Life of a Light

Chap 56 - Retrieve

The air is tense, humming with static. Ashak walks alone, a digital reader strapped to his forearm, scanning energy signals. Footsteps echo from behind a sealed door.

Ashak (under breath):
"Signal spike. Something's wrong. That's not Etzia's trace pattern..."

(The metal door at the end of the hallway bursts open with a violent clang. From the shadows, a tall figure emerges—his eyes glowing with Numen energy, lines of pulsing light running across his arms like circuits.)

Numen User (grinning):
"You don't look like a fighter."

(He breaches the door—instantly, alarms shriek. A pulse of violet light hits the wall beside him, exploding. Ashak rolls in, visor adjusting. A figure steps out from the shadows—tall, lean, with veins of living Numen energy swirling beneath his skin.)

Numen User (mockingly):
"You're late. He's already prepped for extraction."

In another room.

(Amaru is visible inside a containment pod—eyes closed, restrained by humming restraints.)

Ashak (staring hard):
"You don't touch him. Not again."

Numen User:
"You're welcome to try."

(The enemy lunges. Numen energy lashes like a whip—Ashak narrowly dodges, dropping a shock disc that sends a strobe of interference across the chamber.)

Ashak (calculating rapidly):
"Too fast for brute force. Have to outthink him."

(He zips behind a console, triggering a code—drones drop from the ceiling and swarm the Numen user, delaying his movement. Ashak sprints to the pod.)

Ashak (urgently):
"Amaru. Give me back.

(As he starts bypassing the lock, the Numen user erupts in power, blasting the drones away and hurling Ashak back. Sparks fly as Ashak hits the wall.)

Ashak (wincing, coughing):
"No—no time to stall..."

Numen User:
"You're smart. But emotion makes you sloppy."

Ashak (getting up slowly):
"Emotion makes me dangerous."

(The Numen user strikes again—but Ashak was ready. He absorbs the blow with a pulse shield and redirects the kinetic energy into the wall's main power line. The chamber lights burst, creating a blackout.)

Ashak (in total darkness):
"I mapped this room before I walked in."

(Using memory, he navigates through shadows. The Numen user lashes blindly, missing. Ashak appears behind him, shock baton humming.)

  

The hallways were silent—too silent—as Armada, Freyda, and Erida crept through the ruins of the facility that had once stolen everything from them.

Armada led, her breath steady but her hand tight on her blade. The dim flickers of broken lights above mirrored the flickers of her rage.

Freyda stayed close behind, her fists clenched, electricity crackling faintly around her gloves. She wasn't trying to be quiet. She wanted them to know she was here.

Erida, at the rear, moved like a shadow. Her eyes swept every corridor, scanning for tripwires, heat sensors, anything that might betray their approach.