The briefing room was darker than usual, shadows creeping along the walls as if the very air carried the weight of something ominous. The Angels, Dicartha's black ops military unit, sat around the circular table, their faces hard and unreadable. We were used to missions where failure meant death, but this time felt different.
Unit 404 had been wiped out.
I stared at the projection hovering above the table. Images flashed by, grainy and distorted, but the message was clear—Unit 404, one of the elite teams of Angels, had been completely annihilated. Not a trace of them remained. The wreckage of their transport vehicle was little more than molten steel and scorched earth.
A cold silence filled the room. Zeke sat beside me, his jaw clenched, his hands gripping the edge of the table. Across from us, Selene's expression was unreadable, but the way her fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of her chair betrayed her unease.
"We lost contact with them shortly after they entered the Gray Zone," said Commander Lysandre, her voice sharp and efficient. She stood at the head of the table, eyes scanning the room, gauging our reactions. "Unit 404 was dispatched for reconnaissance. Their mission was to gather intelligence on the increasing presence of hostile forces near the border of Asolde. We assumed it was just another insurgent group trying to make a name for themselves. We were wrong."
Zeke leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "What are we dealing with?"
Lysandre's expression darkened. "We don't know yet. Whatever it is... it's unlike anything we've seen before."
The room fell into an uneasy silence. The Angels were Dicartha's best, but if Unit 404—an elite squad—had been wiped out, we couldn't afford to underestimate the threat.
I glanced at Zeke. He was already deep in thought, calculating, planning. His usual easy-going demeanor was gone, replaced by the cold, ruthless focus that only came when things were at their worst.
"What's our mission?" I asked, breaking the silence.
Lysandre nodded to me, her sharp gaze meeting mine. "You and your unit will infiltrate the Gray Zone, assess the threat, and eliminate it. We need answers, and you're the only team capable of doing this."
A heavy silence settled over the room. No one needed to ask the obvious question: would we meet the same fate as Unit 404?
Hours later, we were geared up and ready to go. The transport vehicle hummed beneath us, cutting through the fog that had settled over the landscape like a suffocating blanket. The Gray Zone was notorious—a no man's land between the borders of Dicartha and Asolde, a place where the rules of the world seemed to bend and twist in on themselves.
Zeke sat across from me, checking his equipment for the hundredth time. His usually carefree attitude was gone, replaced by a quiet, simmering intensity. I knew he felt it too—the weight of what we were walking into.
Selene sat beside me, her water affinity already humming around her, a barely perceptible aura of moisture clinging to the air. She had been quiet ever since the briefing, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.
As we approached the drop zone, the vehicle shuddered, and the doors slid open with a sharp hiss. I stepped out first, boots hitting the ground with a soft thud. The air was thick, cold, and the mist that surrounded us was unnatural, swirling with an eerie energy.
"We stick together," I said, my voice cutting through the silence. "No one goes off on their own. If anything feels off, call it out immediately."
Zeke nodded. "Got it."
We moved forward in a tight formation, the landscape around us eerily quiet, like the world was holding its breath. The further we ventured into the Gray Zone, the more unsettling everything became. Shadows seemed to move at the edges of my vision, and the mist played tricks on the mind, making the air itself feel heavy.
We reached the last known location of Unit 404 after what felt like an eternity. The ground was scorched, the remains of their vehicle twisted and blackened. But there were no bodies. No sign of struggle.
Nothing.
"Where the hell are they?" Zeke muttered, scanning the area.
"They didn't just disappear," I said, my voice low. "Something took them."
Selene crouched down, her fingers brushing the ground. "There's something here... something dark."
A chill ran down my spine. I could feel it too—the oppressive energy hanging in the air, thick and suffocating.
That's when the attack came.
Out of nowhere, the mist surged toward us, coalescing into shadowy figures that moved with unnatural speed. They were human-shaped but twisted, their forms flickering in and out of existence as if they were phantoms pulled from nightmares.
"Shit! Incoming!" Zeke shouted, drawing his blade in a flash.
I barely had time to react before one of the shadow creatures lunged at me, its claw-like hands swiping at my face. I ducked, summoning my magic in an instant and blasting it back with a surge of wind. The creature hissed, its form dissolving into mist before reforming again.
"These things don't die!" I yelled, dodging another attack.
Selene's water affinity lashed out, forming a whip of liquid that slashed through the mist creatures, but they reformed just as quickly. Zeke was a blur of movement, his blade slicing through the air, but even he was struggling to keep up with their relentless speed.
"They're not real," Selene called out, her voice strained. "They're manifestations—illusions."
"Tell that to the ones trying to kill us!" Zeke shot back, gritting his teeth as he parried another attack.
We were being overwhelmed. The creatures kept coming, their numbers growing, their attacks becoming more frenzied. My heart pounded in my chest as I desperately tried to push them back, but it was like fighting shadows.
And then, just as suddenly as they appeared, they stopped.
The mist receded, pulling back into the darkness, leaving us standing in the aftermath of the battle. My breath came in ragged gasps, my muscles burning with exhaustion.
"What... was that?" Zeke asked, his voice rough.
"I don't know," I admitted, still trying to catch my breath. "But whatever it was, it wasn't the real threat."
We stood in silence for a moment, the weight of what had just happened settling over us. Unit 404 had been caught in this nightmare, and now we were in the same position.
But unlike them, we weren't going to die here.
"We need to move," I said, my voice hardening. "There's something deeper in the Gray Zone, and we're going to find it."
Zeke nodded, his face set in determination. "Let's finish this."
As we pressed on, deeper into the heart of the Gray Zone, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched.
And that Unit 404's fate might be ours if we weren't careful.
Slowly but carefully we prepared our weapons, walking silently not to arouse trouble.