The corridor leading away from the Heart chamber wound upward like a metallic artery, pulsing faintly with restored energy. Rourke felt each vibration as clearly as he felt his own heartbeat. Every panel, every conduit, every dormant system hummed with the Heart's lingering touch.
Seren kept pace beside him, pistol drawn, gaze sharp.
The gravitational guide drifted silently behind them, as though gliding on invisible currents.
Rourke slowed.
"Something's wrong," he murmured.
Seren raised her weapon. "What is it?"
Rourke couldn't explain it—not in words. The sphere spoke to him in pulses and shifts. A subtle distortion tugged at the edges of his awareness, like a ripple spreading through still water.
"They've made it inside," he said quietly.
"And they're not far."
The guide confirmed it with a dim glow.
"Their gravitational signatures are unmistakable."
Seren's jaw tightened. "Then we move fast."
The First Contact
They reached a broken section of corridor where the ceiling had collapsed long ago. Twisted beams jutted out, forming a jagged archway. Rourke raised a hand, and the rubble responded—lifting just enough to create a safe passage.
Seren blinked. "You're getting good at that."
Rourke didn't answer. He stepped through the opening—
And froze.
The sphere grew unnaturally quiet.
Even the Heart's hum retreated.
Seren whispered, "Rourke…?"
He lifted a hand, signaling her to stay back.
A shadow detached itself from the darkness ahead.
Then it moved.
A Hunter stepped into the corridor, its tall frame forcing its head slightly downward. Its armor reflected no light. Its three eyes glowed a cold white, each one focusing independently. Its limbs moved with predatory precision—fluid yet mechanical.
Seren inhaled sharply. "We need to fall back—"
The Hunter raised its hand.
Space compressed.
A wave of crushing force rolled down the corridor.
Rourke reacted without thinking. His gravity field expanded outward, forming a barrier that caught the blast. The pressure slammed into him like a collapsing star, but he held his ground.
The corridor walls groaned. Dust cascaded from the ceiling.
Seren shouted over the roar, "Rourke, that's not going to hold forever!"
He pushed back.
The blast faltered.
Then stopped.
The Hunter tilted its head, studying him with eerie calm.
"Subject identified," it said in a voice that sounded like metal scraping against stone.
"Solarii signature confirmed."
Rourke felt the words like a sting.
He wasn't a subject.
He wasn't a prize.
He stepped forward.
"Leave."
The Hunter's eyes brightened.
"You will comply."
It extended its arm again, preparing another gravitational attack—
But Rourke moved first.
He twisted the nearest gravitational node in the corridor. The air wavered. A dense pulse of force shot forward, catching the Hunter square in the chest.
The creature flew backward, smashing through a decayed support beam.
Seren stared. "Okay… that's new."
Rourke shook his hands, as though clearing static. "Still figuring it out."
The guide drifted closer.
"More approach."
The Corridor Clash
The walls vibrated.
Not from damage—
but from footsteps.
Three more Hunters emerged from the shadows, moving in perfect synchronicity, their eyes focused solely on Rourke.
Seren cursed under her breath. "Four of them? Seriously?"
The lead Hunter pointed at Rourke.
"Surrender the Heart's conduit."
Rourke lifted both hands.
The sphere answered him.
A cold current surged up through the floor, coiling around his legs, climbing his spine. He felt the gravitational pathways of the corridor—every anchor point, every fracture, every dormant node—like a map burned into his mind.
He tightened his fists.
Gravity bent.
Panels peeled upward.
Dust hung in suspended spirals.
The corridor compressed around the Hunters.
But the Hunters countered instantly—
their own gravity fields slicing into his like knives against cloth.
Rourke staggered.
Seren fired three quick shots.
The bullets bounced off harmlessly, ricocheting down the hall.
"Useless!" she spat.
"Keep them distracted," Rourke said, pressing forward.
"Oh sure, let me just annoy the unstoppable monsters with my useless gun. Got it."
But she did it—darting to one side, firing, shouting, anything to break their perfect focus.
The Hunters adapted, two turning on Seren.
Rourke didn't think—he reacted.
He pulled.
A sudden gravitational shift yanked Seren backward into his arms just as a Hunter's crushing strike shattered the floor where she had stood.
Seren gasped. "That… would've been my face."
Rourke stepped forward, fury rising. "Stay behind me."
The Surge
The Hunters advanced.
Rourke felt the Heart pulse within him.
A deep, burning warmth spread through his chest, then erupted outward in a burst of light that illuminated the entire corridor.
The air thickened.
Gravity spiraled.
Panels flexed inward like they were breathing.
Rourke's feet left the ground as he rose into the air, not lifted but centered—the corridor bending gently toward him.
The Hunters paused.
For the first time, they hesitated.
"Power level exceeding predicted threshold," one stated.
"Adapting."
Rourke's voice resonated with energy that wasn't entirely his.
"Try."
He thrust both hands forward.
A wave of gravitational force—wide, circular, flawless—rushed down the corridor, lifting the Hunters off their feet and flinging them backward. Metal shrieked as they crashed into the far wall, cracking the structure.
The sphere groaned as the corridor trembled under the strain.
Seren shielded herself. "Rourke, don't tear the whole place apart!"
He forced the energy to contract.
The corridor steadied.
He landed slowly, knees buckling from the effort.
The Hunters rose again—
damaged, but far from defeated.
Their eyes glowed brighter.
"Escalation authorized."
Rourke's breath caught. "Escalation?"
The guide spoke with sudden urgency.
"They will release their inner cores. It is a deadly form."
Seren steadied Rourke. "Can you stop them?"
Rourke stared as the Hunters' chests began to split open, revealing swirling nodes of dark gravitational energy.
He exhaled.
"Yes."
He stepped forward, calm spreading through him like dawn light.
The Turning Point
He raised his hand.
Gravity obeyed instantly—
not wild, not explosive—
but controlled.
Precise.
The Hunters froze mid-transformation, suspended by the pressure of Rourke's field. Their bodies strained, limbs twitching as they fought against an invisible cage.
Rourke tightened his fist.
The gravitational nodes inside their chests flickered.
And then—
He crushed them.
The nodes winked out like dying stars.
The Hunters collapsed, lifeless, armor clattering against the metal floor.
Silence filled the corridor.
Seren stared at the bodies.
Then at Rourke.
"Remind me never to make you angry."
Rourke's hands trembled—not from fear, but from how close he'd come to losing control.
"We need to reach higher ground," he said.
"There will be more."
The guide bowed its head.
"And stronger ones."
Rourke turned toward the next passage, feeling the sphere pulse with rising alarm.
He wasn't afraid anymore.
But he understood one thing clearly:
This fight had just begun.
And the Hunters weren't here to capture him anymore.
They were here to end him.