In a dimly lit room deep within the sprawling Horizon Biotech complex, rows of desks stretched in perfect order, each adorned with sleek laptops and desktops. The hum of idle machines filled the air, but the room itself was devoid of life—except for one figure.
A man with long brown hair tied in a ponytail sat slouched in a chair, his attention fixed on the glowing laptop screen in front of him. The footage playing on a window named ETHEREON/LIVE/873527 on the monitor, it showed Kieran and his team arriving at the symmetry. His brown eyes narrowed as the camera panned over the moss-covered gate and sprawling cemetery. He absently munched on fries and sipped from a can of soda, the flickering light from the screen casting sharp shadows on his angular features.
When the camera captured Kieran pausing near an old building on the edge of the field, his curiosity piqued. Leaning forward, he tilted his head, a glint of interest sparking in his eyes.
A faint creak broke the silence, but when he glanced around, the room remained empty. A smirk tugged at his lips, and he straightened, setting the fries aside. His fingers moved deftly across the laptop's trackpad, closing the video window and opening another.
The screen shifted to a black interface labeled
TERMINAL/ HORIZON BIOTECH in bold text at the top. His hands danced over the keyboard.
>Ethereon/assets/873527.obj/ [ENTER]
>Ethereon/assets/873527.obj/root [ENTER]
>Ethereon/assets/873527.obj/root--$ apply reverse reflex.rf [ENTER]
>Ethereon/assets/873527.obj/root--$ apply reverse reflex.rf/erase 85% [ENTER]
>ENTER TIMELIMIT: 12 hour [ENTER]
>ENTER PASSWORD: ********
>APPLYING/PROCESSING/DONE
>[REVERSE REFLEX APPLIED SUCCESFULLY TO 873527.obj/EXECUTION TIME--5:32PM,26 NOV 2056]
The terminal displayed a final message confirming success. The man leaned back, a low chuckle escaping his lips. The air in the room seemed to grow heavier as the screen went dark.
He shut the laptop with a satisfying click, grabbed his fries and soda, and strode toward the exit. The echo of his footsteps faded, leaving the room shrouded in silence once more.
Outside the empty room, the polished halls of Horizon Biotech buzzed with activity, oblivious to the unseen chain of events set into motion.
Kieran hesitated at the corner building, his heart pounding in his chest. The door in front of him, warped with age and overrun by moss, looked like it hadn't been touched in decades. He reached out cautiously; the rusted surface rough against his fingertips. With a faint groan, the door gave way—collapsing inward with a dull thud that sent a cloud of dust into the air.
A narrow hallway stretched before him, dimly lit by beams of sunlight slipping through the cracks in the walls. The scent of damp earth and decay filled his nostrils. He swallowed hard, his nerves tingling as he took a tentative step inside.
Kieran was about to approached the first door on his right. But the place turned pitch black for a fleeting moment. Then, without warning, it was bathed in a violet glow. The walls dissolved into an endless expanse of shifting purple hues, swirling and rippling like a living void. Kieran froze, his breath catching in his throat.
"What the hell is this…?" he whispered, his voice trembling.
A deep, resonant voice boomed from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"It's begun"
The words vibrated through his body, their weight oppressive and inescapable. Kieran opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Suddenly, cracks appeared in the violet void, spiderwebbing outward in all directions. The world around him shattered like fragile glass, fragments spiraling into an abyss of darkness.
Before he could comprehend what was happening, he felt his stomach lurch. His vision blurred, and when clarity returned, he was no longer alone.
He stood in the symmetry field. Night had fallen, though he couldn't recall any transition. His breath came in short, ragged gasps as he turned in circles, trying to make sense of his surroundings.
The air grew heavier, pressing against him like an invisible force. Block by block, the space around them began to turn white, the transformation eerily silent yet profoundly unsettling. Panic rose in his chest as he heard the frantic voices of his team.
"What's happening?!" someone screamed.
Before anyone could react further, the white void abruptly shifted to black. An ear-splitting wail erupted, filling the infinite darkness with raw terror. Kieran's hands flew to his ears, but the screams persisted, echoing in his skull.
And then, silence.
When Kieran opened his eyes, the world had returned to normal—or so it seemed. The field was bathed in the pale light of day, the broken crosses and mossy ground unchanged. But the air smelled of iron.
He looked down and staggered back, his stomach churning. Around him lay the lifeless bodies of his team, their forms crumpled and drenched in blood. Wide, unseeing eyes stared up at the sky.
Kieran's legs buckled, but before he could collapse, he felt the cold press of steel against the back of his head.
"Don't move," a distorted voice commanded, deep and mechanical.
Kieran froze. His gaze flicked upward to catch his reflection in the shattered glass of a nearby grave marker. Behind him stood a figure cloaked in black, their face obscured by a mask that flickered and glitched like a malfunctioning computer screen.
The figure's presence was suffocating, their black suit tight and tactical, reminiscent of a soldier or something far more sinister.
"Who are you?" Kieran managed to choke out, his voice barely audible over the rush of blood in his ears.
The masked figure tilted their head, their mask glitching.
"You don't need to know," the voice rasped.
The barrel of the gun pressed harder against his skull. Kieran clenched his fists, his mind racing, the weight of survival crushing him under its relentless grip.