The sound of bone cracking echoed through the ruined street.
Sergeant Major Lanuk alexjender pulled the trigger.
The sci-fi rifle in his hands discharged with a sharp burst of blue plasma. The projectile sliced through the air and struck the creature directly in the skull.
The BrainDead's head exploded.
Fragments of bone and frozen blood scattered across the cracked pavement.
The creature collapsed instantly.
Lanuk lowered the weapon slowly, breathing heavily. Around him, dozens of BrainDead shuffled forward through the dim mist — their hollow eyes glowing faintly like dying embers.
They moved with unnatural hunger.
His armor display blinked warnings across his visor.
BIO-THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL.
He wiped the blood from his cheek and muttered to himself.
"Sometimes… things become unconditionally terrifying."
Another BrainDead lunged forward.
Kael raised the rifle again.
But before the next shot could be fired—
Everything faded into darkness.
And the world began to remember how this nightmare had started.
Year 2028
At first, humanity called it climate instability.
Scientists debated.
Governments delayed action.
The planet did not wait.
Massive earthquakes split entire continents apart. Volcanoes erupted in chains across the Pacific Rim, covering cities in oceans of lava. Hurricanes grew into planetary storms that swallowed coastlines.
Within a year, thirty percent of Earth's population vanished.
Cities disappeared.
Entire nations collapsed.
But that catastrophe was only the beginning.
Two years later, in 2030, the planet entered a state no one had predicted.
A sudden shift in the atmospheric circulation plunged the Earth into a catastrophic Neo-Ice Age.
Temperatures fell across the globe.
Oceans froze.
Air travel became impossible.
Food systems collapsed.
Within months, half of humanity froze to death.
The survivors thought the worst had passed.
They were wrong.
Then came the pandemic.
It did not resemble any known virus. The pathogen attacked the human brain itself, slowly killing higher cognitive function while leaving the body alive.
The infected did not die.
They transformed.
The first BrainDead appeared.
Within two years, another ten percent of the population vanished.
Civilization collapsed completely.
Only fragments of humanity remained.
But humanity refused to disappear.
The last surviving world powers gathered their remaining scientists and engineers.
Their final project was named:
ARTHOLIUS.
A massive enclosed megacity built within the remains of an ancient continental plateau.
Around it, they deployed a revolutionary energy barrier — a planetary defense shield capable of stabilizing temperature, atmosphere, and radiation levels.
Inside the shield, Earth's environment returned to what it had been before the disasters.
Green forests.
Clear skies.
Stable climate.
But peace came with a cost.
With governments destroyed and populations shattered, control of Artholius fell into the hands of the only organized force left alive.
The military.
Martial law was declared.
No parliament.
No elections.
No opposition.
The military governed everything.
At first, people accepted it.
They had survived the apocalypse.
Order was more important than freedom.
But power rarely remains uncontested.
Over the decades, underground resistance movements began to rise.
They called themselves:
Rebels.
And the war inside Artholius quietly began.
Year 2150
Three figures sprinted through a narrow industrial alley, their boots echoing against the metal floor.
"Faster!" one of them shouted between breaths.
"We're almost out!"
Behind them, a sudden metallic clang echoed from the rooftop.
A figure dropped from above.
A police officer.
The armored enforcer landed silently and drew a glowing plasma sword.
Blue energy hummed along its blade.
"End of the road," the officer said calmly.
One of the rebels turned and fired his pistol.
The officer moved faster.
The plasma blade flashed through the air.
The rebel barely managed to dodge.
The sword sliced through the wall behind him, melting steel like butter.
Another rebel stumbled.
He tripped and fell hard onto the ground.
The officer walked toward him slowly.
"Please—" the man gasped.
The plasma blade lifted toward his neck.
Suddenly—
CLANG!
Another sword intercepted the strike.
Sparks exploded in the darkness.
The rebel leader had arrived.
He stood between them, breathing calmly.
A long energy blade glowed in his hand.
He glanced back at his companions.
"Running won't help anymore," he said quietly.
"We fight."
The officer smirked beneath his helmet.
"Good."
The two warriors clashed instantly.
Energy blades collided again and again, sending bright arcs of plasma through the alley.
The rebel leader was skilled.
Very skilled.
But the officer was ruthless.
During a moment of distraction—
The officer suddenly kicked a fallen weapon toward one of the rebels.
The man tried to catch it.
The officer moved faster.
The plasma sword sliced across his chest.
The rebel collapsed instantly.
Dead.
The rebel leader roared in rage and attacked with furious strikes.
But the officer had already been wounded during the fight.
Blood leaked from beneath his armor.
He realized the battle had become too risky.
With one final slash to create distance, he leapt onto his hovering patrol bike.
The engine ignited.
Within seconds, the vehicle shot into the sky and disappeared into the night.
The officer rode through the silent city streets, blood dripping from several deep wounds.
His body armor was shredded.
His breathing was heavy.
The hover bike finally slowed outside a modest residential building.
He entered his apartment.
Moments later, he stood beneath a stream of hot water.
Blood washed down the floor drain.
His body was covered in cuts.
Old scars.
New wounds.
He stared at himself in the mirror.
Then he sighed.
"Another peaceful day in Artholius."
Later that night.
The central military station buzzed with activity.
Soldiers snapped to attention as he entered.
"Sergeant Major Varden!" they greeted in unison.
Kael nodded and walked directly toward the command office.
Inside waited his superior officer.
Lieutenant Corvin.
"Well?" Corvin asked.
Kael crossed his arms.
"The rebels escaped."
Corvin frowned.
"But I eliminated two."
The lieutenant sighed.
"We'll deal with them later."
Kael left the office and walked into the operations hall.
There he spotted a familiar face.
Master Sergeant Murker.
Murker grinned immediately.
"You look terrible."
Kael smirked.
"You should see the other guy."
Murker laughed.
"Rumor says we're getting a new officer soon."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"Replacing who?"
"sergent vyom . He's retiring."
Kael nodded slowly.
"That should be interesting."
Neither of them noticed the surveillance camera quietly recording their conversation.
Far away from the clean streets of the military district…
Deep inside the black market sector…
A man stood in a dark alley.
Someone begged for mercy.
"Please… I'll pay you double…"
The stranger didn't respond.
His hand moved.
CRACK.
With a single strike, he crushed the man's skull.
Blood spilled across the concrete.
The killer slowly lifted his head.
His eyes glowed deep red.
Like burning embers.
Something inhuman lived behind them.
And the darkness of Artholius had just begun to wake.