Eclipsed Horizon — Chapter 35: "Ashfall Protocol"
The sirens came first.
Low, resonant tones that made the glass veins of Zephyr tremble. Every Eclipser in the east tower froze mid-motion as the lights turned crimson, the holographic banners dissolving into a single sigil: Ω Directive — the emergency override Cael had only seen in simulation drills.
"...This isn't a drill."
Cael's voice was low, half-choked by the acrid taste of ozone.
Lyra was already moving, snapping her pulseband into combat sync. The ring of light around her wrist flared into a synchronized circuit with Cael's own. The resonance link pulsed — stronger than it had since the Breach.
"Command's calling full lockdown," she said, eyes darting over the tactical overlay. "Ashfall Protocol means the Breach has reached critical spread. We're losing containment in the southern stratum."
Jax's voice cut through the comms, distorted by static.
> "Half the strata are already dark! Mireen's holding the barrier lines, but the flux density's spiking beyond calibration. You two better move!"
Cael's pulse quickened. The Aether conduits along the walls began to fracture, leaking white-blue radiance. He felt the hum of the core deep under the ground — a rhythm too wild, too alive.
"The resonance harmonics are diverging…" he muttered. "It's reacting to something — no, someone."
Lyra's gaze met his.
They both knew who.
Before either could speak, the elevator doors hissed open — and Sena staggered out, blood trailing down her shoulder, carrying a shattered data core.
"Shard Command is compromised," she gasped. "Seraphine Aurel... she's gone rogue."
The room fell silent. Even the sirens seemed to fade for a heartbeat.
Cael stepped forward slowly. "What do you mean rogue?"
Sena's eyes flickered with panic and guilt. "She's leading an extraction from within the flux barrier. She called it—"
The core in her hand pulsed violently, projecting a distorted image.
Seraphine's face appeared, bathed in crimson light.
> "Eclipser Corps, stand down. The Ashfall Protocol isn't a containment measure. It's an execution order. Zephyr isn't saving itself — it's erasing us."
Then the hologram burst apart, flooding the chamber with fragments of code and a single repeating symbol — a spiral consuming itself.
Lyra's voice was barely a whisper. "The Collapse Spiral…"
Cael clenched his fists as the walls began to tremble.
Whatever this was, it wasn't just another mission. It was the beginning of Zephyr's unraveling — and perhaps, the truth behind the Eclipser Corps itself.
He turned toward the shattered horizon outside the glass.
> "Then we stop the protocol — or we fall with it."
The resonance link flared again, binding him and Lyra in light as the world around them began to fracture into ash and starlight.