THE x PATH x HOME
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
DEPTH-17 EXIT TUNNELS - RISE TO DAYLIGHT
The climb out felt tighter on the return.
Same ground, different air.
Kyro took point, reading the tunnel with quiet precision. Every few meters he let a hand skim the stone, checking for small signs that meant everything down here.
Kit stayed behind him, pacing steady. He kept eyes forward, but his mind was clearly still on the cavern, the core, Colt, all of it.
Buck followed last. Heavy footsteps. Slow, uneven breaths.
The tunnel narrowed ahead. They slipped single file. Kit’s boot landed on a patch of loose rock—
It slid.
His balance went fast.
Before he hit the angle, a hand snatched his jacket from behind and pulled him upright.
Buck.
The grip was strong enough to stop the fall clean. Kit steadied himself, exhaling through his teeth.
“Man, good save,” Kit said, trying to shake off the near-fall.
Buck didn’t answer right away.
He just kept holding Kit’s jacket, like the moment hadn’t ended yet.
Kit eased out of the hold.
“I’m good now,” he said, calmer this time.
Buck’s eyes tracked him — slow, unfocused — then finally:
“Ya..”
He stepped back into position without another word.
Kyro glanced over Kit to make sure he was ok and they kept moving.
The tunnel widened again. The emerald glow thinned. Every few meters, thin stripes of daylight from the Twin Suns pierced through the cracks overhead.
They were close.
Kyro slowed for a moment, this time his focus wasn't on Buck.
He glanced toward Kit and calmly asked.
"Remember what we talked about?"
Kit nodded once, steady now. “Yeah. I remember.”
Kyro gave him a single approving tap on the shoulder. "My man."
They kept climbing.
Another turn. Another narrow stretch. Then—
Daylight.
Twin Suns pouring through the final break ahead.
Kyro stepped out first.
Kit followed.
Buck last.
The moment Buck hit sunlight, Kit froze mid-step.
Something looked wrong.
Buck’s eyes didn’t adjust to the light the way they should.
No squint.
No flinch.
No relief.
Just blank.
His face held an expression that wasn’t an expression at all.
Kyro saw it too.
Kit came in right on cue. "We made it…You good, big man?”
Buck smiled.
But it was empty.
A replica.
A mask trying to remember how Buck used to move.
His posture didn’t change, but something behind his eyes did.
A shift.
Kit stepped slightly in front of Buck, instinctively putting distance between them.
Buck didn’t move.
He just looked past Kit at nothing.
Kyros breath shifted next.
Slow.
Controlled.
Kit felt the temperature around him dip for just a moment then return. A subtle shift only felt from activated aether.
One more breath and Kyro would’ve ended whatever was standing behind them.
But the air shifted.
Heavy.
Measured.
Aether signatures approaching.
Kyro didn’t look away from Buck.
He didn’t have to. The vibration alone told him enough.
Kit turned toward the horizon.
Five silhouettes walked the ridge in perfect formation.
Sleek obsidian exosuits that hugged their lean bodies. Masks carved with thin blue slits like digital eyes.
The Fist.
Returning from the surface patrols…
or hunting.
Kyro’s hand moved now, this time over the Relic’s hilt sitting on his waist.
Buck twitched.
Not much.
Just enough to trigger instinct.
Kyro shifted his stance.
Kit’s heart jumped to his throat. “Unc—”
Kyro cut him off with a quiet, steady voice.
“Kid.”
Kit swallowed hard.
“Don’t run,” he said.
Kyro finally turned his head toward the approaching silhouettes.
“Choose to survive,” he finished.
The Fist descended the ridge.
Buck stood behind them like a silent shadow.
Kyro had one choice—
Strike the thing wearing Buck.
Or face the five weapons marching toward them.
He exhaled once, slow, controlled.
Decision made.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣