Shadows of Erebus

Mission: Infiltrate Kran Research Facility – Erebus-4

Objective: Terminate Project Eclipse Test Subjects – Prevent Psionic Mass Deployment

Mission Briefing – Stealth Destroyer Obsidian Lance

The air inside the war room was heavier than usual. Holo-displays flickered, casting jagged reflections over the armored figures of Team Blacklight and the Arcanum Veil operatives. The silence was thick, only punctuated by the low hum of the ship's engines.

Nathan Vale stood with his hands braced against the holo-table, studying the rotating image of Erebus-4—a dead world, ravaged by war and now a prison for the twisted experiments of Project Eclipse.

Aegis' voice was colder than usual. "This facility is different. There are no guards, no Kran officers stationed inside. Only automated security and… the test subjects."

Hex leaned forward. "What are we walking into?"

Dr. Varin swallowed. "A graveyard. And the ones buried there don't stay dead."

Planetfall – Erebus-4

The Wraith-Class Stealth Corvette broke through the thick, turbulent atmosphere, its active cloaking field distorting reality around it. Beneath them, the surface of Erebus-4 stretched out like a blackened corpse—cracked, lifeless, and stained with the remnants of past battles.

The research complex loomed ahead, a towering fortress of steel and obsidian, half-consumed by the elements. It stood silent, no lights, no movement, no patrols. Just an open wound on the planet's surface, waiting.

Aegis' voice broke through the tension. "Thermal scans detect movement inside, but signatures are… irregular. No biological consistency."

Zero checked his rifle, expression tight. "Fantastic. Walking nightmares, here we come."

Vale's voice was sharp. "No mistakes. No noise. We go in, we burn it down, and we don't look back."

The drop bay doors hissed open, revealing the abyss below. One by one, Blacklight and the Veil operatives vanished into the darkness.

Entry – The Forgotten Lab

The entrance was breached silently. No alarms. No response. Just the stale scent of something long dead… and still moving.

The first corridor was lined with deactivated security turrets, their barrels frozen mid-rotation. The lights flickered erratically, and something dripped from the ceiling. Not oil. Not water.

Hex ran a finger across the dark smear and shivered.

"Blood," she whispered.

Kiera gritted her teeth. "They were killed before we got here."

They advanced deeper. Hallways stretched infinitely, doors yawning open to reveal rooms filled with human restraints, shattered glass chambers, and deep claw marks gouged into metal walls.

Then they found the first body.

Or what was left of it.

A Kran scientist, impaled to the ceiling, limbs twisted unnaturally. His face was locked in an expression of absolute terror. His chest had been ripped open—but not from the outside.

Zero exhaled. "What the hell were they making?"

Aegis' voice cut in, but there was an edge of unease in the AI's tone. "Subjects are still inside."

Vale lifted his rifle. "Then let's meet them."

The First Encounter – Psionic Abominations

The facility's main chamber opened before them—a vast, circular arena lined with decayed containment pods. Some still held frozen corpses, half-mutated humans with eyes burned black and veins glowing with psionic energy.

Others were empty.

The room was silent. Too silent.

Then the shadows moved.

A figure crawled out from the darkness. No longer human, but not quite Kran. Its limbs were elongated, bones shifting under unnatural pressure. Its face had once belonged to a man, but now it was twisted, jaw unhinged, eyes hollowed pits of flickering blue light.

It didn't walk. It floated.

And it wasn't alone.

More figures emerged, some humanoid, others barely recognizable as once-human. Their presence warped the air, making it heavy, suffocating.

Varin trembled. "These are the failures. The ones who didn't die… but should have."

The largest abomination—towering at nearly three meters tall, a fusion of psionic energy and broken flesh—tilted its head, staring at them.

Then it screamed.

Reality fractured. Walls bent inward. Metal twisted. And the creatures attacked.

The Battle – Fighting the Unseen

The world became chaos.

Hex barely had time to react before a telekinetic blast slammed into her, sending her crashing into a row of shattered containment pods. Kiera opened fire, her rounds phasing through some of the creatures as if they weren't fully real.

Vale engaged, his blade slicing through the nearest creature's skull, but it didn't die. Instead, its body reformed, energy crackling as if repairing itself.

"Nothing's staying dead!" Zero yelled, tossing an EMP charge. The blast sent shockwaves through the room, momentarily disrupting their psionic cohesion.

One of the creatures appeared behind Kiera, phasing in and out of reality, its hands stretching into razor-like claws. Before it could strike, Vale intercepted, slamming his gauntlet into its chest and unloading a kinetic pulse. The creature exploded into flickering mist, but another rose in its place.

"Keep moving!" Vale ordered. He activated his active camo, vanishing just as a psionic tendril lashed toward him.

Hex pushed herself up, eyes burning with sigil-light. "I've got something better."

She lifted both hands, tapping into the planet's ley lines. The air shook. Energy ripped through her, forming into a concentrated blast of pure psionic disruption.

The moment she released it, the abominations howled in agony, their bodies cracking like shattered glass.

One by one, they disintegrated.

The largest, the three-meter horror, staggered back, its form unraveling. It locked eyes with Vale… and spoke.

A voice not its own.

"You… should not have come."

Then it collapsed into nothing.

Escape – The Final Warning

Silence. Only the sound of their heavy breathing remained.

Vale exhaled. "Burn it. Burn it all."

Zero and Kiera set the charges, the plasma detonators pulsing in deadly sequence.

As they ran for extraction, Aegis detected something.

"Vale," it said, voice unreadable. "That last entity… It wasn't like the others."

Vale paused. "Meaning?"

Hex swallowed hard. "It wasn't just a psionic experiment."

Dr. Varin turned, face pale. "It was aware."

They didn't speak again until they were off-world, watching the research facility collapse into fire and ruin.

But the last words of the creature still echoed in Vale's mind:

"You should not have come."

Because whatever had spoken to them…

Was still out there.