BREACH IN THE BARKLINE

They arrived at District 7.

The aircraft came to a pause on air. It was still high up in the air, but not very high.

Ash stood in his compartment, waiting. He knew what was to happen next.

The surface doors blasted open.

Ash could feel the outside heat, despite feeling the wind that forced itself into the aircraft.

He closed his eyes for a second. He could feel his body getting prepared for the mission; a little pump of adrenaline, his senses heightened.

He looked out, then he jumped.

It was part of Ashborn training. They were to land from the aircraft about 65 meters above the ground. It was safe, and exercising.

Kamsi watched him vanish into the haze of the wastefields. He was only a few meters away from the transport, and he was quickly catching up.

In no time, he reached the transport vehicle and hanged on it.

The hum of Kamsi's voice crackled over comms.

"Vitals stable. Neurolink holding. Ash, how's your vision?"

"Sharper than ever", he muttered, adjusting the carbon-glass scope on his rifle.

The world around him pulsed faintly with outlines-heat signatures from twisted lifeforms that hadn't evolved so much as mutated to fit the new Earth.

He crouched atop the weather-beaten transport hauler, its I tried 😭 shell pitted with claw marks.

Below, the courier team worked quickly to unload nutrient pods. Every second in the fringe zone was a risk.

"I see movement", Ash said. "Two o'clock. Fast."

Kamsi's tone shifted. "Engage if hostile".

It was always hostile.

Ash leapt from the hauler's roof in a single fluid motion, enhanced muscles absorbing the impact with barely a sound.

A ripple of instinct surged through his spine.

He drew his weapon as the first mutated creature burst from the mist: a hound-shaped beast, skeletal and lined with fungal bark, eyes glowing faint green.

He fired a few rounds into the head. The creature's head exploded in a spray of ash and spores.

Three more followed. Ash moved like a storm, every motion precise and lethal. He was not just faster than the others-they said he was too fast.

His body adapted to grafts within hours, where others took days.

The last creature lunged, and he caught it mid-air with a modified arc-blade, slicing clean through.

Silence returned, broken only by the soft fall of ash.

"Ash", Kamsi's voice was tight. "You're...you're changing, aren't you?"

He looked down. His veins shimmered faintly with bioluminescence beneath the skin. Something he had never seen before.

"Maybe", he replied. "Doesn't feel like a bad thing."

Kamsi didn't answer.

It was time to go. The mission was complete, and Ash didn't want to wait until the couriers come out to meet him.

He walked slowly to where the aircraft was parked, the surface door opening to let him in.

Kamsi looked at the feedback from the events that had just taken place. She was worried.

She knew that Ash's rapid changes would attract more missions for them, but she also knew it would attract unwanted attention.

After all, almost everything in Emberfall was watched by the one most people called 'the Gardener.

An entity that some old people even considered legend. He was said to be the last living member of the founders of Emberfall.

Of clurse he was not a normal human. He could be considered an Ashborn in a way, but the beginning of his existence predated the Ashborn.

His own ability; he could live for so long, so so long he was considered nearly immortal. He was over around a 100 years old and still looked like a 40-year old.

That was what the people that saw him said, the people that knew him. But moat of them, if not all, were already dead.

He was the embodiment of knowledge, knowing secrets of things before the great disaster that changed the Earth.

And Kamsi knew that Ash's changes were not gling unnoticed. It would only be a matter of time before they took him from her.

She did not want that to happen. She needed him to stay a little more with her. It would be of benefit to both of them, she thought.

Ash didn't even know that the situation was far bigger than he thought. He couldn't care less.

Fortunately Ash didn't sustain any injuries. The only thing that needed to be done was to resupply.

Ash and Kamsi returned home after visiting the Ashborn barracks. Information from the mission was to be submitted, with personal reviews and notice by Kamsi.

Ash went to his room immediately. Kamsi decided to make dinner. She then remembered that Ash didn't eat that morning, and that she had forgottem to ask why.

But she concluded that he may not have liked the dish, though she immediately discarded the idea when she remembered that Ashborn leaving the barracks for the first time have only had a few meals to choose preferred dishes.

But still, he was human, so he might have a certain tolerance that he didn't yet know.

She had prepared dinner, and decided to call Ash.

But he wasn't answering.

She called his name a few more times, but he still didn't answer.

After a while, he came out of the room.

"Why didn't you answer my calls, young man!" Kamsi wore an angry face, like a mother after her child did something wrong.

"Didn't here you." Ash answered, not looking at her.

Kamsi became even angrier. "You have heightened senses! How couldn't you have heard me?! You dare lie to me now?!"

"I didn't lie." Ash replied, still calm. "I was deep in thought. Or don't you know that when people are deep in thought, they may forget what is happening around them?"

Kamsi's anger died out almost immediately. Ash was deep in thought. She never reasoned that he could be deep in thought. Was he already becoming more human?

Ash turned to go. "Wait..." Kamsi said in a soft voice, with a little sign of uncertainty. "I made dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

Kamsi became angry again. "What?! What do you mean 'you're not hungry'?! You didn't eat this morning?!"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does!" Kamsi almost lost control.

"I've done everything to make sure we both are comfortable with this arrangement and get our work done..."

" But you....you ungrateful person! You just keep spoiling things! If you don't want me to be your caretaker, you can retuen to the barracks tonight!"

Kamsi stopped, now fuming. She was thinking about the consequences of what she just did. It may not be good.

Ash walked towards her, then closer, and closer, and closer. She began to panic, he was about to attack her.

Then he stopped. And he spoke.

"I am so sorry if my actions have offended you. I may have been ignorant to your suffering and wailing due to what you do for us. I promise to ne of good behaviour now."

Then he went to the dining table.

Kamsi froze.

Did he juzt apologize?

She turned and looked at him, still unsure of what had happened.

The Ashborn was becoming a human, unlike the one the government made him to be.