As the dust settled around me, I turned my gaze back to the Tower Guardian. Its light flickered, stabilizing, but the damage was done. The questions still clawed at me—about GAIA, about these Towers, about the twisted game we were all trapped in.
But right now, one thing mattered above all else.
I needed to get out. Fast.
Damian lay nearby, unconscious. Blood smeared his temple, but his chest still rose and fell in a steady rhythm. I knelt beside him, brushing a strand of his messy hair away from his face.
"You're good, bro. You'll make it," I muttered, my voice softer than I meant it to be. But there was no time for sentimentality, not now.
Behind me, the battlefield was a nightmare. Broken weapons scattered across the earth like discarded toys, scorched ground still smoldering from the inferno.
Alien creature bodies were piled up in grotesque heaps, twisted and unmoving.
The acrid stench of burned flesh mixed with the sharp tang of ozone, making my stomach churn. Sparks from damaged tech crackled like dying embers, the faint hum of their circuits fizzling out as they died.
A cold silence followed the carnage—eerily still, as if even the world had taken a breath to recover.
I couldn't afford to linger. My boots crunched against the debris as I pushed myself away from Damian, my mind racing.
What the hell was GAIA doing with these Towers?
What was the endgame here?
The question gnawed at me, but Avroc's cryptic words spun in my head, replaying over and over like a broken record.
Answers weren't going to come now.
Distance was.
I shoved my hands into my pockets as I quickened my pace, my feet moving faster as I slipped into the shadows, away from the destruction.
A flash of light interrupted my thoughts, and I froze. The notification from Codebreaker logging GAIA's surveillance messages, appeared before my eyes like a red flag, and my gut sank.
[GAIA Surveillance Active]
[Retrieving Recordings...]
[Retrieving Failed]
[Issuing Cleanup Protocol]
[Releasing Drone Sentinels]
My heart skipped a beat. Cleanup Protocol. The words hit me like a punch to the chest. This wasn't just a cleanup. This was a full lockdown, with lethal force. GAIA wasn't going to let anyone walk away with its secrets.
I glanced over my shoulder. The distant hum of drone engines whined to life in the air, faint at first, then growing steadily louder. I didn't need to see them to know what was coming.
I took off, my boots pounding against the rubble, moving faster now. My every step felt like it was taking me farther away from whatever answers I might find.
I darted between wrecked stone walls and shattered tech, the dark shadows swallowing me whole. My heart raced in my chest, adrenaline fueling my every movement.
Not good. Definitely not good.
The drone sentinels were coming.
I dared a glance behind me. Their sleek, metallic frames floated out from hidden compartments along the Tower's walls, their glowing red optics sweeping across the field. The hum of their engines vibrated through the air like a sickening warning.
I muttered under my breath, barely keeping my voice steady, "Of course, you've got a backup plan."
I ducked behind a crumbled slab of stone, my pulse pounding in my ears. The sentinel's red light washed over me as it drifted past, its beam so close I could feel the hairs on my neck stand on end. My breath caught in my throat, but I forced myself to stay calm.
Panic would get me killed.
The drone moved on, and I bolted from my hiding place, weaving through the wreckage with a sense of urgency that pushed my body beyond its limits. The Tower's shadow loomed over me like a claw reaching for my back, every step I took away from it felt like defying some unseen hand pulling me back.
The battlefield was a mess of scorched earth, twisted metal, and broken bodies. My eyes kept scanning, hunting for a path to safety, my body moving on instinct as I dodged debris and avoided the flickering beams of the sentinels.
I barely heard the faint hum of their engines over the rush of blood in my ears, but it was enough to tell me they were closing in.
I ducked low, my gaze sweeping over the shattered ground. The drones were fast—efficient. No time to waste.
The first drone appeared in my line of sight, its frame gleaming under the pale light. A soft pulse emanated from its core—a wave that swept across the area, seeking out the weak and slow, the survivors too dazed to escape.
"Damian…" My thoughts flickered to my brother. I couldn't let them erase him. Not like this. If they hurt him, I'd tear those sentinels apart, no matter what GAIA wanted.
I took a step forward, but then I froze. The drone's beam swept across the battlefield, pausing when it found its first target. A nearby awakener stirred, their eyes fluttering open, too groggy to react.
The drone hovered closer, its pulse shifting. The beam intensified, and I watched, helpless, as the awakener's gaze grew vacant. Their body went limp, slumping back to the ground.
[Scanning Complete. Erasing Memories.]
The drone's mechanical voice echoed, followed by the unsettling whirr of its systems as it carried out its task.
"Memory erasure," I muttered, the coldness of the process settling into my bones. "You're thorough, I'll give you that."
GAIA didn't leave survivors with memories. Not ones who could talk about what really happened. The drones didn't just destroy—they wiped clean the slate, erasing everything, even the truth about the Towers.
That chill in my gut returned.
The drones weren't just protecting secrets. They were actively erasing them.
I clenched my fists, my resolve hardening.
"Guess I'm not sticking around to negotiate."
I ducked behind another wall, the weight of the situation sinking in. The exit was close now, but the drones were fast and methodical. They wouldn't stop until every last memory was erased, every last witness silenced.
I crept toward the gate, a mere few hundred meters ahead. The drones were closing in like predators, their red optics scanning every corner of the field.
The exit seemed miles away.
Suddenly, my HUD flickered, and a notification flashed before my eyes.
[Codebreaker Active: Surveillance Disruption Enabled]
A grin tugged at the corner of my lips. About damn time.
The nearest drone hesitated, its movements faltering for a split second, enough for me to break into a sprint. I zigzagged, keeping low, dodging the sweeping beams of light that threatened to catch me. The air felt thick with the sound of plasma charging, the hairs on my neck standing on end.
A sharp hiss sliced through the air, and I barely managed to dive to the side as a plasma charge fired, missing me by inches. The explosion sent a shockwave through the ground, rattling my teeth and throwing me off-balance for a split second.
"Close," I muttered, scrambling to my feet.
I pushed forward, my legs burning with the effort, my mind focused solely on getting out.
The perimeter gate was just ahead. I could see the jagged gap in the security barrier, the only way out. I dove through, not daring to look back until I was safely on the other side.
Once I was clear, I allowed myself a moment to breathe, leaning against a crumbling wall. The cool metal of the structure against my back was a brief comfort, but I couldn't relax. Not yet.
The drones wouldn't follow beyond the Tower's limits. GAIA's efficiency had its boundaries, and resource expenditure wasn't one of its priorities.
The Tower loomed behind me, its presence as oppressive as ever. Whatever GAIA was hiding in those towers, it wasn't just training grounds or combat arenas. It was something bigger—something darker.
My fingers brushed the sweat off my brow as I pushed away from the wall, the weight of everything pressing down on me. The questions had only multiplied. What the hell was going on?
I needed answers—and fast. But as Avroc's cryptic words echoed in my head, one question stood out above the rest:
What happens when the Towers aren't just challenges? What happens when they're a cage, and we're the rats inside?
I shook off the thought, but the unease didn't leave.
As I slipped into the darkness, my HUD flickered one last time, a warning flashing in red:
[High-Priority Surveillance Anomaly Detected.]
[GAIA Administrator Access Required.]
A cold smile spread across my face as I disappeared into the night.
"Good luck catching me, GAIA. You'll need it."
The city lights glimmered in the distance, a cold reminder that the real fight was just beginning.
But for now? Survival came first.