Last chapter. The Heaven's Wing

The moment the creatures advanced, Mercer moved without hesitation. He stepped forward, putting himself between the rest of the group and the oncoming threats. With a swift, practiced motion, he swung his vibroblade, aiming for the closest creature.

The blade whistled through the air — and missed. But Mercer’s attack had done its job: the thing was distracted, its glowing green eyes locked onto him.That was all the opening the others needed.

Corbin, Maya, and Hank opened fire.

Bright beams of laser fire lanced through the dimly lit room, searing the air with heat. The creature raised its hand, a shimmering telekinetic barrier forming around it—but it wasn’t enough.

The sheer force of concentrated fire overwhelmed its defenses. The barrier flickered and collapsed, and the monster was torn apart in a burst of oily black ichor. For a brief second, its form wavered, its flesh turning into a liquid-like void—and then it was gone.

Douklan was already tracking the second creature.

He leveled his plasma projector, the weapon humming ominously as he fired. The shot hit squarely, burning into the creature’s blackened flesh. It let out a distorted, gurgling sound—wounded but not dead.

Then, it retaliated.

With a sharp, unnatural movement, the creature raised one clawed hand—and a shimmering, glowing sword materialized in its grasp.

It struck Mercer.

Next shot with burst ...

Mercer gritted his teeth through the pain, ignoring the burning wound in his side. He shifted his stance, raised his vibroblade, and slashed at the second creature. The blade sliced cleanly through, cutting deep into the creature’s tar-like flesh. Just like the first one, its form shuddered, distorted—then collapsed into an inky void, vanishing as if it had never been there. No body. No remains. Just emptiness.

Hank was already lining up a shot on the third creature. He raised his laser rifle, sighted the target, and fired. The red beam streaked across the corridor—but missed.

The creature tilted its head, its glowing green eyes pulsing as if studying them, completely unfazed by the failed shot.

Corbin tracks the wounded Ryan and opens a burst.

Douklan lines up the shot and fires at the third ghost-thing.

Corbin tracked the last Ryan, his laser rifle humming as he squeezed the trigger. A rapid burst of energy bolts streaked toward the creature—just barely missing. The thing’s unnatural movements made it a difficult target, twisting and shifting as though it could sense the shots before they landed.Douklan lined up his plasma projector, took a steady breath, and fired. The shot went wide.

Erin and Maya let loose a volley of laser fire, their beams cutting through the dimly lit corridor. The creature moved between the blasts, untouched.

Then, it struck back. The air around the thing shimmered violently, the eerie green glow in its eyes flaring. Invisible force condensed into something solid—telekinetic bullets. They ripped through the air in an instant—and slammed into Erin.

She let out a sharp cry, staggering back as the force tore into her side. Blood spattered against the bulkhead, her breaths coming in shallow gasps. But she didn’t fall. Still gripping her rifle, she braced herself against the wall, eyes blazing with determination.

"I’m still in this," Erin growled through clenched teeth. "Take that thing down!"

Here we go again.

If that doesn't finish it off.

Hopefully I roll better this time ...

With burst ...

Burst fire again.

Mercer lunged forward, vibroblade whistling through the air as he aimed for the last Ryan. The creature twisted unnaturally, just barely dodging the strike. Mercer’s blade carved through empty space, missing by a hair.

Corbin fired a burst, his laser rifle flaring bright, but the creature jerked sideways at the last moment, the energy bolts scorching the bulkhead behind it instead.Douklan raised his plasma projector, lined up the shot, and pulled the trigger.

The blast went wide.

But before the shot even finished leaving the barrel, Hank already knew it was going to miss.

The air shimmered faintly around him as his precognition flared to life, threading through time’s delicate weave. He saw the path the plasma blast would take—off by just a fraction.

In that split second, he pushed probability itself. The moment reset.

---

Douklan felt something shift, like an unseen force guiding his hands—his instincts snapping sharper than before. Instead of just firing, he refocused, adjusted, and then fired.

The plasma bolt struck true this time, slamming into the creature’s chest. For a brief moment, its sickly green eyes flickered, its form trembling, distorting—then, just like the others, it dissolved into a swirling mass of black ink, vanishing as if it had never been there.

Hank says, "I know we can probably learn a lot in the library, but these guys are just going to keep coming. There was one, then two, then three. Next will be four. Let's get going. Maybe even try to melt the doors or something to make them harder to open."

Can we do a quick download and move on? Let's do that.

As Hank glanced around the ruined library, a strange sensation washed over him. It wasn’t quite a vision, nor was it just intuition—it was something deeper, a pull at the edges of reality. A momentary flash of numbers, movement, an unseen clock ticking in the background of his mind.

Twenty-five minutes.

The knowledge settled in his chest like a weight, undeniable and absolute. He knew, somehow, that was the time they had until more of those things reappeared. Whether it was the lingering echoes of the psionic forces at play, or some twisted reincarnation cycle of Ryan Carter, he couldn’t say. But he was certain of it.

---

Corbin quickly assessed the situation, his fingers hovering over the console as he accessed the library’s data systems.

"If we just rip the whole database and throw it into a storage unit, it’ll take about five minutes," he said, scanning the vast digital archive. "But a blind dump like that would need a proper storage unit—one of those rugged, case-hardened things that can hold a whole corporation’s worth of files."He sighed, shaking his head. "If we want to do a targeted download, something small enough to fit on a dataslab, we’ll need to filter through all this crap, which may take way longer..."

"I'm not one for the rules or systems of government. But what is happening here is dangerous and people need to know. I say we rip it all and move on. "