[Kyros One – The Caverns, Hour 4]
The air beneath the Ridge was thick with tension. Oil lamps flickered across the stone corridors, casting long shadows over the six hundred men crammed inside the makeshift shelter. Most sat in silence. A few wept for the homes they'd lost. Others sharpened salvaged blades with shaking hands.
Kiro sat alone, cross-legged in the central chamber. His eyes were shut. His blood pulsed unnaturally. Not with exhaustion... but with presence.
A voice stirred in the hollow of his mind—familiar, ancient, patient.
"You cannot hold them here forever, Little Heir. The Arion will burn the surface and drill into the stone. And when they reach you..."
"Then I'll bury them," Kiro snarled aloud.
"They are infinite. You are not. But I can offer you a gate. A way to move these men beyond this world... to safety. The City of Blood still remembers me. It can be opened."
Kiro's eyes snapped open, red light flickering across the walls. "You want to open a gate? Then do it."
Adim's voice grew colder.
"It requires sacrifice. A threshold must be met. Enough life must be consumed to forge the passage. Six hundred men can live—but others must die."
Kiro stood and looked over the chamber. His voice echoed like thunder:
"Form search squads. Find anything living outside these caverns. Animals. Stragglers. Drones. Bandits. I don't care. We need blood. Gather it. We open a gate."
Some hesitated.
Others obeyed.
Kiro clenched his fist as the Blood System glowed beneath his skin, veins lighting up like molten iron.
There would be a gate. And his people would not be slaughtered in the dark.
[Moonbase Helix – Viora Combat Simulation: First Session]
Pablo floated inside a black void.
The only thing tethering him to reality was the pressure suit hugging his body, and the voice of the Viora instructor—an artificial intelligence older than most Kruger officers.
"Initiate Pablo. Sync complete. Welcome to Viora Memory Stream One: Foundation. Prepare for nervous overload. Do not resist the current."
The world snapped into existence.
Pablo was on a battlefield. Not real—but real enough. Bodies scattered. Wind howled. He could feel the dirt beneath his feet, even taste ash in the air.
A Kruger soldier in full Viora armor stepped forward—more energy than man.
"Form the Flow. Your body is conduit. Your will is blade."
Then it struck.
A storm of movement—Viora strikes like lightning.
The avatar attacked with impossible speed. Pablo blocked once. Twice. Then failed. His ribs cracked from an echoing punch. The pain was simulated... but that didn't make it easier to endure.
He got up.
Attacked again.
This time, the AI let him land a hit.
Then dropped him with a counter that made stars bloom in his skull.
"You are learning."
The lesson ended. The void faded.
Pablo opened his eyes back in the Kruger chamber, heart racing, sweat soaked into the collar of his jumpsuit.
The other initiates watched in silence.
He had lasted longer than most.
[Kyros One – The Caverns, Hour 6]
Search parties returned bloodied and breathless. Packs of wild beasts had been hunted, a few mercenaries captured from burnt outposts.
Kiro watched from the center of the cavern as the Blood System scanned the offerings.
"Threshold nearing completion," Adim murmured in his mind. "Two more hearts. One from a sentient creature. One from a willing donor."
Kiro didn't flinch.
He turned toward a wounded rebel—an old man, eyes clear despite the damage.
"I'll give mine," the man said, stepping forward.
Kiro placed a hand on the man's chest.
"Blood Gate conditions met."
A pulse shot through the cavern. The stone cracked. Crimson glyphs burned along the walls, spiraling toward a growing rift in the earth.
A portal opened—twisting red light, a path of screaming veins and dark geometry.
The City of Blood awaited.