top of page
Chapter 3: The Song of the Machines
The drone's buzzing became a high-pitched screech as it dove toward them. Its red lights pierced the grayness like flashes of menace. Kehr shoved Ezra behind a collapsed concrete pillar.
— "Stay there, don't make any noise!" he barked, raising his laser pistol with a firm hand.
Liris, still crouching by the dying fire, hurriedly fiddled with her handheld camera.
— "If I can hack into his system before he fully detects us, we have a chance!"
Kehr growled in response, firing a first shot that ricocheted off the drone's armor.
— "Take your time, especially, it's not like this thing can cut us into pieces!"
Ezra, his eyes shining with curiosity despite the danger, watched the machine.
— "It's not a standard model," he murmured. "It has additional antennas... it's a transmitter too."
Kehr swore.
— "You mean he calls his friends?"
Ezra nodded.
— "If we don't stop him, we'll have a whole swarm on our backs."
Liris tapped her fingers frantically, ignoring the beads of sweat that formed on her forehead. The drone slowed for a moment, as if hesitating.
— "It's okay," she murmured. "I have a breach."
A click sounded in his headphones, followed by a faint signal, a sort of electronic chant, that seemed to be coming from the drone itself.
- " Wait... "
Kehr, about to fire again, stopped abruptly.
— “What, wait?!”
— "It's not attacking us," Liris replied, her eyes widening at the lines of code scrolling across her screen. "It's as if it's... responding to a command."
Ezra, fascinated, approached slowly, ignoring Kehr's angry stare.
— "An order for what?" he asked softly.
Liris took a deep breath.
— "From Cephalon. This drone is connected."
Silence fell, broken only by the crackle of fire and the diminished hum of the drone. Finally, Kehr lowered his weapon, his jaw clenched.
— "So what, now he's on our side?"
Before Liris could respond, a metallic voice rose from the drone, seeming to overlap the electronic chant:
— "Host identified. Priority: extraction. Please follow."
Chapter 4: The Trail to the Unknown
The drone began to float gently, heading in the opposite direction of the Distant Wasteland. Liris, still wary, stowed her device in her bag.
— "He wants us to follow him," she said.
— "Great," Kehr grunted, putting his machete back in its sheath. "Because following a machine controlled by a mysterious AI is exactly what I've been dreaming of doing."
Ezra shrugged.
— "If we want to know what Cephalon knows, this is our best lead. And besides, it's either that or wait for another, more aggressive drone to find us."
They set off, following the drone through the ruins. Each step took them further from their hiding place and closer to the heart of the Far Wastes.
The landscape around them grew increasingly strange: twisted metal towers seemed to rise like otherworldly trees, while buried cables glowed faintly beneath their feet. Electrical murmurs echoed in the air, as if the machines themselves were whispering secrets.
Ezra placed a hand on one of the cables, their fingers brushing against the warm surface.
— "It's like a nervous network," she murmured. "These machines are still... alive, in a way."
Kehr clicked his tongue in exasperation.
— "And that's supposed to reassure me?"
Liris, for her part, moved forward without a word, her gaze fixed on the drone that seemed to be guiding them. She felt a mixture of excitement and fear. She knew they were approaching a truth, but she didn't know if this truth would save them or condemn them.
Suddenly, the drone stopped in front of a massive structure half-buried underground. An ancient armored door, adorned with the same spiral symbol they had seen earlier, blocked the entrance.
Liris stepped forward to examine the door, but before she could touch the control panel, a familiar voice sounded behind them.
— “I was wondering how long it would take you to get here.”
They turned to see Vareth, "The Voice of Ether," emerging from the shadows. His black cloak billowed lightly in the breeze, and his mechanical arm glowed coldly.
— "You are playing with forces beyond your control," he said calmly. "And you don't even understand what you have awakened."
bottom of page