First Surviving Transmission Found From Astro Saxton:

[ENTER: TRANSMISSION BUZZING]

[ENTER: DISTORTION]

[ENTER: ASTRO'S VOICE] . . .

"Nyx’s eyes flicker. Then—There!

Light!

Static blue and blinking out of sync, like a heartbeat trying to remember its rhythm, but this is the first sign of life from my dying puppy. (Screw you, apocalypse!)

For a second, I don’t breathe.

Then—I hear it.

—A whir. A click. A hum.

-A sharp inhale from Nyx

—his little paw just shot sparks and kicked!

'Holy motherboard!' I whisper, half-laughing, half-sobbing. My hands are covered in dirt and dried blood, grease streaked up my wrists, but none of it matters.

Nyx is alive!

He tilts his head, his single mechanical ear twitching as if he’s just as surprised as I am. The metal plates shift slightly where I pieced him together from the wreckage. His tail—half wire, half fur—gives an experimental wag.

I let out a shaky breath.

'I… I didn’t think I could do it.'

Nyx blinks at me, slow, deliberate.

I let out a laugh—an actual, real laugh.

But something shifts in the air, and I feel it before I see it.

A breeze. A whisper. Something beneath the rubble.

I glance around, my pulse still hammering, as if the world itself is waking up with Nyx.

And then I see it—

A jacket.

Half-buried, edges burnt, stitched with something that looks familiar but isn’t.

I pull it free, shaking the dust off, and that’s when I notice—

The letters aren’t just stitched. They’re moving.

It reads:

'RENDER LIFE.'

The patchwork letters pulse, flickering faintly—like static trapped in fabric. The moment I brush my fingers over them—something sparks.

A hologram glitches to life in front of me.

It’s brief—a flash of something I don’t recognize. A city skyline? A face? The flickering distortion of a message I wasn’t meant to see yet.

Then, just as fast, it’s gone.

I stare at the jacket, my breath caught in my throat.

Nyx nudges me. I slip the jacket on. The leather is cracked but strong, worn in all the right ways. The sweatshirt hood is soft, like something I’ve buried my face into a thousand times before.

It fits.

Something in me suddenly feels this new chapter like a visceral impending reality-Destiny and power illuminates my emotional state. It feels vast and unknown to me.

For some reason, I feel different than before. The dystopian air suddenly feels slightly laced with. . . hope? Or, is it fear?

There is no other option. I won't wait for whatever is out there to find me like a sitting duck.

Nyx whimpers and nudges me to keep moving. . .

. . . So, I do.

[END OF TRANSMISSION]