The pendant pulsed with a dim red glow, still lying on the forest floor where Chase had dropped it. The energy leaking from it felt old. Ancient, even. Like it had been waiting centuries just for this moment.
Chase stared at it, then slowly reached out again—hand trembling. The moment his fingers brushed the fang—
Everything shattered.
[FLASHBACK - UNKNOWN LOCATION, UNKNOWN TIME]
Wind screamed through blackened skies. The earth was torn, fractured like glass beneath a god's heel. Magic lashed through the air—chaotic, beautiful, deadly.
In the center of it all stood a woman.
Tall. Regal. Raven hair streaked with silver. A crimson cloak danced around her like fire. And in her hand—
A scythe made of blood and starlight.
She turned her head slowly, as if sensing Chase's presence. Her eyes locked with his—golden, glowing, full of fury and sorrow.
"You are not ready to carry this," she said softly. "But soon, you won't have a choice."
Behind her, the sky cracked open like an egg. Something massive stirred within the void—wings made of shadows, a voice like grinding metal echoing through reality.
She turned back, raised her weapon, and roared—not in fear, but in defiance.
"FOR MY SON—!"
CRACK.
The vision snapped like glass underfoot. Chase was flung backward in the real world, gasping, eyes wild.
Alora caught him. "What did you see?!"
He coughed, heartbeat slamming against his ribs. "She was fighting something… huge. Not a person. A force. Like the Void had a body."
"And she knew about you?"
"She said… I wouldn't have a choice." He looked at the pendant, voice hoarse. "She wasn't just powerful. She was a freaking war goddess."
Alora bit her lip. "Then maybe whatever she fought… is coming back."
Meanwhile — Unknown Council Refuge Site
The air was thick with smoke and tension.
Councilor Marius sat slumped in a stone chair, robe torn, one side of his face burned from the explosion. A fresh scar ran across his cheek, and one eye was now ghostly white.
Across the chamber stood another figure, untouched by the chaos.
Lady Sereth—head of the Council's Occult Division. Silver hair, red eyes, voice like silk wrapped in blades.
"So," she said, circling Marius like a vulture, "you underestimated him."
"He was unstable," Marius growled. "He was supposed to break."
"But he didn't," she said. "And now Project Nox is active."
She held up a small vial—inside, a drop of glowing red liquid pulsed like a heartbeat.
"His blood. Even a trace contains more arcane density than anything we've ever recorded. He is the perfect vessel."
Marius looked up. "You want to weaponize him?"
"I want to control him," she said. "And if that fails… we'll tear the truth from his corpse."
Back with Chase
The night felt colder now.
Chase sat in silence, the pendant resting on his palm. The echoes of his mother's battle still rang in his skull. That voice. That power.
"Chase," Alora said, "if what you saw is real, and the Council knows it too… you're not just in danger. You're at the center of something huge."
He nodded slowly.
"They want to use me. Or kill me. Or both."
"So… what do we do?"
Chase looked up, eyes glowing red-gold in the moonlight. A slow, grim smile tugged at the edge of his lips.
"We find out everything. Who my mother really was. What that monster was. Why they're afraid of me."
He stood.
"And then?" he said, voice steady and cold.
"We burn every last one of them."