🪐Chapter 9 : The Moon Cave
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Last updated
As Red and Kyle hurtled through the vastness of space toward D'adana, Red couldn't help but stare out into the endless expanse and contemplate the mysterious signal they'd received. She was sure it was from Ray, and she was eager to investigate.
"We need to go check out that signal, Kyle. I think it's Ray. This could be our chance to find him," she said.
Kyle was hesitant, however. "But what if it's a trap?" he asked. "What if Lilith set it up to lure us into a trap?"
Red understood his concerns, but she couldn't ignore the possibility that it was Ray. "Kyle, you're my best friend. You know I can't just ignore this. We have to go check it out. And besides, if you don't come with me, I'll go alone."
Kyle sighed. He knew there was no stopping Red when she was determined. "Fine. But we have a responsibility to warn the others in D'adana about Lilith's plans. We can't just abandon them."
Before Red was able to answer he said “and what the hell with this mystery around this connection between you and the Dark Entity?”.
Red wanted to tell Kyle everything, the secret link between the dark entity and her. How the voices she heard all these years inside her head were Dark Entity. When she learned the truth in the Dark Plane, Red was in shock to process this. Yet she had grown up with this voice in her head which was always there talking to her, putting ideas into her head, but also influencing her decisions. Red was afraid of this innate connection with the most horrible being in the galaxy. So no, not yet she wasn't sure if Kyle was ready to hear all this. Not for a little while anyways.
Red agreed, and they set out toward the signal's source on a moon in the Koraya sector. But as they flew through the ruins of the once-great human and machine city of Koraya, they couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.
Red and Kyle made their way to the atmosphere of the planet Koraya. It was home to a great human and machine city once. Before Lilith laid siege and captured humans and corrupted most of the machines. Lilith had created a moon lab during the siege to experiment on the captured humans on Shadow Matter mutations.
The Red space fighter, reflecting the dim sunlight shone like a crazy ruby in the dark atmosphere. They flew through the remains of a great city, it was as if the city was chewed by a tremendous monstrosity. Kyle and Red searched for a comms tower flying between the half-collapsed buildings and towers.
Kyle boarded on top of a comms tower they found just a suburban place. Red walked to the console and looked for a way to restore the power. Once they did, Kyle was looking at the battle logs. “Hey, there it is. The signal is coming from the lab of Lilith, it's built inside a moon cave. There could be anything in there Red.” said Kyle.
“Oh! What could be there that wants to kill, eat or mutate us more than anything we saw before? to make Kyle relax.
Red managed to restore the generator and jumped on the spaceship to upload the warning transmission to the tower's interplanetary servers while Kyle searched through the battle logs.
"There could be anything in there, Red. We have to be careful," he warned. Kyle then managed to locate the source of the signal in a lab built inside a moon cave above them.
Red tried to stay positive. "Come on, Kyle. What's the worst that could happen? We've faced plenty of challenges before."
But Kyle was unconvinced. "What if he's mutated? What if he's not the Ray we knew?"
Red didn't have an answer, so she quickly changed the subject. "Let's focus on the task at hand. We need to warn the others and find Ray."
With the transmission sent, they set out for the lab. But as they approached, their nerves began to get the best of them. "What could be waiting for us in there?" Kyle asked.
Red didn't have an answer, but she refused to let fear hold her back. "We won't know until we go in. Let's do this, Kyle."
And with that, they braced themselves and entered the lab, ready to face whatever horrors lay ahead.
As Red and Kyle approached the cave lab of Lilith, they could feel a sense of dread and fear creeping up on them. The entrance was dark and foreboding, with strange, grotesque shapes lurking in the shadows.
They cautiously entered the lab, their weapons at the ready. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and strange noises echoed through the cavernous space.
As they moved deeper into the lab, they encountered new, terrifying mutations, more grotesque and horrifying than anything they had ever seen before. But Red and Kyle fought on, determined to save Ray and put an end to Lilith's twisted experiments.
Finally, they reached the dark, musty prison where Ray was being held captive. The sight of his emaciated body sent a chill down Red's spine.
"Ray, we're here to get you out of here," said Red, her voice filled with emotion.
Ray looked up at her with a mixture of relief and fear. "Red, you shouldn't have come. Lilith...she's too powerful."
But Red was determined. "We're not leaving without you," she said firmly.
As they struggled to free Ray from the grip of the Shadow Matter, his once gentle demeanor was replaced with a violent hostility towards Red. She tried to reason with him, but it was no use. Ray lunged at Red, his teeth bared and his eyes filled with a sinister gleam.
Shadow Matter had turned him hostile, and he attacked Red.
As they fought, Red's emotions were conflicted, torn between her love for her brother and her duty to protect herself and Kyle from the infection. Ray's attacks grew more fierce and uncontrollable, leaving Red with no choice but to defend herself.
The ensuing battle was fierce, with each blow landing with a sickening thud. Red fought with all her might, but Ray's strength had been augmented by the Shadow Matter. In a moment of desperation, Ray lunged at Red and sank his teeth into her flesh.
Red cried out in pain, feeling the infection spreading through her body at an alarming rate. Kyle, ever the hero, sprang into action, fighting off Ray as Red writhed on the ground in agony.
Kyle managed to save Red from Ray's savage biting. Red fell to the ground feeling the immense pain of the bite. She felt the Shadow Matter infect her body cell by cell. But she heard Kyle's cry for help when Ray knocked him down and pounced on him like a rabid dog.
Red managed to pierce the heart of Ray just as he was about the finish off Kyle.
With a heavy heart and tears streaming down her face, Red landed the final blow that ended Ray's life. But as the adrenaline began to fade, Red began to feel the effects of the infection taking hold.
Red was fatally injured in the process.
Kyle carried Red way back towards the entrance and protected Red from the ambush by Lilith's twisted creations. As they finally emerged from the lab, Red and Kyle were greeted by a beautiful sunset, the first they had seen in what felt like forever.
In her last moments, Red heard a voice in her head, and she knew it was the same voice that had led her to Ray.
The voice introduced itself as the Dark Entity and revealed its true origin. It had been designed by Mother Nature to eradicate biotechnologies and clear the Earth of humanity. But now, Lilith betrayed the Dark Entity. The Dark Entity revealed that Lilith and Grandmaster had formed an alliance to rule the galaxy and become its cosmic gods.
Red was stunned by this revelation.
Red's vision began to fade as she struggled to grasp the enormity of what she had learned. She knew that the galaxy was in great peril and that she needed to warn the others about the Grandmaster's plan. She whispered her last words to Kyle, "Warn them about the approaching darkness," before she breathed her last breath.
But then something strange happened. Red could feel a strange energy coursing through her veins, and suddenly she was stronger, faster, and more powerful than she had ever been before.
"What's happening to me?" she gasped.
"It's the Dark Entity," said Red, her voice filled with awe. "It's taking over."
Red didn't know what to think. The voice she had always heard in her head, the one she had feared for so long, was now giving her power beyond anything she had ever imagined.
Red nodded, feeling a new sense of purpose and determination coursing through her veins. She knew that the fight against Lilith was far from over, but now she had the strength to face whatever came her way.
As they made their way back to their ship, Red looked up at the starry sky with a newfound sense of wonder and awe.
✅ Early Access is available to the privacy engineering materials. You can still witness the story of our protagonist Red, and her journey to find her brother through environmental storytelling while you learn about privacy engineering.
🔊 Listen to the story of Red as Reading Episodes released every week with original music. You can check out the HGPE Trailer, Chapter 1: The Prologue, and Chapter 2 : The Battle for Earth reading sessions on Youtube with subtitles. The narrator is supported by the original soundtrack where the music is also composed by me, so I would love to hear what you think about them.
