It was 48 BCE when the Vanguard materialised in Alexandria. The port city, busy and full of noise, was a city of culture and knowledge, but as they materialised on the streets, something was obviously wrong. Usually full of people, the marketplace stood deserted, and over the city dark clouds hung like a bad omen.
She buckled into her gear, feeling the weight of the mission settle in her chest. They had been sent to stop yet another spate of temporal disturbance, but these stakes were yet higher. Rift hunters weren't just destabilizing the past; they were actively rewriting it.
Finn ran his scans with a hand-held, furrowing his brow. "We're close. The rift is somewhere in the Library of Alexandria."
Lyra nodded, and they pushed on through the narrow streets. The air was charged with tension. Every corner she turned, Sam half-expected to see some other Rift Hunter waiting in the shadows.
Coming up on the library, Sam's heart sank. Once a great building, where knowledge and learning were treasured, it was fully aflame. The Rift Hunters were already there; they tore through the structure, their grotesque forms silhouetted against the firelight.
"We have to close it up before it is too late," Lyra bellowed above the din. "Sam, your turn."
Sam nodded mutely, her hands visibly shaking as she fumbled with the stabiliser. The Rift was already well in view: an amorphous mass of energy hanging in the air above the burning library. She could feel its pull, stronger this time, more insistent.
The ground shook as a massive Rift Hunter, far larger than any of them had faced before, emerged from the tear. Its body crackled with temporal energy, eyes burning with a malevolent intelligence.
"Take it down!" Lyra shouted, and the Vanguard opened fire.
Sam worked frantically to stabilize the rift. The energy output was off the charts. She was aware of the full-blown battle around her, where the Vanguard was fighting hard to hold off this monstrous creature. If they did not close the rift soon, the whole city could be lost.
"A bit more," Sam muttered into the controls, her fingers dancing over them.
Out of nowhere, the stabilizer flared to life, and the rift surged into chaotic oscillations. "OOOOOO-ahh." The Rift Hunter let out a deafening roar as its body flickered. The rift collapsed, plunged back into creation.
But not quite all the way. Something else emerged-a figure, shadowy, stepping through the tear with a suggestion of nothing. The Ancient One.
He grinned cruelly, knowingly. "You're persistent, I'll give you that," he said, his voice like ice. "But you're too late. The timeline is already mine."
Sam's heart pounded in her chest. It was now. The real battle had just begun.