The strike team cut through a narrow mountain pass, their electric dirt bikes humming beneath the roar of distant war.
Snow and ash drifted through the air. The frozen trees on either side of the trail bent in the wind like skeletal hands, their branches scraping together with a sound too close to whispering.
Ian rode at the front.
Optimus stayed near the center.
Blade moved ahead and circled back constantly, scouting with his usual restless speed.
Roger and Billix rode behind them, trying to keep pace without falling behind.
The main battlefield was far behind now.
Only faint flashes of explosions lit the clouds behind the mountains.
For a few minutes, the mission almost felt clean.
Then the treeline exploded.
A hulking demon burst from the forest with a roar.
Billix barely had time to turn his head.
The beast slammed into him with bone-crushing force.
His bike flipped sideways.
Billix was thrown from the seat and sent tumbling down a steep rocky slope. His armor cracked against stone, snow, and frozen roots as the world spun around him.
Above, the rest of the team surged forward through the pass.
The mist swallowed them.
And for several miles, no one realized Billix was gone.
Ian glanced back first.
His visor scanned the line.
Roger.
Vex.
Blade.
Optimus.
No Billix.
Ian skidded to a stop, his bike cutting a sharp line through the snow.
"Wait."
The others slowed around him.
Roger looked back instantly.
"What?"
Ian's voice hardened.
"Billix is missing."
Roger's face changed.
Optimus's visor flickered as he scanned the ridge behind them.
"I'm picking up broken motion trails near the pass. Should we double back?"
Roger already turned his bike halfway around.
Ian raised one hand.
"No."
Roger stared at him.
"What do you mean no?"
Ian's eyes stayed fixed on the dark forest behind them.
"I'll radio a recovery squad to find him. But we have to stay on track and stay undetected."
Roger's grip tightened around his handlebars.
"He's alone."
Ian looked at him.
"And if we all turn back, the portal stays open."
That hit hard.
Roger said nothing.
Optimus placed a hand on Roger's shoulder.
"We'll get him help."
Ian activated his comm.
"Strike Team to recovery units. We have one separated trainee near Ridge Pass Seven. Name: Billix. Track beacon and move fast."
Static crackled.
Then a response came through.
"Copy. Search squad moving."
Ian lowered his hand.
"Move."
Roger looked back one more time.
Then the team throttled forward again, disappearing into the mist.
Billix woke up in pain.
For a few seconds, he could not tell which direction was up.
His vision blurred. His ears rang. Cold air cut through the cracks in his armor. Somewhere nearby, his dirt bike sparked weakly against the rocks.
He groaned and pushed himself up.
"Yeah…"
He spat blood into the snow.
"That hurt."
The demon that had hit him lay sprawled a few feet away, its huge body twitching from the crash. Its skull was cracked against a boulder, but its claws still moved.
Billix did not hesitate.
He raised his rifle.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
Three shots punched through the demon's skull.
The twitching stopped.
Billix lowered the rifle, breathing hard.
"Just making sure."
He limped toward his bike, grabbed the handlebar, and tried to start it.
The motor gave a dead click.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Billix stared at it.
"Perfect."
Then the forest rustled.
Billix froze.
Through the skeletal trees, shapes moved.
Shadowy.
Hunched.
Low to the ground.
Glowing eyes appeared one by one in the dark gaps between trunks.
Demons.
Dozens of them.
Spreading through the forest.
Searching.
Billix slung his rifle over his shoulder and ran.
Branches whipped against his armor. Snow crunched beneath his boots. His leg screamed with every step, but he kept moving. Behind him, the demons hissed and followed, their claws tearing through bark and frozen earth.
The trees suddenly broke open.
Billix stumbled into an unexpected clearing.
At the center stood a two-story wooden house.
Weathered.
Old.
Eerily intact.
In the middle of a demon-infested forest.
Billix stared at it.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The demons shrieked behind him.
That made the choice easy.
Billix sprinted to the house, threw open the front door, rushed inside, and slammed it shut behind him.
He bolted the lock.
Then he backed away, rifle raised.
The air inside was stale.
It smelled faintly of rot, dust…
And something metallic.
Billix swallowed.
"What is this place?"
The floorboards groaned under his boots.
The house looked abandoned, but not empty.
Old furniture sat covered in dust. A cracked mirror hung crookedly near the entrance. The wallpaper peeled from the walls in long strips. A chandelier hung above the front room, swaying slightly even though there was no wind.
Billix moved deeper inside.
His rifle stayed up.
The furniture was warped from years of neglect.
But the dust told another story.
Fresh footprints crossed the floor.
Large ones.
Too large to be human.
Billix's mouth went dry.
Outside, night began to fall.
Pale moonlight poured through the cracked windows, painting long shadows across the floor.
Somewhere upstairs, wood creaked.
Billix turned sharply.
Nothing.
He stepped toward the kitchen.
Then froze.
A figure stood inside.
Eight feet tall.
Draped in a tattered black robe.
Its clawed hands hovered over a circle carved into the wooden floor. Strange runes glowed faintly beneath its fingers as it muttered in a guttural language that made the room feel colder.
Billix did not wait for an introduction.
He shouldered his rifle.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
He fired point-blank into its head.
The bullets sparked.
Ricocheted.
The robed demon stopped muttering.
Slowly, it turned.
Its face was hidden beneath a bone mask.
Billix took a step back.
"Oh, that's bad."
The demon crossed the room in one movement.
Its clawed hand locked around Billix's throat and lifted him off the floor.
Billix grabbed at its wrist, boots kicking uselessly.
The demon hurled him through the doorway.
He crashed into the living room and smashed against an old couch. The frame splintered on impact, dust and broken wood bursting around him.
Billix rolled off the wreckage, gasping.
The robed demon stepped into the doorway.
The runes in the kitchen glowed brighter.
Billix forced himself to his feet, rifle shaking in his hands.
"Okay…"
He swallowed hard.
"Definitely should've stayed on the bike."
Far from Billix, the strike team burst from the forest and skidded to a halt.
The portal rose above the treeline like an obsidian monument.
A giant circle of black stone stood in the center of a ruined clearing, its surface etched with shifting crimson runes. A wide cracked road led directly into its glowing center, vanishing into a red haze that pulsed like a living wound.
The air around it bent.
The ground beneath it was burned black.
Ian stared at it.
His voice came low.
"So this is where they've been hiding since the attacks."
Optimus gripped his blade tighter.
"Stopping this should slow them down for months."
Ian nodded.
"Maybe longer."
Blade stepped off his bike and looked up at the portal.
"Hard to believe that thing's been open this whole time."
Roger stared at the red glow, still shaken from Billix's disappearance.
"What's on the other side?"
No one answered.
That was answer enough.
Optimus looked toward Ian.
"Ever since the Third Great War, we've been stuck on defense."
His eyes stayed on the portal.
"Today, we take the fight to them."
Ian pulled the explosive charges from his bike.
"Plant the charges. Fast. We blow it before the main force realizes we're here."
The team split up immediately.
Ian moved left.
Optimus went right.
Blade zipped around the outer base.
Roger followed close behind, planting his charge where Ian directed.
The forest around them stayed eerily still.
Too still.
Then Voltron's voice growled over the comms.
"Ian."
Ian froze.
Voltron's tone was low and metallic.
"Varnyx is on the battlefield. He's coming straight for you."
Ian's head snapped up.
"Brace for impact—!"
The ground erupted.
Varnyx slammed into the clearing like a meteor.
The shockwave tore across the portal site, throwing dirt, stone, and broken roots into the air. Roger was flung backward and hit the ground hard, his rifle skidding away from him.
Ian drew his katana in a flash.
He charged forward and drove a kick into Varnyx's side.
The demon did not flinch.
Varnyx turned his head slowly.
His eyes burned with dark amusement.
Optimus sprinted in next, lowering his shoulder.
He smashed into Varnyx with the force of a battering ram, sending the demon warlord sprawling across the cracked ground.
But Varnyx rolled back to his feet in one fluid motion.
Too fast.
Too clean.
Then he darted toward Optimus at blinding speed.
Their blades met with a thunderous—
CLANG!
Sparks flew as they locked weapons.
Ian came from the side, aiming a high kick for Varnyx's head.
Varnyx caught his leg mid-air.
Ian's eyes narrowed.
Varnyx hurled him like a ragdoll.
Ian crashed through a dead tree and rolled across the clearing, snow and ash exploding around him.
Blade slammed the final charge into place.
"Charges set!"
Then he vanished into motion.
He dashed into the fray, strikes blurring as he attacked Varnyx from every angle. For a few seconds, the demon warlord was forced to defend.
Blade ducked under one sword.
Spun past another.
Then drove his katana deep into Varnyx's side.
Varnyx's head snapped back.
A screech ripped from his throat.
The sound shook the ground.
And across the battlefield, every demon turned toward the portal.
Roger looked up.
His blood went cold.
"They heard that…"
The forest came alive.
Demons poured from the trees.
Roger dropped to one knee, grabbed his rifle, and opened fire.
The first wave fell under his shots, but more kept coming.
Then the ground shook with heavy footsteps.
Voltron thundered into view.
He slammed into Varnyx with a shoulder-check so powerful the demon's armor buckled under the impact. Varnyx flew backward and carved a trench into the dirt.
Ian pushed himself up, blood on his lip, and keyed his comm.
"Danger-close airstrike."
Optimus turned toward him.
"Ian—"
Ian's voice cut through the chaos.
"Now!"
Above them, the sky split with the roar of engines.
Imperial jets streaked overhead.
Bomb bays opened.
The air filled with falling fire.
Ian looked toward the portal.
"Everyone down!"
A rain of bombs dropped toward the clearing.
Varnyx rose from the dirt, eyes burning with fury.
The portal pulsed behind him.
And then the world vanished in fire.