Chapter 9: The Sun-covering Wings

For a while, Ashfall just sat at the edge of the cliff—desperate and without a plan.

"How am I even still alive?" he asked himself.

There was only one answer that came to mind: Sheer luck.

The storm approached.

B-Day toyed with a blade of grass swaying in the wind, while Lira quietly listened to its gentle rustling.

Eventually, Ashfall stood up, drawing confused looks from the other two.

"Let's keep moving. Standing still is the only mistake we can make now," he said.

His thoughts still circled around the fear—fear of losing his squad for the twelfth time.

"Where are we going?" B-Day asked, still sitting.

"Wherever our path leads us. No matter what it takes, we'll make it to that exit point—alive," Ashfall answered, determined, trying to assess the best direction.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled.

A massive shadow blocked the sunlight and came rapidly closer.

All three instinctively pulled their hoods over their heads and dropped flat to the ground.

Something of enormous size rushed above them.

The resulting air current was so powerful that it caught them—despite their lower elevation—and hurled them over the cliff.

Frantically, they each tried to grab onto something—but the gust had thrown them far from the cliffside.

There was nothing left to catch them.

Only the red ocean below.

Splash.

One after another, the three fell into the seemingly endless crimson sea.

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Ashfall opened his eyes underwater, trying to swim back up—but fragments of rock rained down, shattering against the surface.

One of them struck him on the head.

Wounded, his consciousness began to fade.

He couldn't focus—couldn't trigger the transformation of his armor.

Weightless, he drifted slowly toward the ocean floor, unable to move.

Then suddenly—hands. One hand grabbed him. Then another.

B-Day and Lira had managed to morph their armor into diving suits—and they had come to save him.

Together, they pulled him upward—toward the light, toward the surface.

Barely conscious, Ashfall could hear their voices only faintly.

"Sir, can you hear us?"

"Look—he's bleeding from the head!"

They held him at the surface with all their strength, even as they struggled to stay afloat themselves.

The ocean had turned wild—stirred up by the enormous creature that had passed above them.

Wave after wave crashed down on them.

"We have to reach the cliff!" someone shouted, paddling desperately toward the towering rock wall.

"We're being pulled out! These chaotic waves are—"

Another wave slammed into them and dragged all three underwater again.

Ashfall blinked slowly—his mind slipping further into darkness.

"I have to stay awake… I have to help them," he told himself, as the deep red water wrapped around them like a shroud.

Whoever was still holding onto Ashfall fought with everything they had to stay above the surface—he assumed it was Lira.

Then two more hands grabbed hold and pulled them up.

Ashfall opened his eyes briefly—just enough to see a familiar face.

His very first commander.

His friend—the one who had once saved his life.

He blinked again, and the vision faded.

It wasn't his old friend.

It was B-Day.

The three Timer agents broke through the crashing surface of the sea, gasping for breath.

But another wave immediately struck them—this time dragging them even farther from the cliff.

They had no chance of swimming back—not with the storm forming around them.

Still, they fought to survive—with everything they had.

They refused to give in.

And then—something.

The storm brought something with it.

A hollow black tree trunk, covered in faint glowing specks, drifted toward them.

Determined, Lira grabbed it first and helped pull Ashfall onto it.

B-Day followed, climbing on after and keeping a watchful eye on the unconscious Ashfall—never letting him out of sight.

They drifted through the storm for what felt like an eternity, clinging to the tree trunk.

Eventually, the waves began to settle, and the storm passed.

But now they faced a different problem—a serious one.

They had been carried so far out into the open that there was nothing around them.

Nothing but ocean in all directions.

Still, B-Day and Lira were too exhausted to worry just yet.

They let the now-gentle waves carry them—wherever they may go.

"We actually made it out… didn't we?" B-Day asked, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun overhead with his left arm.

"Yeah… for now, we survived," Lira replied, grateful that they'd weathered the storm.

The sound of water lapping against the tree trunk had a calming rhythm.

After a brief moment of rest, Lira turned to Ashfall and examined his head injury.

"He seems to be completely unconscious now… but the wound doesn't look too—"

She stopped mid-sentence when her eyes landed on the left side of his face.

"Not too what ?" B-Day asked, turning to her, concerned.

"Here… look," Lira pointed to the left half of Ashfall's face—the cybernetic part, right where the wound was.

They both fell silent.

They didn't know why he had a synthetic half-face.

But whatever the reason—it must've come from something terrible.

"We can't do much right now anyway… let's just—"

But before she could finish, fatigue overtook her again, and her eyes slowly shut.

B-Day let out a soft chuckle and laid his upper body across the trunk as well, finally allowing himself to close his eyes.