The wind in the Ashlands wasn't just dry—it was dead. It didn't carry the scent of rain or the whisper of life. Only smoke, ash, and the cold taste of ruin.
Valen Creed adjusted the scarf around his mouth, squinting through the swirling dust. The sun was a blood-red smear behind a blanket of gray. Cracked skyscrapers leaned over the horizon like rotting teeth, and the ground crunched underfoot—blackened soil and shattered bone.
This place had once been a city.
Now, it was just another graveyard.
"Strike team, hold position," came Kira's voice through the comm bead in his ear. "Scouts report Riftborn activity near the southern ridge. Target: supply node. Objective: Destroy and extract."
Valen crouched behind the remains of a rusted-out transport truck. Around him, the strike team moved silently—five rebels, armored in mismatched gear, eyes hardened by years of loss. Among them was Lira, her short hair tied back, rifle slung across her back. She caught Valen's eye and nodded.
He returned the nod, wordless.
This was his first mission outside the rebel camp.
His first real test.
⸻
The Plan
They moved like ghosts—slipping between broken buildings, using shadows and rubble to stay hidden.
Valen's boots crunched quietly over scorched stone as they approached the edge of a shattered overpass. Below, nestled in a crater of melted concrete, was the Riftborn supply node: a pulsating black structure, half-organic, half-machine, like a cancer rooted into the Earth.
Tentacle-like conduits extended from it, pumping sickly green energy into the surrounding ruins. Guards stood nearby—Riftborn drones with spiked armor and glowing masks.
"Three minutes to breach," whispered Kira through the comm.
Valen exhaled slowly, adjusting the grip on his blade—a construct of his Echo power, obsidian-black and humming faintly with energy. His heart pounded, but his mind was steady.
He'd trained for this.
And he wasn't the same weak boy who had died in the apocalypse.
⸻
The Assault
"Go."
The command was silent but clear.
The rebels moved as one—Lira fired the first shot, a silenced round cracking into the skull of a drone. Another rebel tossed a shock grenade, and the explosion bathed the supply node in blue light.
Valen dashed in behind them.
A drone lunged—he ducked low and slashed upward, his Echo blade cutting through armor like butter. The Riftborn screeched, collapsing in a burst of dark ichor.
More enemies emerged from the supply node, alerted by the breach.
Valen's power surged.
He raised a hand, forming a defensive barrier just in time to block a bolt of green plasma. The force pushed him back, boots skidding across rubble—but the shield held.
"Valen, left!" Lira called.
He turned just as a drone leapt at him.
Time slowed.
Something snapped inside him.
The world bent.
And in the blink of an eye, Valen vanished from where he stood—and reappeared five meters away, just behind the attacking drone.
He didn't question it.
He moved.
The blade pierced through the drone's spine. It dropped without a sound.
The others didn't notice what he had done—not yet.
But Valen's hands trembled.
Warping.
He had teleported.
Only a few feet, but… it was real.
His Echo was evolving.
⸻
The Node Burns
The fight dragged on.
The rebels planted charges on the node's core while Valen and Kira held the line. His constructs flickered—now a shield, now a spear, now a whip of shadow-light that cracked against the Riftborn with brutal force.
More drones poured in. Valen warped again—once, twice—dodging plasma blasts and repositioning mid-combat. Each time he did, it drained him. His vision blurred, ears rang. The power came at a cost.
But it worked.
Kira's voice crackled through the comm: "Charges set! Pull back!"
"Go!" Valen shouted, slicing down a final drone.
The rebels retreated up the ridge, diving behind cover as the countdown reached zero.
Valen turned once more to look at the node.
He saw movement—something tall.
A figure.
Not a drone.
Not a commander.
Something worse.
But the explosion came before he could make out the details.
The supply node detonated in a dome of white fire, vaporizing everything within fifty meters. The shockwave knocked Valen flat, heat licking at his skin even from afar.
Then silence.
Just the wind.
Just ash.
⸻
The Aftershock
Valen staggered to his feet, ears ringing.
The rebels regrouped on the ridge, coughing, bruised—but alive.
"Good hit," Kira muttered. "Node's gone. That'll slow them down."
Valen didn't speak. He was staring at his hands.
They still trembled from the warp.
Not just from fatigue.
From fear.
"What was that?" Lira asked, appearing beside him.
He looked at her. "I moved."
"You always move."
"No—I warped. I was there, then I wasn't. It's like… space bent for a second."
She blinked, unsure. "That's new."
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Very new."
Kira overheard them. "Echo evolution mid-combat is rare. You might be tapping into deeper layers."
Valen didn't answer.
Because deep down, he knew this wasn't just Echo evolving.
It was something darker.
The Mark on his forearm—still faintly glowing from the cursed strike days ago—pulsed slightly.
Like it approved.
⸻
What Comes Next
Back at the rebel safehouse, Valen sat in silence while the others debriefed and cleaned weapons. His blade leaned beside him, now faded back into raw Echo energy.
Lira brought over a ration bar and sat beside him.
"You did good today."
He gave a small nod. "We all made it back. That's what matters."
"You warped, Valen. That's big. Huge, even."
"Yeah," he muttered. "But it didn't feel… normal."
She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"It wasn't just power. It felt like something else reached out. Like something helped me move."
Lira frowned but didn't press further.
Kira approached then, arms crossed. "We confirmed the node was a command relay. You just cut off a Riftborn hunting sector from their network. That'll buy us time."
Valen looked up. "Time for what?"
"To hit harder. Go deeper. We're not just surviving anymore," she said. "We're starting to win."
Valen didn't smile.
Winning wasn't a word he trusted anymore.
But he nodded.
Because for the first time in a long time, the world didn't feel completely lost.
Not yet.