The air in the Cetera Zone was thick with tension, the kind that weighed down every breath and made every sound feel louder than it should. The sky overhead was muted with gray clouds, casting the decaying buildings below in a dull, oppressive light. This section of the city had been abandoned years ago, its concrete bones now twisted and half-swallowed by nature. What hadn't been reclaimed by time had been ruined by the creatures.
Aiden Kurozawa stood at the edge of a crumbling rooftop, his sharp gaze scanning the deserted streets below. Next to him, Riko Takahashi crouched, adjusting the frequency on a communicator device strapped to his wrist. Behind them, their temporary partner, Cecil Faye, knelt quietly, her long-range rifle slung across her back and a small drone hovering just over her shoulder.
The mission had officially started at dawn, and now, an hour in, the group was deep in enemy territory.
"Still nothing on the motion sensors," Cecil murmured, her voice clipped and professional.
"That almost worries me more," Aiden said, narrowing his eyes. His instincts were humming with tension. "It's too quiet."
"Yeah," Riko muttered, checking their perimeter again. "Feels like something's watching us. Lurking."
They'd been dispatched to this area with one primary objective: locate the source of the recent spike in creature activity. It was supposed to be a recon mission—minimal engagement. But the Academy had made it clear: if they were attacked, they were expected to respond appropriately.
The trio moved swiftly through the empty alleyways, silent and efficient. Aiden led, teleporting short distances to scout ahead before signaling the others forward. Riko remained grounded, his awareness sharp, always ready to phase or redirect an attack. Cecil kept to the rear, her calm eyes scanning through the scope of her drone, mapping rooftops and corners for movement.
They passed abandoned shops and shattered vehicles, graffiti scrawled in old panic messages across the walls: "They're watching. Don't stop."
Suddenly, Cecil's drone beeped. "Movement. Two blocks south. Fast. Could be a patrol unit."
"Could be creatures," Aiden replied, stepping back into their line. "Let's check it out, but stay in formation."
They advanced with caution, slipping through a collapsed office building that gave them a higher vantage point over the southern stretch of the zone. From the third floor, they spotted them—two creatures, slinking through the wreckage with unnerving speed. Vaguely humanoid, but twisted, their bodies hunched and elongated, arms dragging against the ground like loose ropes.
"Scouts," Riko whispered. "Probably not alone."
"Let them pass?" Cecil asked, lining them up in her scope.
"No," Aiden said. "They're heading toward the civilian zone. We can't risk it."
Without another word, the team launched into action. Aiden vanished with a snap of pressure in the air, reappearing above the creatures mid-leap. He dropped a small black sphere directly in their path, and before they could react, a miniature black hole burst into life, sucking them in with a scream of compressed air and ripping pressure. The street cracked beneath the force.
The second creature lunged to the side just in time to avoid the pull, but Riko was already there, phasing through the remains of a bus and flipping into its path. As it swung its arm to attack, Riko locked eyes with it—and reflected the blow with a shimmer of pure force, sending the creature hurtling into a nearby wall.
It tried to recover, screeching—but then Cecil's rifle cracked like thunder, and its head snapped back before its body collapsed in a twitching heap.
"Clean," Cecil said, already reloading.
Aiden deactivated the black hole, letting the debris drop with a deep thud. "Still too easy," he muttered. "Something's not right."
"You're right," Riko said, frowning. "Those two weren't looking for prey. They were scouting… for something."
The ground suddenly trembled beneath them. Just slightly.
Then again.
Cecil's drone gave off a sharp warning ping. "Large heat signatures. Multiple. Closing in fast."
"They were bait," Aiden said.
"Fall back!" Riko barked. "To the overpass. We'll have better ground."
The trio sprinted down the ruins, leaping over debris and weaving through shattered buildings as the sound of shrieking echoed through the air—high-pitched, unnatural, and furious. The swarm had found them.
As they reached the overpass, Aiden threw out his hands, creating a new black hole just behind them. The nearest creatures were sucked in with bone-cracking force, but more followed, climbing the walls, racing on all fours.
Cecil dropped to one knee and opened fire. Riko turned back and used his gravitational pull to lift an overturned truck, slamming it into a cluster of the monsters.
"We're gonna need backup," Aiden shouted.
"No time," Riko answered. "We hold here. We can do this."
Aiden nodded grimly. "Then we don't give an inch."
Their eyes met. Friends, brothers in arms—and now, warriors thrown into the thick of something far larger than they'd expected.
They stood back-to-back, powers flaring to life in sync.