The air on this world was sharp—too clean, almost artificial.
Golden trees creaked softly in the wind like old bones. The blue grass swayed with ghostlike stillness. Even the sky, fractured by a dead moon, seemed to hold its breath.
Kiro stood at the edge of the newly formed crater, watching the last of the survivors catch their breath. He had given no speeches. No comfort. There was none to give.
The Gate was gone.
The Blood God was dead.
And now they were stranded on a nameless planet... again.
"System," he whispered under his breath, knuckles white around the hilt of his blade. "Is there a way off this world?"
The Blood System pulsed. A flicker of static buzzed through his veins, as if the god it came from were still trying to remember its own voice.
[CALCULATION: COMPLETE.][LOCAL INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT CAPACITY DETECTED – 502 MILES NORTH.][LOCATION: FERAL TRADE ZONE – CITY OF HUNGERS.][TARGET: DOCKED VESSEL – PIRATE WARSHIP DESIGNATION: "THE MAW."][WARNING: HIGH RISK. REGION CONTROLLED BY EXTREME HOSTILE FACTIONS.]
Kiro's eyes narrowed.
He looked to Kan, who stood nearby, overseeing triage for a few wounded.
"We're not alone on this world."
Kan turned. "More Voidlings?"
"No. Worse." Kiro tilted his head toward the north. "Men."
Kiro gathered the officers—what few there were.
Kan. Two former lieutenants from the Kruger forces. A scout named Lien who had survived Velmora's fall. They circled a blood-forged map etched into the ground with glowing veins showing faint terrain shifts.
"The City of Hungers lies five hundred miles north," Kiro said. "The Blood System detected a docked warship—Arion class, but retrofitted. Pirates."
"Are we going to fight them?" Kan asked.
Kiro shook his head. "Not yet. We go in quiet. We find the ship. If we have to take it, we do."
"And if it's surrounded by guns and slavers?"
Kiro's expression didn't change.
"Then we burn the city down."
Dawn – The March Begins
At sunrise—what little light filtered through the broken moon—Kiro selected a team of forty to accompany him.
Scouts. Fighters. Fast movers.
The rest were ordered to stay and fortify the camp, dig in, and await signal. Kan was left in command.
Kiro led them into the northern wilds with only the System to guide him.
For miles, they moved through dead woods and pale hills. Strange ruins whispered of civilizations long gone—rusted machines buried in ash, old bones overgrown with alien roots. Not Empire. Not Void.
Something else.
Each night, the Blood System whispered dreams into Kiro's head.
And each morning, he awoke knowing they were being watched.
Four Days In – Hill Overlook
On the fourth day, Kiro and his team reached the ridgeline.
And there, stretched before them in a deep, cratered valley, was the City of Hungers.
A filthy sprawl of rusted metal towers and flame-lit platforms, built atop an old starship wreck. Gangs moved like insects. Slave cages lined the eastern quarter. Bodies hung from iron pylons. Music played—low and distorted—while smoke rose from bone pits.
And at the far end of it all, tethered by steel hooks and void engines...
...was a massive warship, pulsing red lights on its dorsal cannons.
"Designation: THE MAW."[STATUS: ACTIVE. LAUNCH POSSIBLE.]
Kiro's eyes darkened.
A way off this planet... bathed in fire.
"Prepare for entry," he said coldly.
"We take it at night."