A beat.
Two.
Three.
Kylie yanked Ash back with surprising strength. The contact created a momentary circuit, an energy feedback loop between their angelic cores. Through it, Ash felt Kylie's fear, not just surface-level caution but bone-deep recognition of wrongness. This thing violated natural order at its core.
"That thing. It is of the Broken. It should not exist,” she whispered, as if afraid the walls could hear them.
Refusing to die off, her words gained substance, hanging heavy in the air. The cave itself seemed to agree, ambient energies shifting, pebbles vibrating in rhythm with Kylie's speech.
Ash kept private the worst truth, if the Bug Man came from the Abyss too, they faced something far beyond a local monster. A hybrid creature transcending its long distant human origins, wielding reality-warping tech. This threatened more than Nile or Dom. It endangered reality's integrity in the region.
Denurals.
The weight of multiple missions crushed against her conscience. She calculated probability matrices at inhuman speed. If the Bug Man wasn't alone, she'd need backup. These creatures hunted awakened ones like moths to flame. She couldn't handle more than a few simultaneously.
The implications fractured outward. If this represented a new hybrid creature capable of dimensional manipulation, Dom's awakening would act as a cosmic beacon. Normal awakenings released substantial energy, magical fireworks in a quiet neighborhood. But if these things sensed dimensional frequencies...
Stories shown in Halo crystals of the Denural War flashed behind her eyes -the Angelic Host’s weapons against Abyssal Warriors, reality torn by forces never meant to interact. That conflict nearly breached the dimensional veil. If the Bug Man evolved from those ancient enemies, or worse -learned to harness similar powers through technology...
"Let's go,” she commanded, her brusque tone hiding the trepidation she felt.
“What about the device?” Kylie asked, hesitation heavy in her tone. She had a look similar to how Ash felt. Conflicted -tempted.
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She wanted to say that they should destroy it. To rid the world of its potential for trouble.
She racked her mind for an idea on how to deal with it, and refused to admit even to herself that she knew one sure way to handle the problem. But that would require breaking radio silence and contacting the Guardian Network. And that would end her time here, with Nile.
Instead, she said, “If you want to take it, fine. But I'd recommend not letting it touch your bare skin." Her voice emerged calmer than she felt, years of training helping her maintain her facade while her mind raced through apocalyptic scenarios.
What were those eyes? Was that the creature? Or its master…
She wasn’t the only one surprised by her response. But Kylie didn’t argue either.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Casting a pained look at Ash, Kylie grabbed a cloth grocery sack from her pack. Using it as a makeshift glove, she carefully wrapped the tablet and tucked it away. The cloth rippled strangely on contact, fibers aging before stabilizing. A barely perceptible hum emanated from the pack, setting Ash's teeth on edge.
"Ok, I'm ready. Let's get out of here."
The journey back to the entrance stretched oddly, distances warping unpredictably. Shadows moved wrong in their peripheral vision, vanishing when directly observed. The air thickened near the exit, as if the cave resisted their departure. Outside, the night sky seemed unnaturally dark, stars dimmed through some cosmic filter.
Ash was not the only one to feel a certain relief upon leaving the confines of the cave. The strange harmonics faded the moment they were outside.
Watching their trail as they retreated down the mountain, Ash marveled at the clear-headedness she once more felt. The crisp night air was dry and comforting in its familiarity. And yet, the feeling of being observed wouldn't leave her.
Yet, despite her efforts, she couldn't pinpoint its source.
Back in Kylie's car -a bubble of blessed normality- Ash broke the heavy silence.
"You're still going to go after that thing, aren't you?"
She studied Kylie's profile -jaw clenched, knuckles white on the steering wheel.
She reminded her of Nile. They shared more than a passing resemblance.
She also saw that beyond Kylie’s determination lay personal investment transcending professional duty. Vengeance -dangerous for any operative but catastrophic for those of angelic descent. Her kind had a way with internalized energy manipulation, and rampant emotions threatened to alter -if not break- their physical core.
"I have to." The words emerged carved from stone, an oath shaping future actions. The car's atmosphere responded, warming with potential.
"I figured as much." Ash knew Kylie wasn't yet trained for this, but nothing would stop her hunting her parents' killer.
Her thoughts turned to Nile, blissfully unaware at the coffee shop. What would he do knowing the truth about the creature that orphaned him? What would he think of her, if he discovered what she really was? Did he know what his sister was? Her deceptions felt suddenly heavier, constraining like too-tight armor.
"The moment you find it, tell me. Don't get yourself killed; Nile wouldn't be able to take losing another person he cares about."
The words came from somewhere beyond tactical calculation -genuine concern for Nile's wellbeing, for Kylie's safety. When had these people become more than assets or objectives? The question unsettled her more than she'd admit.
"I know."
Kylie kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead, refusing to meet Ash's gaze.
Streetlights winked on as they approached civilization, each pool of artificial glow marking the boundary between wilderness and human domain. The transition felt significant, leaving the realm of corrupted alien tech and ancient forces, returning to traffic signals and fast-food joints. But Ash knew better. The boundary was a lie. The tablet nestled in Kylie's backpack proved the strange and mundane existed side-by-side, separated by the thinnest veil.
"If you run into any trouble, you contact me immediately, understood? That's an order."
Ash let a hint of her true authority infuse her voice -not full angelic Command, just enough to establish hierarchy. The words rippled through the energetic field between them.
Kylie's slight nod came with steel in her eyes as she glared at the road, challenging it to cause problems.
The Bug Man had given them the slip, but at least Kylie had confirmed its existence -and that it was far more dangerous than they'd first assumed. This transformed hypothetical threats into concrete dangers, shifted protocols from monitoring to active containment. Ash mentally composed her report, calculating revelations and omissions. Too much information would bring unwanted scrutiny; too little might leave the Network unprepared.
She'd tasked Kylie with something dangerous, but the Bug Man's elusiveness made immediate confrontation unlikely. Even if it appeared, Ash had newfound confidence in Kylie's abilities. During their excursion, she'd witnessed how Kylie operated under pressure. Sure, she was reckless with the tablet, but she displayed an unteachable adaptability. And her determination to protect Nile, while emotionally driven, gave her purpose many trained operatives lacked. Raw potential, unrefined but undeniable.
Vengeance can be a profound motivator.
The thought lingered as they pulled into Ash’s driveway. Ash had seen vengeance transform ordinary humans into forces of nature, elevating them beyond limitations or reducing them to something less. Which way would it push Kylie? And what about herself? The lines between mission and personal involvement blurred in unexpected ways.
Stepping into the cool night air, she cast her senses outward, searching for any sign they'd been followed. Nothing registered beyond ordinary parameters, yet unease persisted. Somewhere out there, the Bug Man moved through darkness, perhaps wounded from whatever forced it to abandon its lair. And elsewhere, Nile lived his life, blissfully unaware how close danger had come.
Ash would need to be ready when those paths inevitably crossed.
∞
Autumn sunlight stretched like polished copper above downtown's modernist skyline. Pedestrians moved in predictable patterns -office workers with loosened ties, students lugging oversized backpacks, professionals jabbing urgently at phones. None aware of the supernatural game of roulette unfolding around them.
After weeks of failed attempts to get close to Dom, Ash reluctantly admitted defeat. She'd underestimated Dom's stubbornness; the girl could teach lessons to mules. Like trying to snatch a meaty bone from a pit bull.
She'd tried everything short of divine intervention. Engineered cafeteria run-ins, strategic appearances at study groups, calibrated interactions with mutual friends. All hit the same wall: nothing. Dom's resistance felt personal, as if she somehow sensed what Ash truly was.
Through careful questioning disguised as idle gossip, Ash had pieced together the truth about Nile and Dom. Their history ran deeper than friendship -sad smiles across crowded rooms, unfinished inside jokes no one else understood, tension humming with unresolved potential. A relationship on the precipice of something more, interrupted by... her. Ash's arrival had snapped whatever thread was weaving them together.
She couldn't pinpoint when her motives shifted, but jealousy -that most insidious emotion- had transformed her tactics. Now she poked at Dom through Nile instead of trying to win her over. Keep your enemies closer. And being Dom's enemy beat being nothing to her.
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