They came at dusk.
Not marching. Not charging.
Just… appearing.
Five figures. Hooded. Silent. Lined up on the far ridge like shadows pinned to the sky. Their armor shimmered with tribal alloys and something else—metal finer than anything crafted in Ka'lenna's village. Clean-cut helms. Bone-grafted gauntlets. One bore a long, curved blade embedded with pulsing red gems.
And above them, the sky bled crimson, as if the planet itself was warning me.
"They're scouts," Ka'lenna said quietly beside me. "From the Southern Teeth. Smoke-fangs, likely."
"Sent by the tribe that claimed this vault?"
"Or by the one that wants it."
I took a breath and stepped forward.
The lead figure didn't move. But he raised his hand—and let something fall.
A mask.
It tumbled end over end and landed in the dust near our feet. Bone. Painted. Split down the center.
A symbol.
They knew the vault had opened.
And they didn't come to ask how.
They came to see if I could keep it.
Back at camp, I didn't wait for fear to spread.
I gathered everyone. Ka'lenna stood at my side, arms folded, eyes steady.
The warriors circled us in silence.
I didn't speak like a chief.
I spoke like a man who knew we were being hunted.
"They came to see if we're weak," I said. "If we'll run. Or beg."
I looked them each in the eye.
"We won't."
"They outnumber us," one of the scouts grunted. "And they know the land."
"Good," I said. "Let them bring numbers. I brought fire."
I summoned it—just a flicker—enough to let the ashlight dance across my hands.
They flinched. Not all. But enough.
"Help me fortify this place," I continued. "Prepare the ridges. Dig ash traps. If they want this vault, they'll pay in blood."
Ka'lenna stepped forward then.
"And if any of you still doubt him…" she said coldly, "then turn back now. Go back to the village. But don't expect the ash-marked to follow you when the world burns."
Not a single warrior moved.
By nightfall, we'd set traps along the ridge—pits laced with flame-oil and spikebrush, tension wire from salvaged BABEL nodes, and shard-rings of volcanic glass.
I spent hours in the command tent, syncing with the vault's uplink and parsing half-dead security files.
Most were scrambled.
But one pulsed alive, a glowing schematic labeled "Sentry Node: Ember Veil."
Status: OfflinePower Draw: 38%Manual Reactivation Required
I linked it.
BABEL's response was slow—but clear:
Would you like to deploy the Ember Veil?This may escalate detected hostilities.
I looked out across the canyon.
Then back to the console.
Yes.
A hum rolled through the stone beneath my boots.
Then, from the high arch above the vault's mouth, came the hiss of awakened metal. Emberglass coils spun free, rotating into position like a blossoming flower of flame. Heat shimmered through the dusk as a transparent veil of searing light dropped across the approach—a shield of phase-locked energy, nearly invisible until touched.
One of the scouts stepped too close.
The veil flared—
And took his arm.
He screamed, stumbling back. The others dragged him away. I watched from above, my hands glowing with the same fire they feared.
Ka'lenna stepped beside me.
"They'll come harder now," she said.
"I hope so."
She looked at me.
"Why?"
"Because every time they test me, they teach me how to win."