READY x OR x NOT x HERE x I x COME
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
THE WILDS — DEPTH-18 ENTRY
Kit ran.
The ridge behind him vanished into fog.
His lungs burned. His legs felt heavy.
He didn’t look back.
Kyro’s voice still echoed in his skull:
Don’t run.
Choose to survive.
Kit exhaled hard through his teeth trying to steady the panic clawing at his ribs.
“Depth Seven… just make it to Seven man…” He muttered pushing his legs harder.
Behind him, somewhere far back across the ridge, a deep distant rupture rolled through the forest like thunder.
The ground shook under Kit’s feet.
He didn’t stop running.
Couldn't.
“That was Unc's,” he whispered. “Has to be…”
Another tremor shivered the branches overhead. Something heavy collapsing. The aftermath of a hit big enough to change the shape of the land.
Then the trees broke.
A lake sat in the clearing. Still, flat, perfectly untouched. Not a ripple. Not even from the wind. A thin mist clung to its surface, drifting in lazy ribbons that didn’t match the air around it.
Kit slowed to a jog, then a stop.
“nah… I don't remember this,” he said under his breath.
He checked his wrist console.
His stabilizer flickered once — then died completely.
“Seriously man… now?”
He cursed under his breath then turned in a slow circle. Every direction looked the same. Same trees. Same quiet. Same faint hum in the distance he couldn’t place.
He took one step back toward the tree line—
“Kit.”
The voice came from the trees.
Kit paused.
Buck stood there at the edge of the clearing.
“Buck— damn, man, I thought you were with my Uncle.”
Buck didn’t answer right away.
His eyes tracked Kit’s face like they were remembering it.
Then he pointed toward a narrow cut in the treeline beside the lake. A path Kit hadn’t seen until Buck gestured.
“This way,” Buck said. “It’ll take us back to the others.”
Kit hesitated.
Buck was supposed to be behind him with Kyro.
Buck should’ve been fighting.
Buck shouldn't have been here.
None of it added up.
“Is my Uncle okay?” Kit asked, voice thin with hope.
Buck didn’t blink.
“He said move.”
A chill worked its way up Kit’s spine but he buried it down. Deep.
He didn’t have a map.
He didn’t have a signal.
He didn’t have Kyro.
He only had a choice and his instinct.
Kit nodded once and stepped toward the narrow path.
“Alright,” he breathed. “Lead the way.”
Buck turned and walked into the trees.
Kit followed.
The lake behind them stayed perfectly still.
Buck moved through the trees like he already knew the way.
Kit kept a few steps behind, eyes flicking between Buck, the branches, the ground. Everything felt louder now. The crunch of leaves, the distant hum of Aether in the air, his own heartbeat trying to punch out of his chest.
“Depth Seven,” Kit whispered to himself. “Just get to Seven.”
Buck just walked.
A branch snapped somewhere deeper in the woods. Kit jerked his head at the sound.
Buck didn’t react.
Didn’t even twitch.
Kit didn't like that but didn't say anything. What could he?
The forest grew dense, like the path was closing behind them as fast as they pushed forward. Light cut between the branches in thin stripes. Nothing out here felt still.
Kit tried not to look at the back of Buck’s head too long.
“Tired?” Kit asked casually.
“Mm.”
That was all Buck gave him.
Kit kept moving and missed his next step.
The ground dipped.
He let out a grunt before catching himself on a branch.
Buck kept walking.
Didn't look back.
Not even a half-second glance.
And in that moment, something changed in Kit.
Because Buck always checked.
Always.
Anytime someone slipped, even a little, Buck reacted.
It was automatic.
Kit stood there for a beat too long, watching Buck’s back fade forward through the mist.
Something cold grew under Kit’s ribs.
Breath stuck halfway between fear and anger.
“…okay,” he murmured.
He pushed on.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours. The trees shifted shapes in the haze. A clearing opened ahead — wider than the last. Kit saw a faint flicker of light reflecting in the distance.
Voices.
Real ones.
Kit stepped out first.
Depth-7 evac point.
Colt was braced on a crate, leg strapped tight, Mae hunched over a tablet beside him. Aria sat against a boulder with Lisa, staring off like they hadn’t slept in a week. The Guards were scattered, quietly guarding nothing and everything.
The second Kit was spotted, Mae shot upright.
“Kit! Oh thank God— where’s Ky—”
She stopped when she saw Buck walk out behind him.
Everyone did.
Colt on one good leg, stared like he couldn’t make sense of it.
Buck nodded at them, the same slow nod he’d given Kit earlier before heading into the camp.
Nothing else.
Kit’s eyes surveyed the entire team, making eye contact with every remaining member.
He stepped slightly forward.
He didn’t announce anything.
Didn’t accuse.
He just stood before the team — the way Kyro had stood with him on the ridge.
Quiet. Patient. Ready.
Kit couldn’t prove anything yet and he didn’t understand it either.
But he knew one thing with absolute certainty:
That wasn’t Buck.
And if whatever it was tried anything…
Kit would be the one to put it down.
Not Kyro.
Not the guards.
Him.
Kit slowed his breathing, eyes locked on Buck.
And under his breath—low, calm, steady—he said:
"Try it."
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣