The Path Ahead

Chapter 10: The Path Forward

The soft beam from the heat pod threw eerie, dancing shadows on the rocky floor. For the first time since they had arrived on this alien planet, this team was able to catch their breath.

Ava extended her legs, groaning as she massaged her calves. "I don't think I have ever been this tired in my whole life. Even training simulations weren't that brutal."

Darius snorted, falling back against a boulder and crossing his arms. "You're telling me. At least in training, we had a break every few hours. Here, it's like… 'Hey, survive or die. Good luck!'"

Mira, crouching by a boulder, smirked as she examined her pistols. "Yeah, but let's be honest, Darius; training was worse for you because they didn't let you punch everything into submission."

"Hey, hitting things works!" Darius shot back, grinning. "You've seen me in action. And last time I checked, I've saved your butt at least twice."

"Twice?" Mira scoffed. "Please. More like half a time, and even then, I was already handling it."

Ava chuckled, shaking her head. "You two bicker like siblings. It's impressive how Mira went from silent to talkative around Darius."

Caden sat to the side of them, his katana laid across his lap. He said nothing, his bright eyes scanning across the horizon. Though this was a moment of calm, the set of his body was tense.

"You're awful quiet over there, Caden," Ava said, turning to him. Her tone showed real curiosity in her gaze. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Caden said shortly, his voice even but distant.

Mira rolled her eyes. "Classic Caden. Always the brooding lone wolf. You could at least try to act like a human for five minutes."

"I am not brooding," Caden said flatly.

"Yeah, sure," Mira said, smirking. "And I am not the best shot in the squad."

Ava stepped in before it could escalate any further. "Come on, Mira. You know he's not going to spill his deepest, darkest secrets just because you're poking at him."

"I don't have secrets," Caden said shortly, though his grip on his katana tightened slightly.

"Right," Mira said, drawing the word out. "Because you're just an open book."

Ava let out a small sigh and shot Mira a warning look. "Let it go. He'll talk when he's ready."

Ava broke the silence, her tone light. "Alright, let's make this a little less awkward. Darius, what's the dumbest thing you've done since arriving here?"

Darius exploded into a fit of laughter that resounded through the silence. "Oh, that's easy. When we first got here, I thought the blue moss growing on the rocks was edible. I took a bite, and it burned my tongue so bad I couldn't talk properly for two hours."

"You *what*?" Mira exploded, doubling over with laughter.

"I was hungry, okay? And it looked like one of those rations we got back in training!" Darius protested, grinning sheepish.

"Yeah, because glowing moss is totally food," Ava teased, shaking her head.

"Look, in my defense, everything on this planet looks weird. How was I supposed to know it was basically acid moss?"

Mira was still laughing, tears at the edges of her eyes. "Oh, man. That's perfect. No wonder you were so quiet when we got attacked last time. I just thought you were in shock!"

"Ha ha, very funny," Darius said, though he was clearly trying not to laugh himself.

Even Caden's lips twitched, though he quickly masked it by looking away.

"And what about you, Ava?" Mira asked, hunching forward. "What is the silliest thing you've ever done?"

Ava hesitated, sanguine color rising to her cheeks. "Uh… okay, fine. During one of our first drills with the psychic shield, I thought I'd try to block a combat drone's blast." She paused for drama, groaning. "The shield worked fine. But instead of avoiding the drine, I stood there celebrating and the drone landed a hit on me from the side. I fell straight into the mud pit."

Ava Macy stood rigidly at attention, her eyes fixed intently on the instructor.

Mira and Darius burst into a fit of laughter, and even Caden cracked a silencer of a chuckle.

"You were celebrating *during* the drill? Rookie mistake!" Mira teased, shaking her head.

"In my defense, the instructor did say that I had great potential… right before docking my score for 'lack of situational awareness,'" Ava replied with a sheepish grin.

The lightheartedness in the air was a nice change, even a slight respite from all the tension they were operating under. Even Caden, though still distant, seemed a little less guarded as he listened to his teammates banter.

But in the back of his mind, it was like the silent alerts of the system still flickered on and off, reminding him that this rest would be short-lived: there were still countless hives across the planet, and not all their leaders had been defeated.

For now, though, he let the team have their moment.

In an instant, all were still, save the soft lapping of the wind across the rocky ground. Mira sat cross-legged, fiddling with her pistols, while Darius leaned against a boulder, scratching patterns in the dirt absently. Ava sat not too far away, her face uplifted toward the dark sky in contemplation.

"It's weird," Ava said softly. "It feels like we've been here forever, but it really hasn't been that long."

Darius snorted loudly, flicking the pebble away. "That's what happens when every day's a fight for your life. Time stretches. But hey, we're still alive. That's what counts."

"Just barely," Mira said without so much as looking up, her tone dry. "We've scraped by death so many times I've lost count."

"That is just not fair. We deserve some credit," Ava said, shaking her head. "We have learnt, and we are all so much better since those battles happened to us."

Caden stood off a little from them, his katana resting lightly on his shoulder. He said nothing, his eyes fixed toward the horizon. For the others, perhaps, there had been a moment of peace, but for him, behind it all, system alerts buzzed softly, reminding him they were on a dangerous planet.

"You've been quiet, Caden," Mira said, the first to break the silence. "What's going on in that overly serious head of yours?"

"Nothing important," he said, even.

Mira smirked, leaning forward. "Right. Because brooding in silence is super helpful."

"I'm not brooding," Caden said flatly.

"Sure, sure," Mira said with a shrug. "You're just. thinking very intensely, right?"

Ava gave Mira a glance. "Come on, leave him alone. You know he's not going to share if you push."

"He doesn't share anyway," Mira grumbled under her breath.

Caden's grip on his katana tightened slightly, but he said nothing.

Darius cleared his throat and tried to lighten the mood. "Alright, enough of that. Let's not make this some deep, awkward moment. We all know Caden's not going to start pouring his heart out after knowing us for two days, so let's move on."

Mira shook her head but backed off, returning her attention to her pistols.

Ava stood, dusting dirt off her hands. "Well, we should probably get going anyway. We've rested long enough."

Caden nodded, his gaze scouring the horizon to distance. "The longer we stay here, the more likely something finds us. Let's move."

Mira let out a sigh but rose to her feet, holstering her pistols. "Fine. Back to walking endlessly through an alien wilderness. My favorite."

"Better than being caught off guard," Darius said, standing and stretching.

The team fell into formation, Caden leading the way.

The quiet wind was the only sound as the team walked forward. Gone was the lightheartedness of earlier; instead, silence and focus took its place.

"Anyone else feel like we're heading into trouble?" Darius asked, looking around nervously.

Ava nodded, clutching her psychic shield generator tightly. "Yeah, it feels like we are always heading into trouble on this planet, and it feels like something's always watching us."

Caden, walking ahead, suddenly stopped. His sharp eyes scanned the area. "Something's coming."

The others froze, guns at the ready.

From the shadows, a large creature appeared. Its insect-like body shone faintly, and its glowing eyes locked onto them.

"What in the world is that?" Mira said, grasping her pistols.

"Something we've never seen before," Caden replied calmly as he unsheathed his katana.

The creature charged, and the group quickly spread out. Ava's shield came to life, blocking a strike from its claws while Mira fired off several shots.

"Watch out-it's fast and likely poisonous!" Darius yelled, jumping aside to avoid its attack.

"Then don't get hit!" Mira snapped as she hit with another shot.

Ava stumbled as her shield absorbed another strike. "We take it down now!"

Caden stepped forward, his katana ready. "I'll handle it. Cover me."

He sprang forward before anyone could argue, his movements fast and smooth, barely traceable by the rest. His blade struck the weak points of the creature with perfect aim, each hit making the beast screech in pain.

It counter-attacked but Caden evaded every move without apparent effort. Then, within the same blink of an eye, he made another strike along the lines of its neck. The head came flying off as its body hit the ground and it lay dead.

Everyone watched aghast.

"Okay," Darius said after a second, "remind me never to piss you off."

Mira whistled low. "That was. amazing. And you're quite definitely human?"

Ava gave Mira a pointed look before taking a step closer to Caden. "How did you do that? You didn't even hesitate, knew its weak spots."

Caden cleaned his blade and sheathed it then. "I've had practice. Let's keep moving."

*That's what happens when you have maxed-out perception*, he thought.

There was an exchange of glances between them, but no more questions were asked.

As they started walking again, Mira muttered to Darius, "He's good at this, and that's scary. We're all supposed to be just a bunch of high school students with little to no life experience."

Darius snorted. "Yeah, but scary is good when he is on our side."

And they pressed on, the tension from before dissipating somewhat. For now, staying alive was all that mattered.

The faint smell of charred flesh hung in the air as they moved forward; their footsteps crunched softly against the uneven landscape.

Caden remained at point position, his katana within easy grasp. His body was outwardly calm, yet the system warnings in his brain still hummed softly, digging through their surroundings and feeding him subtle warnings.

"How much farther till we hit this hive?" Mira suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"Shouldn't be too far," Ava replied, consulting her scanner. The device beeped softly in her hand, showing faint signs of Proximar activity ahead. "The readings are getting stronger, but it's weird. The energy signature is fluctuating, like it's unstable."

"Unstable doesn't sound good, and was this test supposed to be this dangerous and weird" Darius muttered, his eyes darting toward every shadow as they walked.

"Nothing about this place is good," Caden said, his tone clipped. "Stay focused. We can't afford distractions."

Mira gave a short laugh. "Distractions? Like giant poison bugs? Or glowing moss snacks?" She glanced at Darius, smirking.

"Ha ha," Darius laughed dryly. "For the record, the moss thing was one time. You're never letting it go, are you?"

"Not a chance," Mira shot back.

Ava let out a sigh, a slight smile on her face. "Let's try to keep the banter low, at least until we know what's ahead."

The group fell silent once more as they crested a ridge overlooking a shallow valley. Below them, faint blue bioluminescent plants flickered, like veins through the ground. In the center of the valley, a towering structure of jagged blackened stone jutted upwards.

"That's it I think," Ava said, pointing toward the structure. "The hive."

"Great," Darius muttered. "Just what I wanted—a giant creepy death tower."

Caden crouched at the ridge, his eyes narrowing as he observed the hive. His system immediately began scanning the structure

"Looks heavily fortified," Mira said, peering down. "And those lights what are they? Energy conduits?

"Likely," Ava said. "Proximars live on energy alone. It's how they live, fight and adapt. Those conduits are probably their lifeline."

"Then we take them out first," Caden said, rising to his feet. His tone was calm, decisive.

"Uh, hold on," Darius said, raising a hand. "You're not suggesting we just walk into enemies territory and start cutting power lines, are you?"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," Caden replied without hesitation.

Mira let out a low whistle. "Bold strategy, Captain. You sure your katana's sharp enough for that?"

"It always is," Caden said, his gaze fixed on the hive.

Ava hesitated, looking at Caden and then at the others. "We need a plan. If we just rush in, we'll get overwhelmed."

"Agreed," Caden said, catching them off guard. "We'll approach from the east side. There's a weaker concentration of these vines there. Ava, you'll need to use your shield to keep us covered. Mira and Darius, focus on suppressing fire. I'll handle the conduits."

"I can't believe I was my planet's finest, I'm just a shield maker around this guy" Ava whispered to herself

"And if the entire hive decides to come after us?" Darius asked.

Caden turned back to him, his face inscrutable. "We adjust."

There was a moment of silence passed in uneasy exchanged glances.

"You are really good with this 'just trust me' thing, huh?" Mira said dryly.

"Do you have a better idea?" he asked sharply.

Mira opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Fine. But I'm going to repeat this-if this plan gets us killed, I'm haunting you."

"Noted, and besides you can't die without my permission" Caden said, turning back toward the valley. "Let's move."

The team went down the ridge, their nerves taut as they approached the hive. The air grew heavier, almost electric, as the faint hum of Proximar activity became more audible.

For Caden, the system's warnings grew louder, its voice cutting through his thoughts.

**[Warning: Proximar hive defenses activating. Energy levels rising.]**

He didn't flinch, his grip tightening on his katana. This wasn't the first time he'd faced a hive and it wouldn't be the last.

Behind him, Darius muttered under his breath, "Here we go again."

Caden glanced over his shoulder at his team. "Stay close. And remember we can't no mistakes."

With that, they moved towards the hive as the faint glow of the conduits showed the way. The battle was coming, and Caden knew one thing for sure: survival depended most on his strength.