Kiel and Merren returned to the Black Hollow Outpost just before midnight — one of the last standing safe zones in Sector 12. Surrounded by electric fences, armed guards, and desperation, it was a place where humans clung to survival with broken nails and bruised pride.
The guards recognized Merren and waved her through.
Kiel, though? They aimed rifles at him the second they saw his glowing eyes.
"Hold it!" a guard barked. "That one's mutated."
Kiel raised his hands, slowly. "I'm not a threat."
"Your pupils say otherwise," the man growled.
Merren stepped between them. "He's with me. He saved my life out there — more than once."
"Looks like a beast to me," the guard muttered. "Smells like one, too."
[PASSIVE: ALPHA PRESENCE – INTIMIDATION LEVEL 2 TRIGGERED]
[Nearby humans affected: 3 / 5]
[Emotional Response: Unease, Suspicion, Inferiority]
The lead guard's hand trembled slightly.
Kiel kept his voice calm. "I'm not asking for a warm welcome. I just need access to the trader. I've got cores to sell."
The man hesitated, then stepped aside. "Fine. But if you so much as twitch funny, we drop you."
"Fair enough."
Inside, the outpost smelled of oil, sweat, and desperation. Concrete halls buzzed with flickering lights. Children slept in corners. Fighters nursed wounds beside empty rations.
The trader's stall was a mess of tech parts, beast hides, and glowing vials. Behind the counter stood a greasy man with a cybernetic eye and too many rings on his fingers.
"Well, well. Merren the Ghost returns," he said, flashing metal teeth. "And who's the beast-boy?"
Merren crossed her arms. "The reason I'm not dead."
Kiel dropped the glowing beast cores onto the counter with a thud. "What can these get me?"
The trader's eyes widened. "Damn. These aren't just low-tier mutts. That's chimera-grade. And this—" he held up one of the cores, squinting—"—this one still has lingering willpower. You killed it yourself, didn't you?"
Kiel didn't answer.
"I'll pay you in weapons, mods, rations, or... a map," the trader said, lowering his voice. "Something interesting came in yesterday. A courier from Sector 9 dropped a datachip before he bled out."
He tapped a screen, projecting a map of an ancient vault hidden deep in the Decay Zone.
"Rumor says it belonged to one of the Old Ones. Pre-Rift. Maybe military. Maybe experimental."
Kiel leaned closer.
[SIDE QUEST AVAILABLE: "Vault of the Forgotten"]
Objective: Locate and breach Vault 13-X.
Reward: Unknown. Risk Level: Extreme.
Recommendation: Minimum Threat Level - Regional Predator or higher.
Merren glanced at Kiel. "That sounds like suicide."
"I'm evolving too fast to stop now," he muttered. "If this vault holds anything related to pre-Rift tech or system engineering… it might help me control the mutation."
She hesitated. "Or accelerate it."
Kiel gave a tired smile. "Either way, I'll get answers."
The trader grinned. "Knew you'd bite. One monster chasing another. I love this business."
Kiel took the chip, loaded it into his neural interface.
Coordinates. Maps. Warnings. Scrambled audio logs.
One caught his attention:
"Subject escaped. Level Four mutation. Do not engage. Do not engage. It's rewriting its own code—"
Kiel's blood ran cold.
Something like him had come before.
And it had gone rogue.
Later that night, standing in the outpost's highest tower, Merren found Kiel staring into the wasteland.
"You know that vault could kill you," she said.
"Everything could kill me," he replied. "But that vault? That might tell me what I am."
[MAIN QUEST UPDATED: "Climb the Food Chain"]
Subtask: Investigate Vault 13-X
Progress to Tier 1 Evolution: 6 / 10
Warning: Evolution pace increasing. Mutation risk rising.
Merren sighed. "You're not the scavenger I met in the crater."
"No," Kiel said quietly. "He didn't survive the first kill."