Kruger

The storm outside changed.

Not in color. Not in sound. But in weight—a pressure that pressed against the bones, not just the skin. Voidlight flickered across the jungle in broken pulses. Trees twisted. The air screamed in frequencies that weren't made for human ears.

Inside Outpost Spires, Commander Seth's voice rang through the halls:

"FULL LOCKDOWN.All personnel to fortified stations.Defense drones online.Automated turrets on exterior wall-gates.All Nova Index candidates report to containment control."

Red floodlights replaced the sterile white of the interior. Every door sealed with magnetic bolts. The perimeter shielding began to hum, louder than ever before—drawing from backup cores to survive whatever storm was gathering just beyond the treeline.

Kaiell stood at the north observatory window, hand braced against the cold glass. Below, he could see the jungle churning with movement. And above—shadows circled in the Rift clouds.

He closed his eyes.

Let his Viora breathe.

Let it expand.

The world sharpened.

His senses bloomed outward.

Sound dropped away—and vision grew.

He wasn't just looking through his eyes anymore. He was looking through Viora's lens. Like his soul had telescoped forward, stretching beyond flesh and metal, piercing the storm.

And there, breaking through the upper stratosphere like a god's blade—

Leonida's.

A Kruger Dreadnought.

No transmission. No warning. It simply arrived.

Its matte-black hull shimmered with Riftsteel alloys, bristling with energy cannons. Engines of silent violet flame hummed beneath its belly. Kruger Fleet insignia marked its sides in jagged runes: Fleet 9 — Line of Ruin.

It had arrived early.

It had come armed.

Kaiell pulled his vision back with effort, sweat dripping from his chin. The Kruger ship hovered miles above, angling its orbit, adjusting for fire pattern rotation.

He gasped.

"They're going to try an orbital strike," he muttered.

Seth appeared behind him, face unreadable.

"They have no choice," the commander said. "The Mage-class is feeding on its own. The planet's ecosystem is warping beyond reclamation. If we can't stop it on the ground, Leonida's burns the entire hemisphere."

Joran appeared, just off the lift. His eyes wide, pale with awe. "I just saw it break through the clouds. Everyone down in Section Four went dead quiet."

Kaiell turned. "They can't hit the Mage from orbit. Not without melting half the candidates still scattered in the jungle."

"I'm aware," Seth said. "Which is why we'll hold the orbital strike. For now."

Then he turned to Kaiell.

"You saw Leonida's with your Viora, didn't you? Without a scanner."

Kaiell nodded.

"You're developing spatial vision—rare. Possibly unstable. It means your Viora has moved from reactive to projective mode. You're no longer just sensing. You're penetrating space."

Kaiell didn't respond. He could still feel the Mage, curled somewhere deep in the storm, watching the ship too. It knew Leonida's had arrived. And it was adjusting.

Below, the jungle trembled again.

The sky bled light.

And above it all, the Kruger warship Leonida's loomed, silent and ready—for salvation, or annihilation.