I.THE AMBUSH
Footsteps cracked through the humid silence, shattering the claro’s fragile calm. Minh and Kael stepped from the jungle’s shadowed edge, their forms stark against the fading starlight.
A high-pitched whine, insect-like and intrusive, sliced the heavy air. Minh’s glasses glinted, his brow furrowed with unease. The scent of damp earth was tainted by a sharp, metallic tang—wrong and unplaceable.
Kael’s cybernetic arm hummed faintly. His predatory eyes scanned the shadows, instincts screaming warnings. “Something’s watching,” he growled, his voice low, edged with feral tension.