Prologue Vol 2 - “The Awakening Shadow”

The sky above Ruins Zone-7 was always gray, as if it had long forgotten the light.Amidst the rubble of buildings swallowed by time and metal roots, a researcher from Astrelis stood before an ancient steel door that hadn't opened in decades.His hand trembled as he pressed an old Core against the access panel."Access unit recognized. Opening archive ARK-07."The door moved slowly, creaking as though it screamed out a warning the world had long ignored.Inside... was not a laboratory, nor a data room. But a temple of steel.Its walls were covered with metal spikes and aged cables, all circling around a massive crystal core—cracked, yet still faintly pulsing.The researcher activated his voice recorder."Name: Dr. Elvan, Astrelis Division of Ancient Technology Archives. Discovery site: Pre-Invasion Kinetic Ark. Status: active. Core pulse energy... still alive?"He stepped closer. Strange carvings were etched into the metal walls. Not of any human language. Nor any race known to Astrelis."I've found... something. This isn't ordinary tech. It's... like a neural center."Just as he activated a small field projector, an old recording flickered to life.Static-filled images. Cracking sound."Experiment 37 failed. Alpha Core too reactive. The creature didn't die… it's merely… waiting."The screen flickered once more. Then—darkness.All lights went out. The air inside turned heavy, as if swallowed by something unseen.From the crystal's center, came the sound of breathing.Hot.Wild.As though something had just awoken from a slumber lasting thousands of years.Dr. Elvan stumbled backward in panic. He activated the emergency beacon, but the signal was instantly absorbed.No connection. No light.Only a single red eye slowly opening above the crystal dome."Evolution... begins anew."The voice wasn't of a creature. It echoed straight into the mind, like the whisper of an ancient god rising.Elvan's recorder displayed one word in an ancient script:"VORAX."

Beneath the temple, thousands of crystal eggs faintly glowed underground.And in the sky, for the first time in 70 years, the birds fled the skies above the Ruins Zone.