What lies Beyond

The sound of gunfire, explosions, and a strange deep humming sound filled the air for miles in every direction. A dark-skinned bald man of average height covered in ash and dust ran at baffling speeds through the ruins of what once could've been a beautiful city. He nimbly navigated collapsed walls, overturned vehicles, and think smoke and ash cover, all while dodging explosions, bullets, and the odd energy round.

"Tempos, keep it up the building ahead is one of the old ambush points it's rigged to go down," a choppy voice sounded in his ear.

He continued to duck and dodge as he sprinted toward a tall dilapidated building. The building looked like it should've collapsed a long time ago. The intensity of the hail of projectiles grew as more pursuers joined the chase. After a few more minutes Tempos finally reached the building.

"Go to the west side, there's a loose stone marked with a Vorixian symbol," the choppy voice once again sounded in his ear.

He rushed to the other side of the building and hastily searched for the stone mentioned. His pursuers had also arrived at the building and he could hear the debris shifting and pebbles falling as they searched for him. He soon came across the stone mentioned, a mark that looked like to parathesis separated by a line was etched into the stone ')|('.

He pulled the stone and immediately heard the sound of strained metal bending and the loud crash of large chucks of wall and floor collapsing. He could also hear the high-pitched screech, that represented the screams of his pursuers as they were crushed or nearly crushed by the falling debris.

Tempos made his way out of a hole in the west side of the building while his pursuers ran out the way they came. That direction though coincided with the building's collapse. When Tempos removed the stone on the west side, it was rigged to shift the position of several things on the opposite side of the building causing it to lean in that direction.

With one final screech, the swan song of the building came to a pause and then ended with one final crash that echoed through the city.

Tempos moved some stone out of his way as he crawled out from under a small pile of debris. Ash and dust filled the air and left him covered and barely able to see his hand in front of his face. But a bright blue light cut through it all.

Tempos could once again hear the debris shifting and crunching as whatever survivors there were started to approach the blue light.

"I need backup something new just appeared, some kind of blue light and they're going after it."

***

Inside of the blue light out of sight from everyone was the body of a woman. Her reddish-pink skin could barely be seen through the blue light, though the fur along her arms and around her ankles was thick enough to appear in her silhouette.

Selene lay in a perfectly carved hole among the debris. Her closed eyes trembled before shooting open. She was confused by the unfamiliar scenery. As she sat up to look around she like everyone else was blinded by ash and dust, but she could still make out the figures approaching her.

The blue light surrounding her faded as the figures grew closer. When they were a few meters away a pulse was released clearing everyone's view. They stared at Selene with a degree of shock clear in their eyes and she looked back at them with an even more evident look of shock.

***

Tempos was also nearby watching this encounter. He too couldn't clearly see anything and in the ash and dust, the blue light Selene emitted was blinding. But when the pulse cleared the air he could finally see the source of the blue light and it only made the situation direr.

"Change of plans, the target is the source of the light. Target is a female, silver hair, patches of fur, set target for retrieval."

Tempos said into his communicator and turned it off without waiting for a reply.

He looked back at the scene and inched his way close enough to hear them, though he didn't have to go far. The woman was yelling with tears in her eyes as she shouted in the ancient Stral language of Tinban. The Strals across from her reeled back, Tempos could only assume they were as surprised as he was to hear someone speak the language. He and his people only picked it up after interrogating several dozen Stral scouts. They used the language in a broken form to secretly transmit data. Even among the Stral, no one could speak the language as fluently as the woman.

After she shouted to them they looked at each other and seemed to communicate, though Tempos couldn't hear what they were saying. Eventually, one of them stepped forward and began speaking to the woman in Tinban. The conversation didn't last long before the Stral soldiers raised their guns at her and prepared to fire.

Tempos realizing that things have gone south also prepared himself. He turned his communicator back on and spoke.

"Retrieval target, female, silver hair, patches of fur. Retrieval objectives count one."

He once again turned off the communicator and leaped up from his position. He fired several shots into the Stral soldiers and drew the fire meant for the woman. He heard the shots and then his vision blurred, for a moment far ahead of him but still so close he felt all it would take was to twitch his finger and he could grab ahold of the people in his vision. His vision became clear once again and he blinked, smiled shook his head, and looked at the woman who collapsed back onto the ground.

The IFF device in his armor began to chime and once a small dot appeared within his proximity scan, he closed his eyes for the last time the smile still on his face and whispered.

"In the dark, I was born, to the dark I return."

***

As they readied their guns to fire again, shots rang out from the opposite direction. Three of them fell within the first second. The remaining ones scrambled to get a visual on the mystery shooter. Before they could another three dropped on the spot. A man ran through the cloud of dust, grabbed Selene and threw her into a fireman's carry, and immediately ran off. The sound of gunfire attracted more attention to the area and not even five seconds after they left, a hive of Stral soldiers swarmed the area.

Selene was still in shock over nearly being killed by her people. She didn't have the freedom to complain or even recognize her current situation of being carried by this unknown man.