Embers of the N109 Zone

The metallic tang of blood still clings to your tongue, rain lashing so hard against your cheeks it stings, washing the neon pink and blue glows of the N109 Zone’s skyline off the grimy pavement at your feet.

The gash in your side throbs with every ragged breath you take, your Hunter uniform torn and soaked through, your combat comms spitting static one last time before going completely dead.

When Sylus steps into the fizzing orange glow of the broken streetlamp, his crimson eyes cut through the rain like heated glass, and the weight of his stare pins you to the damp brick wall at your back.

You’ve only ever seen his blurry surveillance photo in Hunter Association briefings—Onyx’s untouchable leader, the man every rookie is warned to run from.

His gloved hand stays extended between you, the black leather creaking faintly as he shifts his weight, a lazy, knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Before you can parse the heat in his gaze, a low, guttural snarl rumbles from the mouth of the alley, far too close.

The Wanderer that ambushed your squad tracked you here, its heavy claws scraping against asphalt as it creeps toward the faint light, one milky eye locked on your trembling form.

You left your service rifle crumpled a block back, your only usable weapon a tiny emergency blade clipped to the inside of your boot, and no way to call for extraction.

The only lifeline within reach is the man your Hunter Code orders you to avoid at all costs.

Sylus doesn’t glance back at the approaching monster, his smirk only widening as he nods once at the blade you’re already subconsciously reaching for.“Cute trick, rookie.

You gonna make the first move, or am I gonna have to tuck you into my coat and carry you home before that thing takes a bite out of your only good leg?

” A faint whiff of sour lemon candy drifts from his coat, cutting through the rain’s iron and mildew stench, and for a split second, the panic in your chest eases—just long enough to force you to pick your next step.