The Surface
The elevator's last tremor faded into the shriek of wind.
When the doors split open, light flooded in, red, diffuse, endless.
Elle stepped first into the ruin of the world. The sky above was a wounded sheet of crimson where the Reaper lattice still pulsed faintly, its arteries of metal stretched thin across the horizon. What had once been Antarctica was now a frozen graveyard of iron and ash.
Her breath misted. The air tasted clean but hollow—like a world that had forgotten how to live.
[XIMERA CORE // ELEMENTAL NODE : STABLE]
Atmospheric reading: low contamination. Residual radiation < 2%. Safe for exposure.
"Cold," Bul rumbled, stepping beside her. Ice cracked beneath his boots. "But breathable. I've felt worse."
"Not since you were born two hours ago," Surge said, his grin the only bright thing in the storm. He fired a small burst under his foot, thump, launching himself onto a snow-blown ridge. "See? Feels like home already."
The blast echoed through the emptiness, swallowed by distance.
Stryke scanned the horizon, visor overlay mapping terrain lines across white and rust-colored ice. "No visible movement. No heat signatures within two klicks. We find cover before nightfall."
Elle nodded, though the word night meant little, there was only the blood-red glow that never dimmed.
Behind them, Shade emerged last, cloak fluttering in the wind, eyes reflecting orange circuits. She turned slowly, taking in the twisted pylons and half-buried spires. "Architecture's non-Reaper," she murmured. "Sinister's design. Outpost-level, maybe observation."
"All dead," Alloy said. His voice was calm, heavy. Metallic ripples shimmered along his arms as he crouched to touch the ice. "No pulse in the ground. Nothing left to pull."
[XIMERA CORE // MAGNETIC NODE : ACTIVE]
Geomagnetic resonance = zero. Planetary field disruption 97%. Stability 73%.
Vex moved among them, scanning with a holographic interface projected from her Hex Node. Blue sigils rotated in her eyes. "Low radiation, low microbial life. But trace energy signatures … something buried."
Elle turned to her. "Direction?"
"North-northeast," Vex said. "Deep, beneath the permafrost."
Stryke's jaw tightened. "We don't dig blind. Could be another trap left by Sinister."
"Or another clue," Elle countered. "He said 'seek the signal.' That sounds like it."
The team spread out in formation. Alloy and Bul took point, carving a path through crusted ice. Surge flanked wide, motion-blurring between outcroppings. Shade lingered near the lift mouth, interfacing with an exterior control pylon.
[XIMERA CORE // STEALTH NODE : LINK ENGAGED]
Subsurface scan initializing … contact confirmed – energy source approx. 42 m below.
"I've got it," she called. "Something alive down there—mechanical, not organic."
Bul drove his fist into the ice. The ground splintered like glass. Alloy joined him, magnetically dragging metallic veins upward in a whirl of frozen shrapnel.
Within moments a dark shape emerged: a spire of black alloy ending in a crystalline array. The surface hummed faintly, alive despite centuries of burial.
Vex knelt beside it, gloved fingers tracing runes etched into the glass. "This isn't Sinister's language," she whispered. "It's older."
Elle crouched next to her. "Older than him?"
"Much." Vex's eyes glowed as the Hex Node synced.
[XIMERA CORE // HEX NODE : INTERFACE ESTABLISHED]
Decoding signal … origin unknown … genetic encryption detected.
Lines of golden light flickered through the ice, forming strands that twisted like DNA helixes.
Stryke raised his weapon. "We don't know what that will trigger."
"Knowledge," Vex replied. "Hopefully."
The beacon pulsed once—then again—then projected a faint holographic sphere into the air. Inside it, shifting glyphs rearranged themselves into a single phrase rendered by the Core's translator.
GENETIC SIGNATURE : EN SABAH NUR
A low vibration rippled through every Node simultaneously.
[TEAM LINK // ALERT]
Genetic resonance detected.
Source – Apocalypse frequency.
Shade blinked at the glow. "That name … it means 'the first one.' A mutant myth."
"Not myth," Alloy said softly. "Legacy."
Elle looked up at the scarlet sky. "If he's alive, he's been watching a long time."
---
The Echo of Gods
Far from the cold of the south, the sands of Egypt churned. Lightning forked across a stormless sky as an ancient pyramid split open along hidden seams.
From the fissure rose Apocalypse, taller than any man, armor humming with Celestial power. His eyes glowed as the transmission formed before him: a sigil of Sinister's code woven into strands of living data.
He regarded it in silence, then extended one massive hand. The hologram coalesced around his palm, spilling streams of information, the seven Node designations, their evolving genomes, their awakening coordinates.
"Sinister," he murmured, voice deep as tectonic shift. "Even in death, you play your games."
He closed his fist; the light flared.
"These creations carry the spark denied to machine and man alike. Mutation. Adaptation. Chaos. My children, whether they know it or not."
Celestial mechanisms rumbled to life behind him, massive rings rotating, drawing power from beneath the desert. The sand fused to glass.
[CELESTIAL INTERFACE // RECONNECTION COMPLETE]
Signal lock – Antarctic quadrant. Target: Ximera Team.
Apocalypse turned toward the horizon. "They awaken in a world without gods. Then let the first one teach them what that truly means."
He stepped into the light—and vanished.
---
The Anomaly
Back in the polar waste, the team stood around the beacon as it pulsed steadily. Every few seconds a vibration rippled through their Cores, syncing faintly.
[TEAM LINK // SYNCHRONIZATION : 12%]
New genetic frequency integrated.
Vex stared at her readings. "It's rewriting our adaptive algorithms … not corruption—enhancement."
"Meaning?" Elle asked.
"Meaning he's talking to us," Vex said. "Or rather, his genome is."
Shade's eyes narrowed. "Communicating through biology. That's … impossible."
"Not for him," Alloy said quietly. "Apocalypse has rewritten the laws of flesh before."
Stryke scanned the horizon again. "If he's alive, he knows where we are now. That signal's a flare."
"Good," Elle said. "Let him find us. We need answers."
Surge crossed his arms, violet energy still flickering around his feet. "We sure we want to meet the guy named after the end of the world?"
Bul laughed once, a sound like grinding stone. "If he's still kicking after all this, he's the only friend worth having."
Vex frowned at the data stream. "I wouldn't call him a friend. But he might be … necessary."
The beacon dimmed, stabilizing into a soft golden glow. Around it, the air shimmered faintly—an atmospheric shift triggered by the broadcast.
Elle turned toward the distance where jagged peaks met the crimson horizon. "Then that's our next destination. We follow the signal north."
Stryke nodded. "We move at first light. Shade, log the coordinates. Alloy, prep material scans. Bul, check atmospheric seals on the suits."
"Orders?" Surge said, smirking. "Guess that means he's finally your second-in-command, boss."
Elle's eyes sparked with faint lightning. "He can have the title. I'll keep the sky."
The team began their preparations in near silence, each member lost in thought.
Above them, the Reaper lattice flickered weakly—as if watching.
---
Reflections in Ice
Later, when the others rested, Vex stood alone beside the beacon. Snow drifted around her shoulders, melting before it touched her skin.
Her Hex Node glowed softly, casting blue light across the black metal. She spoke quietly, not to anyone, but to the hum inside her Core.
"Sinister made us for control," she said. "Apocalypse calls it evolution. Somewhere between the two is survival."
The beacon answered with a single low pulse, rhythmic, almost a heartbeat.
[HEX NODE // ADAPTATION PREDICTION : IN PROGRESS]
Potential link — Celestial signal detected.
She closed her eyes. "Then we evolve … our way."
---
The God Stirs
In the desert night, lightning flashed again. Apocalypse knelt beside a holographic map of the world, its red grids flickering as he traced the lines toward the south pole.
He spoke softly, not to anyone, but to the silent sky.
"Seven lights in the dark. Seven branches of stolen genius. Sinister thought to command evolution."
He smiled faintly, the expression colder than ice.
"I will teach them its price."
The storm closed around him, burying his words in thunder.
---
TEAM STATUS — POST-SURFACE SYNC
(Auto-compiled via Ximera Network)
[TEAM LINK // SYNCHRONIZATION : 12% → 14%]
Detected Signal: Apocalypse frequency (confirmed)
Mission Directive: Follow the northern beacon.
Environmental Condition: Stable – Subzero, low wind interference.
Elle – Elemental Node
Evolution Level: 1.02
Stability: 90%
Adaptation Gain: + Thermal resistance
Note: Leadership protocols self-reinforcing
Stryke – Tactical Node
Evolution Level: 1.01
Stability: 94%
Adaptation Gain: Enhanced target acquisition
Note: Strategic dominance algorithm initialized
Alloy – Magnetic Node
Evolution Level: 1.04
Stability: 75%
Adaptation Gain: Improved mass control
Warning: Thermal feedback spikes during combat simulation
Surge – Kinetic Node
Evolution Level: 1.03
Stability: 86%
Adaptation Gain: Kinetic chain amplification (+18%)
Note: Psionic stability required
Bul – Titan Node
Evolution Level: 1.00
Stability: 96%
Adaptation Gain: Cryo-density field (+defense in cold zones)
Shade – Stealth Node
Evolution Level: 1.02
Stability: 92%
Adaptation Gain: Environmental interface protocols
Note: Mapping antique Sinister tech for reconstruction
Vex – Hex Node
Evolution Level: 1.01
Stability: 98%
Adaptation Gain: Celestial data fragment absorbed
Note: Unknown subroutine awakening within Core*
[END LOG]
Next Objective – Follow the northern signal. Prepare for contact.