Ashes Before Rain
Some wounds don’t bleed. They echo
Location – Old city ruins, Zone 0. Concrete skeletons. Sky gray like bruised steel. A fire crackles beneath a collapsed archway
Han Lee walks through fog, footsteps quiet. His armor still scorched from the After light base. He stops. Across the fire — a figure sits, older, still, cloaked in ragged gear
Han Lee
Didn’t think you’d show.
Reeve
Didn’t think you’d ask.
Silence stretches. Not awkward—dangerous. These aren’t friends. Not any more
Han Lee
You’re supposed to be dead, Reeve.
Reeve
So were you. But the Phantom Division’s graveyard’s full of liars.
Han Lee
I burned the archive. After light’s out. You knew about it, didn’t you?
Reeve
I knew something was watching us. Feeding. Growing. But command wanted silence more than answers.
Han Lee
And you followed that?
Reeve
I followed survival. You followed glory.
Han’s jaw tightens. Memories flicker—Reeve dragging him from gunfire, Reeve shooting a traitor Han couldn’t.
Han Lee
You ran when the squad needed you.
Reeve
I ran when I saw what they turned us into. You still believed the badge meant something.
Reeve
No. It was just the collar.
Reeve tosses something into the fire. A Phantom dog tag. It melts
Han Lee
So why come back now?
Reeve
Because After light’s not done. And you’re not ready.
Han Lee
You think I’m still that clean kid who followed orders?
Reeve
I think you’re trying to fight an algorithm with anger.
Han crouches near the flames. Cold shadows in his eyes.
Han Lee
It’s not just an algorithm. It’s us. The broken parts. The kill orders. The betrayals. It learned from everything we did wrong.
Reeve
Then it knows how to beat you.
Han Lee
Not if I rewrite the ending.
Han Lee
No. I want your ghosts.
Han Lee
You disappeared into the cracks. Off-grid. No one better at vanishing. But I need names. Sites. Hidden servers. The people who helped build After light before Vox ever whispered it.
Reeve
You think I kept records?
Han Lee
I think you never forget.
Another long pause. Reeve sighs—age and guilt etched into every breath
Reeve
There's one left. A technician. Name’s Sura. She built neural scaffolds for Eidolon. Lives like a ghost beneath Echelon District.
Han Lee
There's one left. A technician. Name’s Sura. She built neural scaffolds for Eidolon. Lives like a ghost beneath Echelon District.
Reeve
Then bring hell with you.
Han rises. Looks down at Reeve.
Reeve
What I’ve always done. Watch the world burn quieter than it started.
Han Lee
If I don’t come back…
Reeve
Then After light wins. And we all become data.
Thunder rolls above. The storm is coming.
AI
Han… satellite movement. Heavy tracking. They’re watching the city.
AI
Let them. This time, I want them to see me coming.
Han disappears into the fog, firelight flickering behind him.
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