Morning sunlight spilled through the sheer curtains, painting the floor in gentle strokes of gold. Yet, the light did little to lift the weight in the air. It was the kind of silence that pressed against the skin—not peace, but prelude.
In the center of the room, Leo stood fully dressed in a sleek, matte-black tactical suit, every strap tightened with precision, every motion deliberate. He moved like someone who wasn't preparing for a mission—but returning to one.
His fingers tapped swiftly across a slim device on his wrist, syncing quietly with something unseen. His face was calm. Too calm.
Then—footsteps. Barefoot. Light, but urgent.
Down the hallway came Iris, hair messy from sleep, still dressed in her loose pajamas.
Her eyes were puffy with fatigue, but alert—sensing something was wrong. She reached him just as his hand brushed the door.
"Where are you going?" she asked, her voice groggy but tinged with something deeper: instinctual worry.
Leo paused.
He turned his head slightly, eyes meeting hers. There was a faint glint in them—affection, restraint... regret?
"To KAS," he said quietly.
Her brow furrowed. "K-A... what?"
Her sleepiness vanished in an instant, replaced by sharp-eyed focus. Something in his voice told her this wasn't routine.
"I'm coming too" she said, standing taller, arms crossed. Her tone—resolute.
Leo's gaze lingered on her—just for a second. But in that second, something passed behind his golden eyes. A silent calculation. A weight.
Then, with a soft nod, he said, "Okay. Get dressed."
No argument. No hesitation. Just trust.
The kind only time and trials could forge.
Minutes later, they stepped out into the morning light.
The streets were still draped in that fleeting hush between dawn and day—when even the city holds its breath.
The wind was cool, brushing gently against Iris's cheeks as they walked side by side.
They neared the car, a sleek black sedan parked under soft shadows.
As Leo reached for the handle, his phone buzzed.
He answered without a word.
There was silence—long, dense silence—only broken by the muffled static of a voice on the other end. Iris watched him from the passenger side, her brows furrowing slightly.
Leo didn't react. His expression didn't change. His eyes didn't flicker.
"...Okay," he said quietly, and ended the call.
His gaze shifted forward, locking onto the road ahead—but something had shifted.
His silence felt heavier now. Sharper.
Something was already in motion.
Something that would not wait.
And whatever it was... it had begun.
Leo leaned back into the seat, arms relaxed but his gaze distant, unreadable. The car hummed softly beneath them, its low vibration lost under the weight of silence.
Outside, Tokyo blurred past in streaks of concrete and morning light, but inside, the tension clung to the air like smoke.
Iris sat stiffly beside him, arms crossed, her gaze sharp with suspicion.
"You still haven't told me what KAS is" she said, voice tight but controlled.
Leo didn't answer right away.
He stared out the window, as if searching for the right words—or perhaps deciding whether she was ready to hear them.
Then, finally, he spoke.
"K.A.S..." His tone was low, layered, as if each word carried a piece of something ancient.
"Most people... even within the government... don't know it exists. It's buried deep—beneath Tokyo, beneath truth itself."
The light in the car shifted as they passed beneath an overpass. Shadows swept across his face.
"To the public, it's a myth. A ghost. But KAS is everywhere."
He turned, locking eyes with her.
"They call it Black Echo."
The words landed with gravity, rippling across the space between them.
"It doesn't just protect Japan. It operates through the CIA, MI6, Mossad... every intelligence agency you've ever heard of, and dozens you haven't."
When threats cross borders... or break reality itself—KAS steps in."
Iris blinked, stunned. Her voice barely rose above a whisper. "What kind of threats?"
Leo's eyes darkened. The calm in his voice now felt like the surface of something endless—and dangerous.
"Ancient technology. Rogue supernaturals. Forbidden sciences. Things that defy the laws of time... of life... of death."
The cityscape reflected in his golden eyes like a distant battlefield.
"We dwell in darkness" he said, voice like steel wrapped in silence.
"To protect the light."
"Wow... okay?" Iris exhaled, her voice a little shaky. She leaned back into her seat, clearly overwhelmed but trying to sound unfazed.
Her mind spun with questions, but none of them felt big enough to match what she'd just heard.
Leo, still gazing out the window, added calmly—almost too calmly, "They're the only ones who know my real identity... besides you."
His words carried weight, like a secret never meant to be shared.
Iris turned her head, her brow furrowed. "Your... real identity?"
Leo nodded once, slow and deliberate. "Remember that day... when those soldiers tried to capture me?"
A chill ran down her spine. Her memories flashed—black suits, glowing weapons, the suffocating air of that ambush.
She nodded slowly, her throat dry.
"They were Black Echo, just with a different name then" he said.
The name echoed again in her head—this time colder.
The car rolled on in silence, but the air between them had shifted completely.
Iris sat back, arms wrapped loosely around herself.
The puzzle pieces in her mind were finally snapping into place, one by one—but the picture they formed was far bigger than she was ready for.
Just then, Leo eased the car to a halt.
The engine fell silent.
"What's wrong?" Iris asked, leaning forward, eyes narrowing. Her tone was casual, but she could feel the shift in the air.
Leo didn't look at her. "I'm to wait here," he said quietly.
Before she could press further, the sound of synchronized engines rolled in from both sides.
Two matte-black vans emerged from the mist, identical and unmarked, their windows tinted beyond civilian grade.
The vehicles slid into position like pieces of a machine clicking into place.
Their doors hissed open in perfect unison.
Leo gave a single nod. "Let's go."
No hesitation. No glance back.
He stepped out. Iris followed, her heart thumping as she crossed the threshold into something far beyond normal.
Inside the van, there were no seats—only matte panels, dim pulse-lights, and two masked agents seated silently at opposite ends.
As soon as the doors sealed, a faint vibration shivered through the floor.
Then—vanished.
The cloaking field activated, rendering them invisible to all satellites, sensors, and eyes.
Outside, Tokyo faded behind them.
The city of noise and chaos gave way to the silent pull of the coastline.
They didn't slow down. They accelerated.
Iris gripped the wall as the ocean loomed ahead—too fast, too direct. "Leo—?!" she gasped.
But Leo didn't flinch.
A heartbeat before impact, the vehicle shimmered, its plating shifting and folding. Wheels retracted, propulsion systems ignited.
In a seamless transformation, the van became a sleek, black submersible unit, slicing cleanly into the sea.
The world turned blue.
Down below, through the murk, something monstrous stirred—massive gates, ancient and mechanical, opened like jaws at the ocean floor.
Runes pulsed faintly along their edges as the submarine passed through.
Beyond the threshold... another world.
A hidden facility the size of a small city carved into the earth's bones. Glowing lines of energy traced the walls like veins.
Dropships hovered silently above glowing landing platforms.
Agents in black moved in formations, their suits armed with non-Earth tech. Surveillance drones hovered like insects.
The vehicles hissed as they docked against the pressure-sealed platforms.
A metallic clang echoed through the chamber, followed by a soft hiss of decompressing air.
Two agents in black exo-uniforms stepped forward, swinging the doors open in perfect sync.
Leo stepped out first, calm and composed, his silhouette crisp against the sterile blue glow of the docking bay.
Behind him, Iris followed—eyes wide, breath held. She looked like a child staring into the bones of a forgotten future.
Footsteps approached with measured grace.
A woman emerged from the line of agents, her presence commanding.
Dark-skinned, sharp-eyed, her uniform was standard-issue only at a glance—custom-tailored, laced with hidden enhancements, and marked with the silver crest of a director.
Her heels clicked precisely against the metal floor, echoing authority.
"Good morning, Mr. Leo" she greeted, her voice smooth and composed as she extended her hand.
"It's an honor to have you here. I'm Dr. Charolet — Director of K.A.S... and the one who called you."
Leo accepted her handshake with a subtle nod. "Thank you."
Her gaze flicked to the girl beside him, softening slightly.
"And this must be Iris."
Iris froze for a half second before nodding politely and returning the handshake, her grip small but steady.
The world around her still buzzed — walls lit by embedded circuitry, air alive with energy fields, voices coded through earpieces and retinal displays.
This place was not built for ordinary people.
Dr. Charolet turned briskly, gesturing for them to follow.
They moved through a wide corridor, its ceiling arched with glowing conduits, into a vast briefing hall.
Every surface hummed softly with layered tech, reactive and alive.
At the front of the chamber stood a towering screen, black as obsidian, waiting.
Dr. Charolet lifted a hand.
The screen blinked to life.
"We've just concluded a global intelligence convergence."
Dr. Charolet said, her tone clipped but serious. "The matter concerns an unprecedented discovery — the coordinates of multiple high-tier universal threats."
Leo's eyes narrowed, his arms folding slowly. "What kind of threats?"
She raised the remote in her hand.
The lights dimmed as the towering screen behind her flared to life, flooding the room in cold blue.
Alien glyphs spiraled across the display — shifting, writhing — like they were alive.
"Alien armadas," she said. "Behemoths. Dimensional rifts. Entities that exist between planes. And more importantly—"
She tapped again.
"—a galactic transmission. Moving at ten times the speed of light."
The symbols flickered, morphing... until they resolved into clear, human-readable text:
ALL NON-HUMANS SHOULD MEET AT EARTIA
The room fell silent. The screen's glow cast ghostly shadows across every face.
Leo stepped closer. His golden eyes reflected the screen, unreadable. Focused. Listening.
Dr. Charolet folded her arms behind her back.
"We don't know where 'Eartia' is exactly" she continued. "It's not in our records. Not in any known star chart. But deep scan satellites picked up gravitational distortions near—"
Before she could finish, the entire facility groaned with violent tremors.
BOOM.
The lights flickered, then steadied. Sirens blared overhead.
Emergency glyphs lined the hallways in crimson. Operatives ran into formation without needing orders.
"What—what was that?" Iris gasped, flinching toward Leo. Her voice was tight, panic creeping in.
Leo turned his gaze upward — toward the trembling ceiling — as if seeing beyond stone and steel. His pupils pulsed with golden light.
His voice was low. Measured.
"...We're late."