The red glow on the horizon did not fade with dawn. It spread instead—slow, deliberate, and alive—like blood seeping through cloth. The sky above the northern front turned the color of dying embers, and even the air tasted of iron.
The Shadow Vanguard moved in silence through the ashen plains, what little remained of them marching toward a world that no longer remembered peace. The Dominion's banners had vanished days ago, but their presence lingered—every burned village, every silent road, every echo of gunfire that had long since gone quiet.
Reiji walked at the front, his eyes fixed on the horizon. The light wind tugged at his coat, whispering against the frayed edges of fabric. Behind him, Kaede adjusted the strap of her weapon, scanning the surroundings as if expecting the land itself to betray them.
"They've already begun," she said, breaking the silence.
Reiji nodded once. "Ash Fall."
Kaede hesitated. "You think they'll burn the entire line?"
"They'll burn until nothing's left to rise against them," Reiji answered, his tone flat but heavy with memory. "It's not conquest anymore—it's erasure."
They walked on. The crunch of broken glass beneath their boots was the only sound for a long while.
When they reached the remnants of what used to be a town—no name left on its sign, no roofs left on its houses—Reiji stopped. The walls were painted black with soot, and bones jutted out from the rubble like the roots of some forgotten forest.
Kaede knelt beside a child's toy half-buried in the ash—a wooden horse, scorched and split in half. "They didn't even take the bodies," she whispered.
Reiji looked at the horizon again. "They don't need graves for their enemies. Just silence."
He drew his blade—not to fight, but to drive it into the ground, as if anchoring himself to the world still beneath the ruin.
Kaede turned to him. "You're thinking of Vale."
Reiji didn't answer at first. The name itself seemed to echo like a curse. "He's still out there," he said finally. "And if the Dominion's still using him… then there's more coming."
Kaede's grip tightened on her weapon. "Then we end it before it starts."
Reiji's eyes lifted toward the crimson sky. "We can't end it. But maybe we can change what it means."
---
Night came without stars.
The Vanguard made camp inside the hollow shell of an old cathedral. Its stained-glass windows had shattered long ago, but pieces of red and blue still clung to the frame, catching what little moonlight pierced the clouds. The flicker of firelight danced across the cracked walls, illuminating faces too tired to dream.
Kaede sat across from Reiji, sharpening her dagger in small, measured strokes. The steady rasp of metal against stone filled the silence.
"Do you ever think about it?" she asked quietly.
Reiji didn't look up. "About what?"
"Why we're still alive when everyone else isn't."
He paused. Then: "Every day."
Kaede smiled faintly, but it wasn't warmth—it was resignation. "You'd think surviving would feel like a blessing."
"It isn't," Reiji said, staring into the fire. "It's a debt. Every breath you take, you owe someone who never had the chance to take theirs."
She set the dagger down. "Then what do we do with that debt?"
He looked at her then—really looked, his expression unreadable in the dim light. "We pay it back. In blood, if we must."
Kaede's eyes softened, and for a moment, neither spoke. The fire cracked once, spitting a small ember into the air. It floated, then died.
Outside, the wind rose.
---
Just before dawn, a scout burst into the cathedral, panting, covered in dust. "Commander!"
Reiji was already on his feet. "Report."
The scout saluted. "We found them. Dominion forces—south of the ridge. But they're not marching."
Kaede frowned. "Then what are they doing?"
The scout swallowed. "They're building something."
Reiji's eyes narrowed. "Building?"
The soldier nodded. "A structure. Massive. It looks… alive. Metal fused with flesh, sir. We saw veins pulsing through it."
Kaede's expression turned pale. "It's the next phase."
Reiji didn't hesitate. "Show me."
---
By midday, they reached the ridge.
From the cliffs, Reiji looked down upon a valley that no longer resembled anything human. At its center stood a towering shape—a fortress of red iron and bone, breathing as if it had lungs. Dominion engineers moved across its base, attaching cables to flesh-like conduits that pulsed with faint light. Around it, cruciform pillars held suspended bodies—humans wired into the machine, their eyes glowing faintly crimson.
Kaede's breath caught. "They're using people… as conduits."
Reiji's jaw tightened. "No. As fuel."
He could feel it, even from here—the hum of power, the vibration through the earth. It wasn't just energy. It was memory.
"Vale's mark," he murmured.
Kaede looked at him. "What?"
"He called it the Dominion's promise—to merge will and weapon. They've built their god, Kaede. And they're feeding it everything they've taken."
Lightning streaked across the blood-colored clouds.
Kaede's voice trembled. "We can't destroy that."
Reiji turned, his face a mask of grim resolve. "Not yet. But we can cut its heart before it wakes."
---
That night, the Vanguard moved like shadows across the valley's edge. Every motion was precise, silent. The world below glowed red with Dominion light, the fortress throbbing like a beating organ.
Reiji led from the front, his steps soundless. Kaede followed close, crossbow ready, her eyes locked on him as if anchoring herself to his steadiness.
When they reached the perimeter, Reiji signaled. Two Shadows slipped ahead, cutting the power conduits that linked the outer pylons. Sparks hissed. No alarms.
They advanced.
But just as they reached the central platform, the fortress breathed. A pulse of energy rippled outward, shaking the ground beneath them. The air grew heavy, charged with heat and memory.
A voice rose from within the structure—deep, resonant, familiar.
"Reiji…"
Kaede froze. "That's—"
Reiji's eyes widened. "Vale."
The crimson light at the fortress's core surged. A massive shape emerged from within—a fusion of man and machine, armored in living metal, eyes burning like dying stars.
"Welcome back… my brother in shadow," the creature said, its voice both human and inhuman. "Did you come to join the vow?"
Reiji drew his blade slowly. "I came to end it."
Vale's monstrous form smiled. "You can't end what you helped create."
And with that, the ground erupted in light.
---
The battlefield below the crimson sky roared to life once more.
The Dominion's soldiers poured from the fortress like veins bursting under pressure. Shadows met steel. Screams and gunfire became music in the storm.
Kaede fought beside Reiji, blades flashing, the two moving in deadly unison. But against the machine-born army, every strike felt like cutting through eternity.
Vale's laughter echoed across the chaos. "You fight as if victory still means something!"
Reiji lunged, cutting through the Dominion ranks, eyes fixed on the crimson core where Vale stood. "It doesn't," he said through clenched teeth. "But it still changes something."
The storm above fractured into crimson lightning.
As Reiji reached the steps of the living fortress, Kaede's voice cut through the noise. "Reiji! If we fall—"
He turned just enough for her to see the faintest ghost of a smile.
"Then let it be for the vow we chose."
---
When the crimson sky split open, it wasn't with victory.
It was with defiance.
And somewhere within that blinding storm, the first fracture appeared in the Dominion's god.