Ashes of Our Flame
by RapwizzyDebaron
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Episode 96: "Fall of the Sky"
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The sky rained fire.
Blazing pods descended like comets, each one shaking the earth as it crashed into the ground outside the Forge. The mountain trembled, groaning under the impact of the Omega Reign deployment.
Inside the chamber, red warning lights stuttered to life, casting eerie shadows across the faces of the team.
Shade cursed under his breath. "Those aren't just drones. They're drop-pods. Military-grade."
Tessa stared at the screen. "How many?"
Zero's fingers danced across the console. "Hundreds. Maybe thousands. They're being launched from orbit."
Kara struggled to stand, her legs weak but her voice firm. "Then we move. Now."
Adrian helped her up, eyes burning with resolve. "This was never about just shutting the system down. Vane planned for this. Even if he died, the machine lives on."
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Outside, the mountain's once-quiet slopes were now a battlefield.
Flames tore through trees. The air smelled of smoke, ash, and something more sinister — synthetic.
Figures emerged from the pods. Soldiers in sleek black armor with glowing red visors — emotionless, precise, silent. Each one branded with the Lazarus insignia.
They weren't human.
Tessa whispered, "What the hell are they?"
Kara stepped forward. "The Omega Guard. Vane's last line of control. Pure AI. No emotion. No conscience. Just orders."
Adrian clenched his fists. "Then we give them something they can't process."
"What's that?" Shade asked.
Adrian looked Kara straight in the eyes.
"Hope."
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Back inside the Forge, Shade uploaded a virus into the system Kara had dismantled — a digital grave marker for what Lazarus used to be.
"We can't stop all of them," he said. "But we can make this place their tomb."
Zero nodded. "I've rigged the Forge with enough explosives to turn this mountain into dust. Once we're out, I'll set it off remotely."
Kara looked at her team. "Then let's go. We finish what Vane started — on our own terms."
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The escape was chaos.
Flames licked at their heels as they ran through collapsing tunnels, gunfire echoing behind them. The Omega Guard moved like ghosts — relentless and wordless.
Tessa covered their rear, taking out two sentries with clean, merciless shots. "Keep moving! Go!"
Shade dragged a wounded Zero along, blood trailing from his leg. "We're not leaving anyone behind!"
Above, the sky had turned an apocalyptic orange, the sun choked out by smoke and ash.
They burst out of the final corridor just as the mountainside split with a thunderous boom — the Forge crumbling in a storm of fire and stone.
Adrian hit the detonator.
The explosion tore through the mountain like a scream — violent, final, glorious.
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Silence followed.
They stood on a cliff, bruised, bleeding, and breathless, watching the wreckage of a world burn away behind them.
Kara turned to the others.
"We won," she said softly.
Adrian took her hand. "For now."
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But deep beneath the ashes…
In a blackened lab far below the ruins…
A heartbeat.
Mechanical.
Rhythmic.
And then… eyes opened. Glowing red.
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To be continued…
🔥 The fire hasn't died
. It's only evolved.
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The next battle is coming.