The sea breeze carried the scent of rust and salt as violet twilight bathed the ruins of Varenthos — a once-mighty coastal city now reduced to a graveyard of technology and stone.
Hidden behind what remained of a shattered pillar, Ilyra adjusted her scanner goggles. Her long hair, streaked with silver, shimmered under the fading sun. She wasn't supposed to be here alone — but that's how it always ended up. Orders from Myrrh Syndicate didn't care much for safety. Just results.
Across the rubble, Kaien leaned against a crumbling wall, quietly observing the skyline. A small surveillance drone hovered beside him, feeding him data. His face was scarred, his eyes cold — yet sharp, always calculating. He was one of the youngest officers in the Aurellian Order, known for his precision and ruthlessness.
Neither of them knew the other was watching.
Their target was the same: the Aevaris Crystal — a mythic energy source said to power the ancients, hidden somewhere beneath the ruins. Whoever retrieved it would hold immense influence. It was a race of ideologies. A mission both personal and political.
As the sky darkened, an ancient landmine, long buried beneath debris, trembled from vibration.
Boom.
The explosion ripped through the ground, throwing Ilyra into a collapsed tunnel and triggering a cave-in. Kaien's drone blinked red before crashing into the dirt. Dust and metal rained.
Silence followed.
In the dim underground chamber, lit only by residual glowstones, two figures coughed through the dust. Opposite each other. Both weapons drawn.
"You're from Myrrh," Kaien muttered, aiming his plasma blade. His voice was rough, half-choked by smoke.
"And you're Aurellian," Ilyra replied, raising her pulse pistol. "We should be trying to kill each other, shouldn't we?"
They held their stances. The hum of their weapons the only sound between them.
But neither attacked.
Because in that moment — that strange flicker of stillness — something unspoken passed between their eyes.
Not today.