Log 18
Final Approach
Night. The wind was a blade.
Kalsora’s sky was half mist, half light.
The light seeped up from beneath the city—cold, like veins beneath skin.
We waited inside a temporary command vehicle by the military harbor.
Eagle eye stared at the message on the screen without speaking.
Man Man cleaned her gun, as always—precise, silent.
Wai Hing leaned against the wall, an unlit cigarette resting between his lips.
Chee Yan’s fingers tapped across the keyboard, a rhythm like a drum.
“He’s leaving by air.”
I read the line again.
It wasn’t a warning. It was an invitation.
Lau Zi Him.
That name was no longer just a man. It was a shadow.
A breathing shadow.
2:00 a.m.
The airport perimeter was already sealed.
Kalsora Air Force’s Iron Wing unit stationed along both sides of the runway, rifles pointed outward.
Raptor deployed between the cargo hangars and fuel depots.
Eagle Eye, Man Man, Chee Yan, Wai Hing, and I entered Cold Zone A12.
The Cold Zone was the cargo aircraft loading area.
Temperature: minus eight degrees Celsius.
The air was dry as glass.
Chee Yan whispered, “Satellite thermal shows seven moving targets.
Four beneath the fuselage. Three under the control tower.
One cargo plane warming engines. ID E7-109.”
“Owner?” I asked.
“Kalsora Air Transport. Subcontracted to a private security group.”
I smiled. “Name?”
“Prometheus.”
“Myth reborn,” Wai Hing said coldly.
“Ready,” Eagle Eye ordered.
We put on infrared lenses.
The world turned into blood-red lines.
Every line had a heartbeat.
The runway wind was colder than the sea.
The cargo jet’s exhaust breathed white vapor.
There were shadows inside that vapor.
And the shadows carried guns.
“Don’t move!” Eagle Eye shouted.
The answer was gunfire.
The cargo hatch doors burst open at the same time.
Bullets rained down.
The wind pressed the sound into a low, roaring growl.
I rolled behind a cargo crate. The first round grazed past my ear.
The second struck metal—sparks flashing like the back of a blade.
Man Man flipped out from the right and returned fire.
Her movements were clean—each shot a breath.
Three figures dropped beneath the fuselage.
They fell quietly.
Professionals never die loudly.
I sprinted from cover and slid beside the landing gear.
The ground vibrated.
The engines hummed low.
They were about to take off.
“Chee Yan, lock the engines!”
“Can’t! They’re using internal override codes!”
“Give me a way!”
“Only one—cut the power!”
“Where?”
“Under the left wing fuel pump!”
“Got it.”
No time to think.
I vaulted over the wheel assembly and slid under the wing.
The fuel pump throbbed like a beast’s heart.
I pulled my short blade and cut the main line.
Sparks exploded.
The light revealed a face.
Kite.
She stood on the other side of the fuel tank, gun pointed at me.
“Again,” she said.
“This time opening the door, or shutting it?” I asked.
“Neither.”
“What do you want?”
“To save him.”
“Lau Zi Him?”
“He saved me.”
“Saved? He ruined you.”
“Without him I’d still be in prison. Now I’m free.”
“Freedom built on corpses.”
“The living are filthier.”
Her gun trembled slightly.
Not fear. Pain.
I stopped talking. Words breed hesitation.
My blade turned half a circle in my hand.
She knew.
She smiled.
“You’re still the same. Your heart moves faster than your knife.”
A shot rang out.
Not mine.
Eagle Eye.
The bullet tore through her shoulder.
Kite stepped back but did not fall. Her gun remained steady.
Blood ran down her sleeve, dripping onto the snow—drop by drop.
“He’s not here,” she said coldly. “He’s underground. You’ve all been played.”
“Underground?”
“Yes. The lower layer of Kasola—the Dark City.”
Eagle Eye asked, “Where?”
“In the cleanest place in this country. The hospital.”
She smiled—wind in her laughter.
“If you want him, go to basement level five.”
She pulled back the slide of her gun.
Eagle Eye raised his weapon.
I stepped between them.
“Let her go.”
“She’s a lead.”
“A lead is only useful alive.”
He stared at me.
The wind moved between us.
He lowered his gun.
Kite walked into the dark, her silhouette like a broken-winged bird.
The cargo jet engines died.
The runway smoke cleared.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
Some called for medics. Others gathered bodies.
I looked at the grounded aircraft.
It resembled a massive coffin.
Inside it were not people—
but the corpses of dreams.
3:30 a.m.
We entered Kalsora Central Hospital.
The cleanest building in the city.
White without shadows.
The wall clock made no sound.
Each second felt swallowed by cotton.
“Basement five is labeled a genetic restoration center,” Chee Yan said.
“In reality, it’s MORPHEUS’s original lab.”
“He came back to his root,” Wai Hing murmured.
“Root?”
“Every madman wants to find the tree he grew from before he dies.”
The elevator stopped at level four.
Indicator lights flickered.
“Can’t go down,” Chee Yan frowned.
“Stairs,” I said.
“They’ll be sealed.”
“Nothing stays sealed.”
The iron door had three code locks.
Eagle Eye pulled explosives.
I stopped him.
“No. You’ll wake him.”
I pressed my ear to the door.
Inside—rhythm.
Not footsteps.
A heart monitor’s pulse.
I tapped the door three times with the knife handle.
It responded—like an answer.
I smiled. “He hears us.”
“You sure?” Eagle Eye asked.
“I shared a dream with him once. I know his breathing.”
I pressed the red override.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed out—faint scent of antiseptic.
Basement five was a corridor.
Glass chambers lined both sides.
Each chamber held a person.
Eyes closed. Helmet on.
Heartbeats flashing across monitors.
The original “linked subjects.”
At the end of the corridor stood a door labeled:
ZETA ROOM.
I pushed it open.
The lights came on.
He was there.
Lau Zi Him sat on a white chair.
Like a doctor.
Like a patient.
He smiled.
“Loke sir. You came.”
“You were waiting.”
“Of course. This is where we began.”
He hadn’t aged.
His eyes were the same—clear as poison.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Complete it.”
“Complete what?”
“Wake the world.”
“You want to control it.”
“Control? No. I want them to see truth.
Dreams are a collective lie.
I’m simply pulling the plug.”
I drew my gun.
He didn’t move.
“Go ahead, Loke sir,” he said softly. “You killed me once. Can you do it twice?”
My finger grew cold on the trigger.
“This time I won’t hesitate.”
“You shouldn’t hesitate. You should thank me.”
He pointed to the control console behind him.
Waveforms filled the screens.
Each line—a name.
“These are your country’s citizens.
They’re asleep.
Dreaming permitted dreams.
One button—and they wake.”
I pulled the trigger.
But didn’t fire.
Eagle Eye stood behind me.
“Wait,” he said.
He stepped to the console.
“I want to see if he’s telling the truth.”
“Don’t touch it!” I shouted.
Too late.
Eagle Eye pressed the key.
The lights went out.
Every glass chamber opened at once.
The people inside opened their eyes.
Each pair identical.
Empty.
No dream.
No fear.
Only command.
Lqu Zi Him laughed.
“They’re awake.”
I fired.
The bullet tore through his chest.
Blood splashed across the white wall—like paint.
He fell, still smiling.
“This… is reality…”
His eyes closed.
Alarms blared.
Chee Yan’s voice cracked through the comms:
“Sir! Z-Line activated! The system is auto-writing back!”
“Cut power!”
“Can’t! Main grid’s in the outer city—the Dark City core!”
I looked at the rising figures from the glass chambers.
They stood.
Expressionless.
Silent.
Their footsteps echoed in perfect rhythm.
“Retreat!” Eagle Eye shouted.
I took one last look at Lau Zi Him.
Blood spread from his chest like a line not yet severed.
We ran as the hospital trembled.
Lights flickered. Sparks fell.
“Sir! Dark City core triggered! Z-Line syncing to the entire city network!” Chee Yan shouted.
I said coldly, “Then we pull the plug on the whole city.”
Eagle Eye stared at me. “You’re insane.”
“Madness is what he taught me.”
I kicked open the emergency circuit panel and tore out the main conduit.
Flames burst.
The city went dark.
One second later—
silence.
Only the wind remained.
In the wind, faintly, a bell rang.
Like someone’s dream—
just waking.