The room was silent, save for the faint hum of machinery lying dormant, waiting. In the center, a console sat, its surface covered in dust and the remnants of a world long forgotten. The air was thick with the scent of decay, a reminder of the countless lives lost in the wars that had torn the earth apart.
A lone figure moved through the darkness, their steps slow, deliberate. They approached the console, wiping away the grime with a gloved hand, revealing the cracked screen beneath. With a flick of the wrist, the figure activated the console, and the screen flickered to life, casting a sickly green light across the room.
The figure paused, as if hesitating, before their fingers began to move across the keys, inputting a sequence that had been locked away in the recesses of forgotten memory. Each keystroke echoed through the room, a rhythm of inevitability.
"Vyrmalk Protocol—Authorization required," the console prompted, its voice mechanical, devoid of humanity.
A long, gloved finger hovered over the final key. The figure’s breath hitched, and for a moment, they seemed to waver, as if they were about to turn away. But the hesitation passed, replaced by resolve. The final key was pressed.
"Authorization confirmed," the console intoned. "Protocol initiated."
The hum grew louder, reverberating through the walls like the heartbeat of a long-dead beast. On the screen, a map began to materialize, lines of red converging on a single point—a forgotten city buried in ash, where the remnants of civilization clung to existence.
Beneath the earth, ancient machinery rumbled to life, gears grinding after centuries of stillness. The figure watched, unseen eyes fixed on the screen, where the Protocol’s directives scrolled faster than comprehension.
The world would change again, and this time, there would be no turning back.
The figure stepped away, disappearing into the shadows, leaving the console to hum and flicker in the dark—a harbinger of the chaos yet to come.
YOU ARE READING
The Vyrmalk Protocol
Non-FictionIn a world ravaged by rogue machines, survival is a daily battle. Henry, a semi-human with fragmented memories, is abruptly awakened from cryo sleep to find the world he once knew in ruins. Guided by Lawfey, a fellow augmented survivor, he must navi...
