A NEW BEGINNING

Dear Mother,

I hope you’re all safe. Things are changing here every day. What we once saw as victories are suddenly falling apart. It seems that after winning Sindar Lad, Prim caught a second wind—and from the looks of it, they’ve received a new shipment of ammunition. With that and the Alters in their ranks, it means only one thing for us: our chances of ending this madness soon are shrinking by the day.

Yesterday, we lost another node. We defended it all night, but come morning, it wasn’t enough. Those Alters… they aren’t human. They don’t fight like we do. It’s like watching unleashed madness. So far, no one has the slightest idea how to stop them. They’re fast, precise, merciless. Because of them, we’re slowly losing everything we fought so hard to hold.

And yet, I’m not afraid. I think of home. Of you. We’re fighting for what’s ours, and as long as I have strength left, I’ll keep going. But if this war ends before I make it back, I want you to know it was worth it.

I’m proud to be your son.

With love,

Tyrim

Ked, Central Region of Raj

Ked pressed himself to the ground behind a low rise in the terrain. Over the pounding of his heart, he could barely hear Leimar, lying just a few steps away. He was yelling orders. Ked could see him waving his arms—maybe trying to reinforce his words with firm gestures. But it barely registered. The best thing would be not to be.

Muted gunfire and screams mingled with the distant roar of engines. Each sound stabbed into his head like a shard of glass.

His breath came in gasps, as if his lungs might explode. He could smell the metallic tang of blood mixed with smoke. The hot air burned his nostrils. His hands shook so badly he nearly dropped his weapon. Could he even fire it? He doubted it. His knees were raw from crawling across the rocky ground, trying to get away. Dust and sweat stung his eyes.

He heard footsteps. They were closing in. Too different for any ordinary human.

How had everything gone wrong so fast?

Today’s mission hadn’t seemed any different from the ones before it. The camp had felt calm—maybe too calm. The usual heated talk around the fires, the banter and nervous teasing that always preceded their deployments, faded before they even began. Something hung in the air.

Ked had been sitting off to the side, finishing the cleaning of his weapon, when Jara came to sit next to him. She watched silently as he assembled the parts one by one, finally locking in the spongus cartridge. He could’ve said he was ready.

“Do you have to go?” she asked.

She spoke softly, almost on the verge of tears. She could feel the shift in the camp’s mood too. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Ked tore his eyes from the weapon and looked at her. “That’s the rule.”

“They only care about themselves,” she objected, as if unwilling to hear his answer. “They never cared about us.”

“They never claimed to. Gramps has his goals. You’re either with him, or you’re not. And if you’re not, then you don’t belong here. I accepted those rules. You should too. You don’t want to be out there on your own,” he said flatly and returned to his work.

Jara pressed her lips together. She didn’t need to say a word for Ked to know she disagreed. She hadn’t liked it when he first joined Gramps’s armed crew. And she still hadn’t come to terms with it. He couldn’t blame her. Unlike him, she had left Karhen Rouz by force. If she could have, she would’ve stayed. But what she did to Reng had slammed every door shut behind her—and not even being in the right had saved her. They’d never spoken about it, but Ked knew it still ate away at her. He was sure that if she could turn back time, she’d rather forgive Reng the humiliation and betrayal than end up here.

Ked didn’t dwell much on what he’d done to his loved ones back in Karhen Rouz. Unlike Jara, he’d hurt them knowingly. And that only made it more important for him to prove it had been worth it. That’s why he stayed.

Gramps was different. When he spoke, it was like the world bent to his rules. Everyone trusted that he saw a higher purpose in what they were doing. A future where people like them would have a place. Ked suspected he sometimes bent reality to match his vision of the world—but he didn’t care. What mattered was that Gramps had a grand goal and the drive to pursue it—something Ked could believe in. And Ked was sure that made him part of something that might one day completely change this damned world.

That’s why he believed this upcoming operation would be worth it. It was his first truly big mission, and deep down, he felt a tingling rush of anticipation. He knew it wouldn’t be easy. That it could cost lives. He knew everyone was taking a risk. After all, he’d been there when nearly half of Gramps’s people didn’t return from Prim, and he’d seen the losses at Gan Roa, from where Gramps later brought back the Gatherers. Maybe that should’ve scared him off—because Gramps didn’t hesitate to sacrifice his own people. But Ked didn’t let it get to him. He believed. And he knew most in the camp felt the same way.

The bald-headed Leimar leaned over a map spread out on a makeshift table, thoughtfully assessing what might be waiting for them.

“It’s flat,” he finally said, drawing a wide arc on the map to show what he meant. “If this goes sideways, we won’t have any terrain advantage.”

“Neither will they,” Gramps countered. “Besides, they don’t know we’re coming. It’s a fortified base, sure, but if we hit at night, it’ll be a quiet op. Plant the charges and vanish before they even figure out who blew it out from under their asses. We just need to take out the ammo depot—the rest’ll sort itself out in the chaos that follows.”

“I agree,” Leimar nodded. “But we have to be fast. Still... this base doesn’t feel right. It looks too easy. And this is a military base. Professionals. We’re just a bunch of guys who mess around with weapons now and then. One mistake and it all goes to hell...”

“Listen to yourself, Leimar. Chin up,” Gramps snorted. “We’ve broken the backs of bigger bastards than these.”

Leimar clearly didn’t share the optimism, but it wasn’t his job to challenge Gramps. His job was to make sure whatever they did went as smoothly as possible.

“How many people are we expecting in there?”

“The Shadow says there’s a permanent crew. Ten workers. Civilians. If it comes to contact, they’ll likely do whatever they can to hide or run. So the only real problem would be the five armed guards who keep watch. And now they’ve added their famous Alters. Two, maybe three, tops. So we’ll easily outnumber them. But the main thing… is to stay completely unseen. That’s key.”

Leimar’s brow creased with worry.

“They were outnumbered ten to one at Sindar Lad too, and those bastards not only walked away—they left the southerners torn to pieces.”

“Pfft… that’s what Prim says,” Gramps snorted, sneering. “I’m surprised you still buy into their crap. They’re just trying to scare us. But even if it’s true, they’re still just people. And they’ll burn like that ammo stockpile.”

Ked, sitting nearby, listened to the planning and nodded in agreement. Gramps was right. Fear was the biggest enemy. And the ones who won were the ones who knew how to face it.

“Fine,” Leimar said eventually, shrugging with practiced indifference. “We all have to die someday. Them or us.”

“Now that’s the talk of a real man,” growled Gorun, who had been silent so far—not because of modesty, but because his brain wasn’t quite up to producing anything useful. But now his eyes lit up with open excitement. This he understood. He slapped Leimar approvingly on the back, then grinned wide, his teeth flashing in the firelight.

“Finally, some real action!”

The bearded brute had been whining for weeks that nothing was happening. He was itching to beat someone’s face in, and now he couldn’t wait.

Now he lay just a few steps away. He looked like he could get up at any second—but Ked knew he never would. There was a hole in the middle of his forehead big enough to fit a fist. His eyes stared skyward, wide and stunned, as if asking how it could have happened.

The hole was almost perfect. Ked’s gaze kept slipping back to it with a sick fascination. He couldn’t understand it. Gorun had always seemed unstoppable. And then… one hit was enough.

Ked couldn’t look away, even though his stomach begged him to focus on something—anything—else. He clenched his fingers around his weapon, but only one thought repeated in his head: I need to get out of here… I need to get out of here…

The rumors about the Alters, unfortunately, were true. Gorun had been dead before he even realized where the shot had come from. And the Alters weren’t just better fighters. They were something entirely different. Ked felt a jolt of horror as he realized that this time, Gramps had seriously miscalculated.

“Move! Get the hell out of there!” Ked heard Leimar’s voice behind him, and someone grabbed his ankle, yanking him down.

He let out a frightened scream, but at that exact moment, another spray of dirt exploded right where he’d been lying seconds before. That was more convincing than any shouted command—he rolled away as fast as he could. He didn’t look back. He’d already seen too much.

Dirt and dust clung to his face as he crawled away. The weapon digging into his ribs was useless—he couldn’t have fired it anyway. His teeth chattered—not from cold, but from pure fear.

How could Gramps have screwed this up so badly? The man who always knew what to say, what to do…

Was he arrogant? Too sure of himself?

He was.

And now it was costing lives. Gorun’s was only the first of many.

Yet at the beginning, it had all seemed to go according to plan.

They had reached the base under cover of night, just as planned. The Shadow had been right—the base wasn’t heavily defended. It looked like everyone there was counting on the fact that they were off the main routes, far enough that no one even knew they existed. Or maybe it was a trap, Ked thought—but he had pushed that idea aside at the time.

They’d left the vehicles far enough away to avoid drawing attention and approached the camp on foot. Three independent teams, each made up of ten people.

Ked considered himself lucky to be under Leimar’s command. He respected him—because from the very start, he’d known Leimar was different. He noticed things Gramps often overlooked and wasn’t afraid to say them out loud. Where Gramps waved his hands and talked of the future, Leimar muttered quietly and counted bullets. If anyone among the Gatherers had a real knack for survival, it was him.

And now, under his lead, they had managed to sneak all the way up to the depots. Everything had gone smoothly so far. Maybe too smoothly.

The teams had split across the base, each according to the prearranged plan. One team was tasked with planting charges at the supply depot, another—led by Leimar—had reached the rear section, where ammunition was stacked, ready to be shipped south. The third and final group remained outside the camp, ready to either cover their retreat or reinforce them, depending on how things turned out.

But everything seemed calm. The only sounds were the occasional crunch of his own boots on loose gravel and the distant voices of guards passing the time by fires lit against the night chill. They had no idea they were there.

When they reached one of the buildings, it still looked like everything was going according to plan. Gorun and two others planted the first charges along the main wall of the warehouse. Ked stayed off to the side, watching as Leimar patiently waited for the right moment to signal that the job was done and they could retreat.

Then something changed.

The first sound was too faint to register as a threat. Something… someone moved in the darkness behind them. He crouched lower, catching a flicker of movement in the glow of a distant fire. His grip tightened on his weapon, palms already slick with sweat.

“Leimar…” he whispered urgently—but Leimar just waved him off.

A shot cracked the night. Just one. Quiet. Precise. And everything went to hell.

Ked felt the world collapse into chaos. A hail of deadly fire ripped through the air. In the first instant, he had no idea who was shooting, from where, or why. Gorun’s fall was the first clue that the other side meant business. Ked watched his massive body slam into the ground like it had been struck by an invisible hammer.

“Move!” Leimar shouted, diving behind the nearest crate. Ked didn’t need to be told twice. He stumbled after him in panic, just barely missing the next burst of gunfire that shredded the air behind him.

They were here. The Alters.

Ked saw them with his own eyes for the first time. They moved like shadows—fast, precise, without hesitation. Their steps made no sound; you’d never have noticed them if they didn’t catch the light every now and then. Their armor blended with the night—dark and cold, swallowing all light. And anyone who tried to stop them fell before they could even react.

The Shadow had said there were only two…

Ked lifted himself slightly behind the crate and tried to understand what they were really up against. He saw ordinary armed men—part of the Guard. Like the Gatherers, they’d taken cover behind various obstacles and were now spraying suppressive fire to pin them down. And among them, two figures moved. Fast. Lethal. Modificants.

Ked watched as one of them lifted a Gatherer like he weighed nothing and slammed him into the ground. The man was dead before his body even hit the dirt. From time to time, a spark burst on their black armor when a bullet struck home—but it didn’t seem to matter. Shooting at them was a waste of ammo and energy. Not only did it fail to stop them—it didn’t even slow them down.

“We have to go!” Ked screamed, trying to suppress the panic rising in his chest. The weapon in his hands was useless. His fingers were shaking so badly he wouldn’t have hit anything anyway. Besides, he’d already seen—it wouldn’t help. He looked up at Leimar, who remained surprisingly calm.

“We’re not running,” Leimar replied sharply. “We finish what we started.”

“Leimar…”

“Shut up and crawl! We need to link the charges!”

He wanted to run. Gods, how he wanted to. But Leimar’s stare wouldn’t let him. And Ked obeyed. They moved forward, crouched low. Ked jumped over Gorun’s corpse and made it to the charge he had managed to plant before dying. What he hadn’t managed to do was link it to the others for a simultaneous detonation. The wire was only connected to one.

Ked dropped to the ground, fumbling in the dark to find the other end. His knees were scraped raw, his fingers stiff with cold and panic. The wire was tangled, mocking him. But finally, he found the end and sprinted along the wall to the next charge, connecting them. Each step was heavier than the last, but adrenaline kept him moving.

Meanwhile, he could see Leimar’s shadow calmly planting the remaining explosives. The man moved like a machine. Ked shoved the final wire into its slot and exhaled hard. In that moment, it felt like the last breath he could afford. He lay pressed against the cold ground, trying to get his bearings. The air was thick with dust, gunfire still rattling on. Nearby, Leimar finished setting the final charge—his movements quick and precise, like the chaos around him didn’t even exist.

Then he saw them. Just a few steps away. An Alter.

He looked like a phantom, scanning the field for new targets. Ked froze as the figure’s gaze locked onto them. It was clear—they’d been spotted. The Modificant stopped, tilted his head slightly, as if calculating the best angle of attack. He moved silently, without hesitation, each step sounding like death creeping up on its prey.

Ked’s palms were soaked with sweat, his weapon slipping in his grip as he raised it, wondering if it was even worth firing.

“Leimar!” he screamed.

But Leimar already knew. He didn’t waste a second.

“Get out of there!” he shouted back.

But before Ked could react, he saw Leimar pull the trigger.

It was so fast. Too fast. Ked’s legs refused to move, his mind screamed at him to run—but despite everything, he just wasn’t quick enough.

The world turned upside down.

The charges exploded with a deafening blast that drowned out everything else. The shockwave slammed into his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. It felt like the entire world tilted around him—like nothing made sense anymore. The sound wasn’t just loud—he felt it in his bones, vibrating through every inch of his body. He thought his eardrums had burst, but he couldn’t be sure. The noise vanished into chaos. The world around him became dust, fire, and screaming. Something sharp tore into his side, slicing through his skin and flooding his mind with pain.

Everything blurred. All he could hear was the piercing ring in his ears. He tried to move, but his body wouldn’t respond. He tried to open his eyes, but the world was smeared in shades of red and black.

“Leimar…” he whispered, not knowing if anyone could hear him.

Through the pain and dizziness, he felt someone pulling him. It was rough, unkind. Something scraped across his torn skin, but he couldn’t fight it. He opened his eyes. Above him, he saw Leimar’s grim face—bloodied, dust-covered. There was no softness in it, only steel. Ked realized this man had done what needed to be done. Even at the cost of his own life. And yet now he was doing everything he could to save him.

“Did you get him…?” Ked rasped, the words swallowed by coughing.

“Burned like paper,” Leimar said quietly.

Ked closed his eyes again. The pain was everywhere, pulsing through him like a thousand needles forcing him to stay awake.

Vehicles arrived. Ked heard shouting—angry voices, rushed footsteps, pounding boots. Foreign hands lifted him and tossed him onto the truck bed with little care for his injuries. There was no time to be gentle. The world started moving. The metal floor was hard and cold—but the fact that he was on it, and not lying in the ruins of the camp, was the best thing he could imagine.

He opened his eyes and saw the faces of a few survivors. So few. Most of the people he’d known—he’d never see again. No one spoke. Some of them maybe never would again.

“Did we do it?” he croaked.

Lira, sitting just a short distance away, turned to him. Her face was burned and streaked with soot, and beneath it, tear tracks were visible. But she gave him a victorious grin.

“We leveled the place…”

Ked closed his eyes again. That was good. They’d done it. But as the world faded to black, the last thing he saw were the Modificants—who would never stop.