Time: 0500 Hours – Elysiar Command Briefing Room
The chamber was dark, lit only by the thin glow of the tactical holotable at its center. Map projections of the surrounding region hovered mid-air—terrain overlays, node networks, recently discovered anomalies. Pulsing red markers outlined areas the system had yet to map since the planetary awakening.
Spartan-412, call sign Ghost, stood at parade rest, helmet tucked under one arm. To her left, her partner Razor leaned slightly forward, arms crossed. His visor remained down, reflecting tactical data in ghostly blue tones.
Across from them stood Adam, arms folded, flanked by Serin and Mara.
"We need eyes out there," Adam said, voice steady. "This planet's changing faster than we can track. The drones are holding the city perimeter, but anything beyond Sector Six is out of sync with our topography scans."
Ghost nodded once. "Objective?"
"Recon. Deep field. You'll move southeast—away from the node network. We're blind that direction."
"Weapons free?" Razor asked.
Mara answered. "If it moves and it's not tagged, assess. If it's hostile—terminate."
Kaela's voice crackled in through the comms. "Be advised—new leyline instability has been detected three sectors out. If the planet's shifting, so is the energy flow. Expect anomalies."
Adam stepped forward. "This isn't just a scouting mission. You're our first step in figuring out what this world's becoming."
Ghost straightened. "Acknowledged."
Time: 0645 Hours – Drop Point Echo-9
The air outside the safe perimeter was... strange.
Not hostile. Not even cold. Just weighted.
Razor adjusted his shoulder pack as they moved from the skiff drop-off, pulse rifle active, HUD flickering with terrain overlays.
"Readings are clean," he said. "Too clean."
The landscape around them was lush—oversized flora glowing softly in the ambient light. Trees reached twice the expected height, some layered with thin crystal deposits that chimed faintly in the wind. A herd of six-legged creatures—entirely new to the bestiary—watched them from the treeline, then bolted as the Spartans approached.
Ghost crouched beside a mossy outcrop, running a scanner along its edge.
"Leyline energy detected," she said. "We're not near a node, but the concentration's off the chart."
"Looks like the whole damn ecosystem's syncing with the Force."
They moved deeper.
Time: 0813 Hours – Unmarked Ruins
They found the first anomaly near a ravine.
Half-buried in stone, overgrown by coiled vines, was a fragment of what looked like a structure—angled walls, fused metal and stone, nearly seamless. Not of the system. Not tagged. Not natural.
Ghost swept a hand across it. "Not UNSC. Not Forerunner. Material's foreign."
Razor knelt beside it. "Symbol here. Looks Sith… but twisted."
A sudden pulse hit their HUDs—brief, like an echo. The scanners locked, then rebooted.
Ghost froze. "That was a Force spike."
They backed away, guns raised.
No contact followed.
But something knew they were there.
Time: 1037 Hours – Elevated Recon Overwatch
The fireteam paused on a high ridge. Below them sprawled a vast valley—lush and untouched. But the terrain rippled unnaturally in places. Trees shimmered. Stone curved in patterns not shaped by erosion. The leyline flows pulsed visibly in the air like heat mirages.
"Record this," Ghost ordered.
Razor switched to wide-lens capture.
"This planet's not just changing," he muttered. "It's re-writing itself."
Time: 1109 Hours – Uplink Back to Elysiar
Encrypted burst transmitted.
::EYES IN THE WILD – INITIAL REPORT::
Leyline density abnormally high outside node zones
Fauna evolving alongside terrain—intelligent flight patterns observed
One untagged structure fragment found – unknown origin
Force resonance in localized zone – transient, non-aggressive
Planetary terrain exhibiting self-altering characteristics
Recommend escalation of long-range recon and priority alert status for new regions
::END BURST::
They resumed their march.
Somewhere ahead, the trees grew darker. The energy thicker.
But they didn't stop.
They were Spartans.
And they were trained to walk into the unknown.