"The Concrete Jungle Edge"
Axel signaled left and right, ordering his troops to fan out along the tree line for cover.
"Just a little further, we should be out of the woods..." he whispered to the rear guard, pushing through tall grass.
Rustle... Rustle...
Boots made of tire rubber crunched softly over dry leaves and concrete debris.
As they moved forward, silvery light began to filter through the canopy, growing brighter with every step.
Axel, commanding from the rear, frowned in confusion. The vanguard soldiers were stopping one by one. They stood frozen, lowering their weapons, staring up at the sky as if under a spell.
"What is it? Hostiles?" Axel whispered urgently. But there was no panic in their posture—only... awe.
Axel pushed past the last line of trees and stepped into the clearing.
The moment his boots hit the cracked asphalt and he looked up... he understood.
"So this... is the sky."
Above them was not the suffocating rock ceiling of the caves, nor the flickering neon of the underground.
It was a vast, endless canvas of velvet black, scattered with millions of "Stars" twinkling like diamonds. It was more magnificent than anything a child of the underground could have ever imagined.
The pale moonlight bathed the ruins, turning the terrifying city into something hauntingly beautiful.
Memories of his father flooded Axel's mind. The bedtime stories...
...Up there, the morning sky is a bright, clear blue, with white clouds drifting by. The wind smells of fresh trees... And at night, though danger creeps in, the sky is more beautiful than any jewel...
...I hope one day, son, you will see it with your own eyes. Without hiding. Without fear of the demons...
"Father..." Axel whispered, tears streaming down his dusty cheeks. "You didn't live to see the kingdom at peace... but I promise you."
He wiped the tears away roughly. His face hardened, the dreamer's look replaced by the steely gaze of a commander.
He would secure this sky for the next generation, no matter the cost.
"Everyone! Snap out of it!!" Axel's voice cut through the silence, jolting his men from their trance. "We aren't here for sightseeing! Focus on the mission!"
The warriors shook their heads, gripping their weapons tight, ready for war once more.
"Form up as planned!" Axel ordered sharply.
"Unit 1! Stay in the tree line. Ambush position and rear guard!"
"Unit 2! Secure the elevator. Protect our extraction route at all costs!"
"The rest of you... with me! We spread out along the wall and head for the Main Gate!"
"YES, SIR!!"
Axel took a deep breath of the fresh surface air (tinged with a feral musk) and led the main force toward the towering city walls... guided by starlight, and watched by the shifting shadows that waited ahead.
The Reclaimers reached the foot of the "Inner Gate." The massive steel doors, twenty meters high and caked in rust, stood as an impassable barrier.
"Hurry! Find the mechanism!" Axel ordered in a harsh whisper.
The engineers rushed to the control panel, trying to pry open the maintenance hatch and turn the massive manual valve.
"Heave... Come on!"
Clank... Clank...
The sound of grinding metal was excruciating. The valve budged an inch before jamming completely. Rust and massive roots had fused the locking mechanism shut.
"Dammit! It won't budge, boss!" The engineer yelled, panic setting in. "The internal gears are fused solid!"
Axel gritted his teeth. "Then prep the explosives! We'll blast a—"
Tap... Tap... Drip.
Small pebbles and debris rained down from the top of the 50-meter wall, bouncing off Axel's helmet. A drop of black, viscous sludge landed on his shoulder... sizzling with a foul acidic smell.
Axel froze. Slowly, dread filling his chest, he tilted his head back to look up at the source.
What he saw made his blood run cold.
Under the moonlight... the towering wall was not empty.
It was "crawling."
Hundreds... no, thousands of black Shadow Aberrations clung to the vertical surface like cockroaches, defying gravity with their sticky limbs. They were descending in a massive swarm. Simultaneously, hundreds of faceless heads snapped down to look at the humans below.
"SCREEEEEECH!!!!"
A high-pitched shriek tore through the night sky. The monsters let go of the wall, free-falling like a rain of black death, aiming straight for Axel's army!
Axel snapped out of his shock. He screamed, his voice cracking with urgency.
"ABOVE US!! SHIELDS UP!! BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!"
"FALL BACK!! REGROUP!!!"
The warriors scrambling to raise their shields, forming a desperate steel roof against the avalanche of monsters about to crash into them...
The last image is Axel's face, twisted in pure horror...
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...Fade to Black...
[ 2 DAY EARLIER... ]