Chapter 24: Stormfront

The hum of three VTOL engines echoed across the airstrip as the elite squads launched into the sky.

Below, Evelyn Zarek stood on the command platform, arms folded, watching each craft vanish into the violet clouds looming in the distance. Her expression was unreadable. Only Ava, standing beside her, saw the tightness in her jaw, the way her hand trembled slightly before curling into a fist.

"They'll come back," Ava said softly.

Evelyn nodded once, but didn't answer.

She turned, her coat billowing behind her as she walked briskly toward the interior of Zarek Technologies. Ava followed without a word.

The corridors were stark and silent, the usual hum of researchers and engineers gone still under lockdown protocol. Every footstep echoed.

They entered the central control chamber—walls lined with feedback monitors, waveform analyzers, and communication beacons. Vespera stood near the edge of the main console, arms crossed, her gaze pinned to the Rift monitors. Elias sat before a spread of cracked data logs, eyes scanning rapidly.

"They've arrived," Elias murmured without turning.

"Are the link traces stable?" Evelyn asked.

"For now," Vespera replied. "But the signals are already fluctuating. The storms are distorting not just the environment—but the resonance grid itself."

Ava stepped beside her, fingers gliding across the holo-display. "We need to maintain sync windows for as long as possible. Once they close, we lose their location inside the echoes."

Evelyn moved to the central terminal. "Prep emergency override for resonance tracking. I want site-specific readouts for each team every ninety seconds."

Elias finally looked up. "There's something else. Some of these signatures—they predate the team's arrival."

"What do you mean?" Ava asked.

"I mean," Elias said slowly, "something was already moving before we got there. And it's still watching."

Site Theta – Lucian, Rowan, Mira, Haru

Rain fell in staccato bursts as the team descended into what used to be an industrial district—now warped into jagged ruins and timelines collapsing on themselves. Buildings flickered between glass towers and skeletal ruins. Street signs appeared in different languages at once.

Civilians littered the area—bodies frozen mid-run, some twisted into themselves, their features blurred by time erosion. The air was thick with psychic static, pressing into their skulls with every breath. Hallucinations whispered at the edge of perception—memories that didn't belong, shadows that flickered out of the corner of the eye. Rowan blinked and saw himself die three different ways in as many seconds. Lucian felt the weight of thousands of silent voices layered over his own thoughts, dragging at his mind like a current beneath still water.. A child clutched a toy that glitched like static. A mother's outstretched hand turned to ash before their eyes.

"Don't look too long," Mira muttered, adjusting her elemental rifle, peering through her scope.

Lucian's expression darkened. Rowan didn't need to be told. His resonance ached just being here.

An echo stepped forward—Lucian's own face staring back, burned and broken, mouthing something soundless. Lucian staggered. Rowan grabbed his arm, anchoring him, though the effort caused his knees to tremble.

Another echo appeared behind the Lucian-figure, reaching for Rowan's chest with a skeletal hand.

Mira's rifle roared, fire lancing across the fog and vaporizing the form.

They hadn't even set up base.

Then came the whispering.

Rowan collapsed, clutching his head. Lucian caught him just in time.

"I see them," Rowan gasped. "I see us… burning, drowning… I died. Over and over."

Lucian held him tighter. "You're not dying here."

Site Delta – Ari, Quinn, Dain, Thea

Flora twisted like veins through broken concrete. The storm here was steeped in necrotic energy, each step crunching over soil saturated with decayed psychic residue.

Thea's mental defenses flared just to keep her balance—echoes drifted like ghosts between the trees, and their whispers weren't words, but emotions: grief, rage, betrayal.

Quinn felt the storm pressing against his mental shields like invisible fingers, trying to pry into his memories.. Craters where buildings once stood now grew blood-colored thorns, and the wind carried distant screams not their own.

Echoes surged from civilian corpses—hollowed bodies that opened like flowers to birth crawling things with too many limbs. One took the shape of Ari's sister.

"Ari," it hissed.

Ari froze, blade trembling.

Quinn shouted, "It's not her!"

But the hesitation was enough. The echo lunged. Dain's interference pulse disrupted its movement, slowing it. Ari recovered, plunging her knives into its chest. The body burst into black mist.

Thea swayed, guiding Dain with a narrow link. Blood dripped from her nose.

Quinn caught her. "Don't push—"

"I'm fine," she muttered. "Watch her."

Site Epsilon – Alexander, Juno, Kira, Nolan

Snow fell sideways.

Mirror-like fissures split the ground, each one a gateway to another memory, another possibility.

The corruption here bent reality like heat on glass—figures moved within the reflections, and some of them turned to look.

Juno clutched her weapon tighter, feeling unseen hands comb through her thoughts.

Alexander blinked, and for a moment, he stood in a version of Zarek that no longer existed, surrounded by people who had never been born, each reflecting impossible scenes: Zarek buildings never built, alternate uniforms, versions of themselves.

Corpses were frozen mid-scream, preserved like statues.

An echo emerged, wearing Juno's face—but older, her hand resting on a swollen belly. It hovered above the frostline, eyes empty but mouth twitching like it remembered how to speak. Whispered voices—some hers, some unknown—filled the air, murmuring half-formed regrets.

Juno stepped back, shaken. "It's not real."

Alexander raised his shield. "It's bait. Get back."

But the echo didn't attack. It multiplied—fracturing like a cracked mirror. More versions of Juno appeared from the fissures: one scarred and blind, one in Zarek's highest command uniform, and one cradling what looked like a body wrapped in burned cloth.

The air turned suffocating. Psychic pressure built with every step they took.

"Juno!" Nolan shouted. "It's pulling from your memories—don't look at them!"

Kira launched a barrage of ice lances to shatter the approaching echoes. The projectiles tore through the mist, striking most of the distorted figures and sending them splintering into dark mist.

But one—the echo cradling the burned bundle—moved faster than the rest. It darted through the falling frost and plunged a jagged, claw-like hand forward.

Juno reacted too late.

The echo slashed across her side, the talons sinking just beneath her ribs before Alexander intercepted it. His shield collided with the creature mid-motion, sending it flying backward in a burst of corrupted mist.

The team rallied, tightening formation.

But Juno's breathing was ragged, her eyes still locked on the spot where the first echo stood.

She whispered, "That one knew my name."

She did not die yet.

But something inside her cracked—and the storm was only getting worse.

Alexander stood frozen, Juno's weight in his arms, but her body still barely breathing. The storm howled louder, and the echoes began circling again, dragging distorted memories from the fissures with every heartbeat.

He set her down gently, drawing his shield close, positioning himself between her and the advancing figures. He didn't scream. Not yet.

But something was building—tight, volatile. Dread crawled into the corners of his mind, sharpening every sound, every breath. Nolan shouted something from behind, but it was lost beneath the warping wind.

Juno stirred faintly, whispering through blood-flecked lips, "Alex… they're not done."

Alexander's grip on his shield tightened until the metal groaned.

The break hadn't come.

Not yet.

But it was close."