The Ruins — Silence After the StormSilence.For a long, breathless moment, there was nothing else.No alarms.No roaring machines.No screaming metal.Just the sound of settling dust.Elias coughed, vision swimming in and out of focus. He lay on his back among twisted metal and shattered glass, every limb heavy, his head pounding.“Lena…” he croaked.He forced himself to move.His fingers dug into cracked flooring as he dragged himself up, chest burning. The once-sterile laboratory was gone — walls caved in, consoles torn apart, ceiling half-collapsed. Blue scorch marks glowed faintly along every surface.And in the center of it all—the scorched remains of the barrier.Empty.Elias’s heart seized.“No…”He staggered to his feet, ignoring the screaming pain in his ribs.“LENA!”His voice echoed off broken metal.No answer.A shape moved in the debris.Elias spun, blade half-raised—Alexander pulled himself from beneath a fallen beam, shoulders heaving, glow dim and flickering. Blood
Last Updated : 2025-11-16 Read more