Ashwalker

The command chamber of Carold was almost silent.

Only a few Krugers moved between the data-rings and briefing panels—ghosts in matte-black armor. The rest of the base was operated by machines: silent, tireless, and cold. They worked in the walls. In the floors. Beyond the shield dome.

The room smelled like purified air and scorched circuitry.

Kaiell stood alone at the side of the room, sharp-eyed but unreadable.

Then the doors slid open with a soft hydraulic hiss.

The woman who entered made no sound as she walked. She wore a deep indigo Kruger command mantle lined with void-insulated plating. Her left eye was gone—replaced with a multi-lens data array that spun slowly as she scanned the room.

Her presence rippled across the chamber.

"Commandant Veyra," someone murmured, almost reverently.

Kaiell had heard her name before.

A legend. One of the first survivors of the original Rift Incursions. Said to have served under Kiro himself when the Empire still bled to hold the gates.

Veyra stopped at the center console and activated the table. A pale-blue projection surged up—twisted terrain, shattered rock plains, and flickering Void signatures dancing across the hologram.

"Kruger Kaiell," she said, her voice clipped, exact. "Welcome to Carold."

He straightened instinctively. "Ma'am."

"You've been cleared for live deployment. Your strain tolerance is within combat thresholds. Your Viora synchronization is high. Ibex response speed—optimal."

She tapped the map. It rotated.

"Your first assignment will be with Outpost Team Theta-Nine. Deployment begins immediately. You'll be dropped via reinforced crawler to grid sector BX-12. Mission objective: eradication of an active human cult cell."

Kaiell's brow tensed. "A cult?"

Veyra nodded, but her tone carried weight.

"Yes. A human cult. Void-adapted. Self-organized. They've constructed a shrine near a collapsed Rift Scar and are attempting contact."

"Contact with… what?"

She swiped the hologram again.

An image surfaced—one Kaiell wouldn't forget.

A shrine of bone and flesh, grown from black stone and rebar, shaped into a grotesque cathedral. Human silhouettes surrounded it. Bowing. Bleeding.

"Void deities," Veyra said simply. "Entities that exist beyond Rift-space. We don't know if they were born in the Void or buried there."

Kaiell felt his mouth go dry.

"The cultists call them gods. Emissaries. Dream-chosen. They're drawn in by visions—sleep-touched commands implanted by something far older than language. And they act on them. They build what they're shown."

She turned to look at him directly.

"They believe they are freeing these beings."

The room was dead quiet.

"There are other gateways," she continued. "Not all are in our hands. Some opened on their own. Others were forced open by cults. This is why Carold exists. To hold this gate. To send you in."

She flicked her fingers. Another image appeared—this one worse.

A creature that was once humanoid—but stretched, consumed. Grown into something impossible. Bones like trees. Viora energy pouring from its limbs like flame. Beneath it: worshippers. Singing.

"Some Krugers call them gods. Others, parasites. Either way—they cannot reach realspace."

Veyra looked at Kaiell once more.

"Your mission is not to understand them. Your mission is to destroy their voice."

The air in the room thickened.

"Dismissed. Armor up. Transport leaves in five."

Kaiell turned toward the exit.

But just as the door opened—

A chime echoed from the far wall.

[CRYO UNIT 07 – STABILIZATION COMPLETE]

He froze.

Unit 07.

His heart kicked. He didn't need a list. Didn't need clearance.

That pod had only one name attached to it.

Joran.

He turned on his heel and ran.

Down into the cryochamber levels. Past the drone checkpoints. Past security rings of black metal and humming Neorite walls.

Past the sound of briefings and gods.

Because one thing still mattered more than the mission—

And that was the friend who bled beside him to earn the right to be here.