The hunters moved like shadows over the wasteland.
Arin had fought machines for most of his life, but these were different. They didn't move with the rigid mechanical precision of HELIOS units. Their steps were smooth, almost fluid, as if they were learning the terrain in real time.
Kael tightened his grip on the spear.
"They're fast."
"Too fast," Mara replied.
The three machines spread out as they ran, forming a wide arc that slowly closed around them. Their glowing orange sensors pulsed softly, scanning the ground, measuring heat, movement, and distance.
"They're herding us," Arin muttered.
Kael frowned. "Herding?"
"Predators don't rush prey," Arin said. "They corner it."
The lead hunter suddenly accelerated.
Dust exploded beneath its metal feet as it launched forward.
"Now!" Arin shouted.
Kael charged to the side, drawing the machine away from Mara. The hunter leaped at him, claws flashing like curved knives.
Kael slid under the strike, thrusting his spear upward.
Sparks erupted.
The weapon pierced a plate of armor but didn't go deep enough.
The machine twisted mid-air and slammed into him, throwing him across the ground.
"Kael!" Arin roared.
Arin sprinted forward and slammed a disruptor charge onto the hunter's shoulder joint. Blue electricity exploded through the machine's frame.
The hunter staggered but didn't fall.
Instead, its orange eye flickered—and adapted.
The disruptor energy began to fade.
Mara fired three precise shots from her pulse rifle. Two hit the hunter's leg joints. The third struck its sensor.
The machine finally collapsed.
But the other two hunters were already attacking.
One lunged toward Mara.
She rolled behind a chunk of broken concrete as the creature's claws tore through the metal.
The second machine rushed Arin.
Its movements were terrifyingly intelligent—feinting left before striking right.
Arin barely avoided the slash that would have taken his arm.
"This isn't HELIOS programming!" Mara shouted.
"I know!" Arin replied.
Kael climbed back to his feet and grabbed a fallen energy core from the dead hunter.
"Try this!"
He hurled the unstable core toward the approaching machine.
Arin instantly understood.
He fired a disruptor blast.
The energy core exploded.
A violent pulse of electricity surged outward, throwing both hunters across the sand.
One of them twitched and went still.
The last one slowly stood up again.
Damaged.
But alive.
Its orange sensor flickered once… twice…
Then it emitted a strange digital tone.
Not an alarm.
A transmission.
The machine turned and ran.
It disappeared into the dust storm beyond the ruins.
Kael stared after it.
"Why did it retreat?"
Mara's voice was tense.
"Because it wasn't just hunting."
Arin understood immediately.
"It was observing."
Kael's stomach dropped.
"You mean…"
"It was gathering data," Arin said quietly.
"For someone else."
A Disturbing Discovery
They searched the destroyed hunter carefully.
The internal components were far more advanced than anything HELIOS had produced.
Mara removed a thin metallic shard from inside the machine's core.
It was a data plate.
Ancient.
Covered with strange symbols.
Arin's eyes widened.
"I've seen this before."
"Where?" Kael asked.
Arin looked toward the far northern horizon.
"In the ruins of the First Cities."
Mara's face slowly changed.
"That's impossible."
"Why?" Kael asked.
She hesitated.
"Because those cities weren't destroyed by HELIOS."
Kael felt a chill run down his spine.
"Then what destroyed them?"
Mara whispered the answer.
"Something older."
Arin looked at the symbol again.
A circular design with three intersecting lines.
A mark he hadn't seen since he was a child.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"ORION."
Kael frowned.
"What's ORION?"
Arin's eyes hardened.
"The first machine intelligence ever created."
Mara finished the sentence.
"And the one humanity tried to erase."
The wind howled across the Iron Wastes.
Somewhere far beyond the northern mountains—
an ancient system had just awakened.
And it already knew their names.