Contrary to what he expected when he woke up he didn't see any light.
It didn't take him very long to realize that he wasn't awake yet.
He was in a dreamlike state in darkness, however, the darkness wasn't empty.
It pulsed.
Shifted.
Similar to his heartbeat pattern.
He tried to move but he soon realized that it was pointless.
Orion floated in that void, weightless but aware... his mind half-awake, half-dissolved in streams of broken light and data.
At first, it was just flashes.
Then metal.
Then the heat.
Then the sound of a forge that wasn't a forge.
'What does that even mean?' Even his subconscious was confused.
Each motion he felt was deliberate, elegant, alive.
And then he sawthem.
Figures tall and lean, almost skeletal but graceful.
Their skin shimmered like liquid steel under unseen suns, smooth and patterned with faint bioluminescent veins that pulsed in rhythm to their movements.
Each motion of their four arms was a calculated symphony... He could tell that the first two were for strength, second two for more precise motion.
He could barely comprehend their scale. Eight… no... ten feet tall, legs jointed backward like a predator's, fingers long and deft, six on each hand.
And their eyes… six each, arranged in alien symmetry.
The two at the front sharp and piercing, the side ones scanning wide, the upper pair glowing faintly in infrared and ultraviolet hues.
Their voices layered over one another, harmonic and unnerving... each word a chord, resonating in his bones more than his ears. He couldn't understand a thing they said, but the tone held meaning... At least to them.
They stood around him.
A sphere, suspended in the air... liquid light coiling around a metallic heart.
The X-Core.
He was the X-Core.
He didn't know how he knew, but he did.
Every instinct screamed recognition.
This was it.
The beginning.
Their lower hands shaped energy streams, while the upper pair molded solid matter, weaving metal and light together until it felt divine.
Then... chaos.
A sound like thunder tearing through the stars.
The vision shattered into panic.
The tall beings moved fast... too fast for their size... turning as if one mind guided them all.
The chamber shook as an explosion of violet energy ripped through the far wall, vaporizing one of them instantly.
'They were attacked?' Orion thought 'By who?'
'Didn't they get any warning?'
'No, I am sure one of the things I disassembled were warning system.'
More of those harmonized voices, now sharp with alarm.
He saw flashes of movement... armored intruders, humanoid but brutal, forcing their way through.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see them.
The structure burned.
The Core flickered violently.
And among the chaos, one of the tall beings—its bioluminescent glow shifting to a deep blue—turned toward the unfinished X-Core.
It hesitated only a second, then tore it from its cradle.
The creature moved through smoke and flame, each stride purposeful.
It pressed a long six-fingered hand against the core, leaving faint light-marks across its surface... as if sealing it.
Then it looked up... directly at Orion.
For an instant, he felt its voice. Not heard.
Felt.
Kord.
Then the world tore apart.
Orion gasped as his eyes flew open. His body jerked, drenched in sweat.
The air was cold, metallic, real again.
The ruins surrounded him, silent except for his own ragged breathing.
His HUD blinked weakly, still stabilizing.
{Neural Sync... Restored.}
{Memory Fragment... Recovered.}
{Data Origin: Unknown Entity.}
{Identifier: KORD.}
The name echoed in his head, heavy and electric.
Kord.
He didn't know what it meant.
But he knew what it was... It was the man's name... Kord.
{System reboot...}
{Neural synchronization: 97%... 98%... 100%.}
{System upgrade... Complete.}
{Body optimized for battle.}
{Combat Module: Active}
He sat up slowly, his breath sharp and steady.
Something felt off... no, different.
His limbs were heavier but more balanced.
The ground seemed slightly closer. When he looked down, his legs were longer, the proportions subtly altered.
Six foot one, at least.
The bio-armor plates reconfigured across his frame, moving seamlessly into place still in the shape of his civilian style clothes.
It felt even less like armour now and more like an extension of his body.
When he flexed his hands, his grip strength responded with terrifying precision.
He blinked, and the HUD reassembled... cleaner and much more detailed.
Environmental readouts, vitals, ammunition count, threat markers.
Even the air density and oxygen ratio was shown at the corners of his vision.
{Muscle memory enhancement: active.}
{Reflex processing: 2.3x baseline.}
{Pain limiters: calibrated.}
He reached for the kinetic assault rifle lying near the debris.
The weapon's weight felt perfect... not because it was lighter, but because his was far more familiar with it.
The moment his fingers closed around the grip, his HUD automatically linked the rifle's targeting system to his vision.
A faint growl.
Orion froze, head tilting toward the sound.
The motion tracker pulsed red in the corner of his HUD. Something was moving fast through the ruins... low, erratic, almost crawling.
A feral mutant. Most likely drawn by the corpses.
'Did I release any energy?' He thought as he immediately checked.
{Energy Cloaking system optimized.}
Once he confirmed that he didn't have any discernable energy signature, he crouched, quiet, waiting as the creature's shadow slithered into view.
Its body was a twisted parody of human shape... elongated limbs, torn flesh over hardened bone, eyes reflecting a sickly green shimmer.
It sniffed the air, head twitching as if sensing his heartbeat.
Orion didn't wait. He moved.
The rifle roared at once... a burst of kinetic rounds tearing through the still air.
The creature darted sideways with unnatural speed, claws scraping across concrete.
Orion tracked it fluidly, HUD auto-correcting each aim vector.
He rolled behind a collapsed beam, reloaded , and fired again... this time controlled, precise.
The creature lunged and Orion met it head-on.
He swung the rifle like a staff, using the reinforced frame to crack against the mutant's skull.
The impact sent shockwaves up his arms, but his body absorbed it effortlessly.
He pivoted, planted a kick into its chest... the sheer force sending it crashing into a shattered wall.
{Adrenaline regulator: active.}
{Enemy vitals... unstable.}
The mutant screeched, lunged again.
Orion caught its arm mid-swing, twisted, and slammed it to the ground, his armor locking down to brace the movement.
The creature writhed, claws scraping against his armour, but it didn't pierce.
Black cells poured out of his pores in his hands and transformed into a knife and he drove the knife through its neck.
His hands followed right after as he ripped out it organs what ever it was, out.
A wet hiss. Then silence.
For a long moment, only the faint hum of his suit filled the air. Then the HUD pulsed again... a faint signal blinked at the edge of the map.
He exhaled slowly, letting the adrenaline fade.
"Damn... That was so fucking cool."