The suona’s screech ripped through the launch bay, drowned out only by the roar of drunk soldiers. Atop a cargo crate, Joshua was in a shouting match with three engineers.
"It’s inside a birthday cake, so it’s cake!"
"It contains live warheads!"
"Decorative warheads!"
Mei Chiyan ignored them, currently trapped in her own personal hell: a group photo.
Flash.
"I literally kill people for a living," Mei growled, her hand itching for the concealed blade up her sleeve.
Flash.
"One more for memories!"
Then the world died.
The suona choked mid-note. The lights flickered once—twice—and plunged the bay into a terrifying crimson wash.
UNKNOWN TRANSMISSION DETECTED
The festive warmth evaporated, replaced by the bitter, familiar stench of impending violence.
SOURCE: ASHEN SECTOR
The room went dead silent. Even Joshua shut his mouth.
The Ashen Sector. The dead zone. Thirty years ago, five S-Rank strike teams vanished inside its fog. No bodies. No wreckage. Just a sealed graveyard where reality itself collapsed.
REPEATING SIGNAL DETECTED. INTERVAL: 37 SECONDS.
Weapons unholstered with sharp, synchronized clicks. Mei didn’t draw. Her assassin's eye locked onto the only person who mattered: Captain Shane Williams.
Shane—who didn't flinch under heavy artillery—was frozen. Staring.
Mei closed the distance in two silent strides. "Captain."
No response. The pulse hit again. 37 seconds.
"There's something buried in the waveform," the comms officer stammered, his fingers flying across holographic keys. "It’s encrypted."
Mei leaned over the display. Others saw code; she saw human erraticism. The micro-pauses of a bleeding, frantic sender.
"Put it through the speakers," Shane ordered, her voice eerily flat.
Static hissed, grinding like crushed glass. Then, through the noise, a breath.
"...help..."
A collective chill ran down the bay's spine.
"...please..."
The feed died.
"Tell me that wasn't a person," Joshua muttered, his comedic bravado gone.
"You know that voice," Mei said softly, stepping into Shane's line of sight. "Who is it?"
Shane bypassed the console security, bringing up a restricted file sealed thirty years deep: PROJECT ASHFALL.
"Thirty-two years ago, humanity found a doorway beneath the earth," Shane said, holographic blueprints illuminating her pale face. "The Veil. Unlimited energy. Physical augmentation. We built Facility Zero to force it open."
Shane’s gaze drifted back thirty years—to the day Facility Zero shattered. To the memory of lead scientist Dr. Evelyn Hart screaming over blaring alarms as the containment rings cracked. To the shadow that moved inside the light. To the final, unearthly message that flashed across every screen before her father dragged her into the dark: WE SEE YOU.
Shane blinked, pulled violently back to the present. "The containment breach wiped the region off the map. It created the Ashen Sector."
"The voice, Captain," Mei pressed, her instincts screaming. "Whose was it?"
Shane looked at the speakers as the static pulsed a final time.
"...help..."
"Doctor Evelyn Hart," Shane whispered. "The woman who opened the breach."
"She died thirty years ago," Joshua said.
"She didn't."
The shift was instantaneous. Shane's posture snapped straight, the fear banished behind steel. "Party’s over! Battle stations! Lock and load!"
The bay erupted into chaos—pilots sprinting, weapon lockers slamming, engines roaring to life.
Mei didn’t rush. She slid her hand down her forearm, letting the familiar cold weight of her dagger settle into her palm.
Thirty-seven seconds.
Whether it was a surviving ghost or the monster that dragged five strike teams into the dark, it was waiting. And Mei was going to kill it.