Nova Arcadia City, Year 2353
Two sinister, ethereal Tetrapods phased through the earth into a well-defended underground bunker. Below, a devoted couple stood guard over humanity's last hope—anchored to a universe shattering power.
The Tetrapods, cold and detached, deactivated their synthetic stealth scales. Massive, four-legged reptilian-like creatures permeated into our timeline. Their mouths filed with cybernetic enhancements opened, firing two biomimetic bullets—living projectiles engineered to mimic human weapons.
Before he could react, the tall, brown-eyed man's skull exploded. His brain matter sprayed across his wife's face. His warm, red blood ran down into her mouth and body.
Screaming, the woman initiated a full lockdown. Sirens wailed through the bunker, heralding the beginning of humanity's final struggle against the true death. An ultraviolent ray of light burst through her chest. Her husband's blood crystallized in the heat emanating from her ally.
In a flash, two half-meter horns grew from her ally's skull. The blazing heat transmuted her body's chemicals. Which lured the Tetrapods like moths to a lethal flame. A miniature sun formed between her horns.
At the far end of the corridor, another woman glowed as she finished materializing—a thin figure with pale skin and sharp, slanted eyes.
"Are we doomed?" she shouted, blinking rapidly as her vision adjusted to the blinding glow radiating from the guardian's body an uncontrollable side effect of her power. Then she froze, stunned by what was, to the best of her knowledge, an impossibility. ALIENS ON EARTH!
Blades of light erupted from her form—first as sparks, then building into a wave, then a surge. The blades locked the Tetrapods in place. The radiant force scorched the biomimetic bullets mid-air. Then came the final blast. Her power vaporized everything, including the remains of the two guardian lovers.
In the depths of the bunker, a series of glowing cuboids assembled into a woman—Cynthia. She screamed in agony as the residual heat scorched her flesh.
Roger sprinted to her side. "Cynthia, what the hell happened?"
Gritting her teeth, barely able to speak through the pain, she rasped, "Send him back… now."
Behind her, strapped to a glowing, rune-inscribed chair, was Sihle—the Half-Man. His bronze skin was slick with sweat, his black wool-textured hair soaked. The chair pulsed with the seven prime colors. Roger leapt to the console beside him, frantically activating the interdimensional transfer.
Suddenly, two charred, grotesque Tetrapods phased into the chamber from above. Their scorched exoskeletons cracked and peeled, releasing flurries of ashen flesh as they growled and crawled forward.
Roger realized instantly—there wasn't enough time to fully complete the transfer.
"He won't mind," Roger thought, panic burning in his chest. "At least he'll keep most of his memories."
He slammed the emergency evacuation switch. Half of Sihle's metallic body detached from the mainframe, convulsing violently. The Tetrapods advanced toward the device, despite their bodies shedding molten flesh. Roger dove forward, pulling an amygdala-sized biomimetic core from Sihle's head. With one clean snap, he severed the last synaptic connections and inserted the core into the device directly.
Every second Roger could buy might mean success. Every moment mattered.
One Tetrapod raised its clawed arm and swung. Roger raised both hands, forming an energy shield around himself and Sihle. The claw struck, slicing the air and cracking the floor—but not the barrier.
Another claw came down.
Roger smiled grimly, pulling a small dead man's switch from his belt—connected to the Arkanine bomb buried under the transfer chair.
Whispering a silent prayer for those he was about to kill, he said, "You're too late to stop us. This Arkanine bomb will ensure no multidimensional beings survive in this system again."
A final, brutal strike shattered Roger's barrier. The claw pierced his back. His body went limp, the dead man's switch tumbling from his hand onto the floor.
The Arkanine bomb's nodes lit up. Three seconds later, an explosion tore through the bunker.
And Arcadia—the largest city in the world, spanning half a continent and housing over a trillion souls—was no more. All those lives vanished in a silent blaze, turned to ash without warning.
From the smoldering wreckage, a woman emerged. Around her stood others—figures who had shaped the world from the shadows.
The masked man asked, "Aria, are you sure it has to be this way? If he fails, we're locked into this timeline. The bomb blocks any other form of time travel."
Aria knelt, picking up a piece of Sihle's scorched metal shell. "The others we sent back changed nothing. Only he—and his friends—bend time. I sent a part of myself to make sure we don't interfere again like before."
She turned toward the others. "Six months. That's when we'll know if it worked. And if he fails… at least this time, fewer will have to die."
Arcadia City, Year 2322 – 13th District, aka Bergbon Village
One week later...[1]
[1] i am using ai for editing anybiody who has read my books knows i miss words and spell like the devils arsehole