Path of Death: Awakening
Chapter 36: Powerless Authority

Chapter 36: Powerless Authority

The road had ended.

The ground beneath them was cracked, dry—like a hardened shell. As the sun sank westward, the sky turned shades of violet.

But the horizon didn’t shimmer from heat.

It pulsed—with electricity.

Fade took a few steps forward.What rose before him... wasn’t a wall.It was a boundary.

Nearly fifty meters above, a translucent dome bent and warped the air. But this wasn’t an ordinary barrier field.

Sparks danced across its surface—white and blue veins flashing like a living nervous system.

At times, a ripple shimmered and vanished, like something breathing.The dome was alive.

Kaela approached slowly from behind, lifting her data device.

The screen flickered with static for a moment before stabilizing.

"Energy levels are off the charts... but erratic. They’re using organic code."

"Organic code?" Zeyna asked.

Kaela nodded. "Yeah. It means... the system responds like something alive. A living security protocol."

Fade reached out his hand.

The membrane stood just centimeters away, humming faintly.

He didn’t touch it—but he could feel it. The energy coiled through the air like tension on skin.

What burned in his eyes wasn’t just curiosity.

"This city," he said, "it feels alive. And it might reject us."

Darin grumbled, "After all this damn walking, if someone says the gates are closed..."

Fade shook his head. "Quiet. Everything echoes here."

At that moment, the sky pulsed again.

A bird approaching the dome shifted its course before coming too close—like even proximity demanded permission.

Zeyna stepped forward. "Fade... you think we can get through?"

He didn’t answer.

His eyes closed as he listened—not with his ears, but with something deeper.

The dome’s vibration filled the space between his fingertips and thought.

And then... something stirred.

It wasn’t the system.

But something else. Something... waiting.

Fade’s hand hovered in stillness.

Then—click—a sound echoed like metal locking into place.Followed by a voice:

"Step back."

Fade turned.

A pulse of pale light flickered from inside the dome.Two figures emerged—first as silhouettes behind the barrier, then stepping through an opening that slowly parted from within.

City sentries.

But they weren’t majestic.

Each stood nearly two meters tall, carrying heavy spears.

Their armor looked formidable at a glance—gleaming plates, draped pauldrons, visored helms.

But up close, the cracks showed.

Rust lined the joints. The metal groaned with movement.

What stood out most... were their eyes.

Underneath their visors, optic lenses glowed with a dim green hue.Not alive. But aware.

"State your identity," one of them said.

His voice was deep—but tired.

Kaela stepped forward. "We’re from the outer zones. Following a broadcast signal. We’re requesting temporary access."

One of the guards tilted his head.

The other stared at Fade—long and hard, as if trying to place him.

"You’re unregistered," he said. "This city isn’t open to unlisted individuals."

"We have injured," Zeyna argued. "And the signal led us here. That’s not coincidence."

The first guard struck his spear to the ground.A low pulse vibrated across the dome’s surface.

"Administration has suspended all new entries," he said.

"The Fringe is full. No remaining quota for Wasteside arrivals."

Arven stepped forward, voice tight with anger.

"Quota? We’re human. We need help."

The second guard bowed his head slightly.

"Humanity is a quota now. If you have no value... you have no place."

Fade stepped forward, silent.

"Then tell me," he said, voice calm.

"Is there a way to prove our value?"

The guards exchanged a glance.

One pulled a scanning device from his shield and pointed it at Fade.

A brief flicker. The scanner blinked—and spat static.

[Biometric Analysis: Compatible... but unrestricted. Undefined parameters detected.]

The first guard stepped back.Tension rippled across their posture.

"There’s... something moving inside you," he said. "The system can’t categorize it."

Fade didn’t move.

His eyes were fixed on the spark-laced void within the dome.

"You don’t want to see it," he said softly.

A long pause followed.

Finally, the second guard spoke again:

"We can’t authorize entry. But we can redirect you to the Fringe camp. Apply for clearance from there."

Kaela nodded. "That’ll do."

The guard extended a hand, opening a temporary interface.A seam appeared in the dome—electric threads parting like the opening of a wound.

"Be aware," the first guard warned."Every step inside will be monitored. This is no longer the old world."

Fade said nothing.

He simply walked.

The others followed in silence.

Zeyna stopped just before the gateway closed.She turned to the guard.

"And what about those who have no value?" she asked."Where do they go?"

The guard face toward the desert. "Nowhere."

The gate closed behind them.

What remained outside was dust and forgetfulness. But inside... echoed a different kind of silence.

The moment Fade stepped forward, even the texture of the ground changed. It was no longer soft. A thin, blackish mud coated the earth—swallowing footprints instantly, but never erasing them entirely.

Arven muttered behind him, "This isn’t a city. It’s a shell."

The Fringe sector may have been part of the city, but it felt like limbo—half in, half out.Bent steel shacks. Tarps piled atop one another like makeshift roofs. The air—dense and stagnant. As if something had burned... and then frozen in place.

Zeyna wrinkled her nose. "I don’t even know how to describe this smell."

Kaela raised her wrist scanner. It kept flickering. "There’s too much interference here. All signals are overlapping. Just... noise."

Fade said nothing. But he was watching everything.

There were people—but they were... incomplete.No light in their eyes.Children played with tin cans twisted into the shape of toys, but none of them smiled.Women stirred pots under roofless shelters; men gathered around campfires, staring into nothing.

They were all... waiting.

Arven turned away after a young boy stared at him with vacant eyes. "Time doesn’t even move here..."

Zeyna made eye contact with an old man passing by. He didn’t speak, but his gaze screamed, "Turn back." "They don’t want us here," she muttered. "This place... it’s their swamp."

Kaela pointed at a rusted display screen nearby:

Fringe Entry – Temporary Settlement Zone #12

A voice called from behind. A young woman—hair matted, hands caked with dried mud."You’re new?" she asked. "Out-of-quota?"

Kaela nodded. The woman smiled—but it was bitter. "Then you’ll be held here, too. You wait. Maybe hope comes. Maybe hunger. Or maybe... someone buys you."

Zeyna narrowed her eyes. "Buys what?"

The woman only laughed. "Anything."

Fade stepped toward her. "How do we contact the Core?"

The woman tilted her head back, staring at the towers in the distance. "First, this place has to swallow you. Then maybe... they’ll hear."

"Who are ’they’?"

She lowered her gaze. "The rich. The system. The city. It’s all the same now."

Dawn hadn’t fully broken yet.

As the pale light of morning filtered across the distant horizon, Fade and his team approached the twisting outer layers of the city.

The point they approach,

Fringe Gate-07

But there was no gate. No walls. Just warped metal sheets extending skyward like jagged fingers. To the side, a crooked sign dangled loosely

Sentry Post – Minor Entry Zone

Two guards stood waiting.Their armor gleamed from a distance, but as they drew closer, the illusion crumbled—rust creeping along their joints, shields cracked, spear tips dull and bent.

One of them squinted and stepped forward. He held a metal rod—likely a biometric scanner, though it now clicked like a broken lighter.

"Stop. Entry credentials?"

Kaela stepped up. "New entry request. We seek redirection to the registry station."

The other guard snorted. "Newcomers, huh. Where’d you come from? No scans. No clearance. No paperwork."

Darin rolled his eyes. "Paperwork?"

Zeyna muttered, "In a dystopia with a giant electric dome... they’re asking for paperwork."

The first guard straightened his posture. "This is Last Hope. Entry isn’t universal. You get evaluated first."

"Evaluated?" Fade’s voice was cold.

"Skill test. Security check. Sometimes... a fight."

The tone carried weight, as if he was trying to sound dangerous more than actually being it.

Arven chuckled quietly. "And you’re the ones doing the evaluating?"

The guards stiffened.

Kaela, as usual, sought data. She tapped her device, but a system firewall blocked her access. "No direct connection granted. Registry-linked terminals only."

Fade assessed the scene.

This wasn’t a show of power—it was a delusion of authority.

"We don’t need tests. Just direction," he said flatly. "We won’t waste time."

The second guard stepped forward. "If you won’t follow orders, turn back. This place isn’t for you."

Zeyna exhaled sharply. "I’ve heard that line too many times..."

That was when Fade’s gaze shifted.Not at everyone—only at the guards.

He stepped forward. Just one step.

And in that single step... the ground trembled.

Arven subtly shifted back. Kaela took a shallow breath. Zeyna turned her head slightly.

The guards didn’t kneel.But they tensed.In that moment, they understood. These people were different.

Fade stopped. "Open the gate. And keep quiet."

The guards—moved by some primal instinct—backed away. A narrow opening hissed open from a mechanical panel. A passage leading to the registry chamber...

The first guard turned his head. "Forms are inside... and you’ll be scanned."

Darin smirked. "Perfect. As long as we don’t have to punch bureaucracy, we’re ready."

The group moved forward.

Kaela lingered for just a second. She turned to the guard and said quietly,

"If you had pushed that ’test’... it wouldn’t have been us who failed. It would’ve been the city."

Then she walked away.

Her eyes ahead.

But her words... remained in the air like a warning.

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