For three days and nights, Alex and his companions remained in Specter's hidden facility, deep within the ancient mountain fortress. Beneath the crumbling labs and haunted echo of past atrocities, they planned.
Maps were unrolled, Core energy sensors recalibrated, and stolen government codes decrypted by Specter's data relay systems. Every corridor in the stronghold pulsed with a tension that matched the thrum in Alex's chest—the Dragon Core burning hotter than ever, sensing what lay ahead.
Kaela was alive, but her time was running out.
"She's being held in Vault Omega," Specter said, his voice as unreadable as his liquid-black mask. "It's not just a prison—it's a living experiment. Beneath a desert fortress operated jointly by government scientists and mafia enforcers. Only mutants with experimental value are sent there."
Maya stepped forward. "How do we breach it?"
Specter pointed to the old-world blueprint laid across the table. "There's a Core energy line buried beneath the northern desert ridge. A forgotten route—used decades ago for transporting unstable Resonance relics. It's abandoned, but still functional."
Alex studied the map. "So we tunnel in from below?"
Specter nodded. "Yes. But it's not without risk. There are three layers of Core stabilizer fields between you and the vault. They'll nullify your powers if you're not careful."
Lena narrowed her eyes. "What's guarding it?"
Specter didn't hesitate. "A former prototype. Code-name: Ravager."
A silence settled.
"You mean the Ravager?" Maya asked, voice almost trembling.
Alex looked between them. "Who or what is it?"
Specter turned away for a moment, hands clasped behind his back. "A failed fusion of five different animal-based mutations. It was one of their first attempts to push beyond natural Resonance limits—beyond the planet's tolerance. It broke containment. Killed an entire research sector. Instead of destroying it, they weaponized it."
"Of course they did…" Alex muttered. "What does it do?"
"It adapts. Whatever power you use, it absorbs, twists, and reflects it back at twice the force. It has no loyalty—only programming. It cannot be reasoned with."
A heavy silence hung over the war table.
"So what's the plan?" Alex asked.
Specter turned slowly to face him. "The plan is this—you enter through the desert Core line. I disable the outer monitoring systems using my old credentials. The Veilborn create a distraction at the southern gates, drawing forces away. Once inside, you locate Kaela, extract her, and get out."
"That easy?" Lena said sarcastically.
Specter's mask shimmered. "Not even remotely."
---
Preparations began at dawn.
The Veilborn mobilized, traveling across harsh terrain in secret, guided by their animal-encoded instincts and deep knowledge of forgotten paths. Their leader, Sira, handed Alex a blade carved from the fang of a Core-touched predator—its edge humming with reactive energy.
"It will resonate with your Dragon Core," she told him. "It was meant for a true fire-bearer."
Alex bowed in thanks, then turned to Maya, who was adjusting a series of prototype shock discs laced with anti-resonance fields.
"These will give you a few seconds of cover if Ravager adapts to your flame," she said. "Don't count on them lasting long."
He smiled faintly. "Wouldn't be fun if it were easy."
She rolled her eyes. "I seriously doubt your definition of 'fun.'"
Lena, meanwhile, stood beside Specter in silence. When Alex approached, he noticed her jaw was tight, hands clenched.
"You alright?" he asked.
"I've seen too many of these missions go wrong," she said. "If I don't make it back—"
"Don't." Alex's voice was firm. "We all come back."
She nodded once, then bumped his shoulder. "Then let's light up hell."
---
The desert was a dead land—burnt and dry, with sharp winds that screamed through fractured canyons. Beneath the cracked earth, the old Core line waited.
They found the entrance: a circular hatch buried beneath sand and rock, protected by rusted sentry drones and long-dead power seals. Specter interfaced with it, his gloved fingers dancing across an ancient control pad. The doors groaned open, revealing a metal tunnel descending into the unknown.
As they entered the darkness, Alex felt his Core shift—responding to the residual energy laced in the walls.
They were walking through the planet's veins.
For miles they moved, crawling through service tunnels, past collapsed walls and forgotten machines. Glowing blue veins of raw Resonance pulsed through the metal—beautiful, yet unstable.
Finally, they reached the edge of the vault perimeter.
Specter paused, checking a device that blinked furiously. "Three stabilizer fields active. Once I disable the first one, your powers will flicker. You'll be vulnerable until you're past the third."
Alex inhaled deeply. "We'll make it."
Specter raised a hand. "On my signal… now."
The lights around them dimmed, and a strange coldness entered the air. Alex's Dragon Core dulled, as if submerged underwater.
They moved.
Through corridors humming with suppressed energy, they fought past mechanical sentries—bulky machines with no minds, only reflex. Lena's blades flashed. Maya used shock traps to disable traps before they triggered. Alex fought without flame, relying on hand-to-hand and the Veilborn fang blade, its edge singing as it sliced through steel.
Then they reached the containment wing.
There, beyond rows of locked cells and flickering security fields, was Kaela.
Suspended in a Core stasis chamber, wires feeding into her spine and arms, eyes closed. Machines beeped around her, preparing for a full mutation extraction procedure—one that would rip her very essence from her body.
Alex didn't hesitate. He surged forward, slicing through the interface panel with the fang blade. Sparks flew. The glass cracked.
Then the alarms howled.
Kaela's eyes snapped open, dazed but aware.
"A-Alex…?"
He reached in, pulling her out as the stabilizers powered down. His flames returned like a crashing wave—bright, violent, alive.
And with them came something else.
A deep, rumbling growl from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Lena turned. "That's not a machine."
Maya's face drained of color. "It's him. It's Ravager."
The air grew thick as a hulking figure stepped from the shadows. Eight feet tall, skin a blend of metallic hide and shifting organic armor. Its face was a grotesque combination of wolf, serpent, and insect. Eyes glowed blue.
It looked at Alex.
And then it charged.