The remote research facility sat at the edge of a jagged cliff, half-buried in mist. Its neon lights flickered sporadically, struggling against the growing darkness of the night.
Commander Aiden stood at the perimeter, eyes sharp, senses alert.
"This place… it feels wrong," Kael said, the youngest of Aiden's Shadow Seekers, his voice low. His fingers brushed over the grip of his weapon.
Aiden's gaze swept the horizon. "Danger doesn't announce itself," he said calmly. "It whispers."
A tremor ran through the ground. Aiden felt it in his boots first, then through the air itself. A low hum, almost imperceptible, resonated around them. The Shadow Frequency—this experimental device meant to explore other dimensions—had been activated, but no one expected it to react like this.
A rift tore open in the facility's courtyard, jagged and glowing with black energy. From it emerged a shadow creature, writhing, moving unnaturally fast. Its form was dark, almost liquid, yet its eyes—black pools of energy—stared directly at Aiden.
"Form up!" Aiden barked. The Shadow Seekers moved instantly, blades drawn, weapons glowing. But even as they attacked, the rift pulsed and writhed, growing wider with every strike.
"This… this isn't normal," Liora, the team's scientist, whispered. "It's feeding on… something. Fear, energy—something else."
The shadows multiplied, taking monstrous forms. Wolves with serrated limbs, humanoid figures with blank faces, all moving in perfect synchronization. Aiden fought with precision, cutting through the nearest shadows. But as each creature fell, the rift only seemed to respond, splitting energy across the courtyard, pulling more shadows into the world.
Aiden's chest tightened. This was the birth of the Non-Space—a tear in reality itself. And this battle was only the beginning.
"Keep fighting!" he shouted. "We seal the rifts now, or this spreads!"
Even as the Seekers battled, a deeper thought struck him: the Shadow Frequency wasn't just opening doors to other dimensions—it was calling something. Something bigger. Something that would become the Eclipse Hound.
Aiden clenched his fists. Whatever it was, he would be ready. He was the first line of defense, and the first to stand against the shadows.