The forest grew unnaturally silent, the only sound being the rhythmic, heavy clanking of metal on stone. Zeven stood upon the center of a weathered wooden bridge that spanned the deep gorge, the ropes holding it together groaning under the weight of the coming storm. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and the damp, cloying smell of fog. He turned his gaze toward the far side of the abyss, where the first flickers of artificial light began to pierce the gloom.
"They have come to finish what the elders failed to do," Zeven murmured, his voice lost in the rising wind.
From the darkness emerged the steel hulks of the laboratory forces. They were tank units, low to the ground and heavily armored, their barrels glowing with a faint, blue electrical charge. Behind them, a squad of mechan
