The underworld of the city was a maze, and Zara knew it. Beneath Silver City's shiny streets lay tunnels, abandoned train stations, and lost vaults where Silver City's most notorious players operated. Zara had spent years walking these hidden paths, but tonight she wasn't hiding.
She was stalking.
Her quarry: a man called The Broker, a go-between with connections to all the city's criminal gangs. If anyone would know who was controlling the mercenaries, it would be him.
Zara moved quietly along the darkened halls, her ears sensitive to the slightest sounds. Her powers enhanced her senses, allowing her to become one with the darkness and move unseen, silent as a ghost. The deeper she went, the more the weight of the city seemed to press down upon her, as if the walls themselves were alive and breathing with secrets.
As she approached The Broker's lair, she heard the mumble of voices. Zara pressed against the wall, holding her breath.
"She's approaching," one voice growled, deep and gravelly.
"She's more perilous than we expected," another voice replied. "But the Eclipsed Order won't give up until she's theirs. She won't be an issue for long."
Zara's blood went icy cold. The Eclipsed Order again. They knew she was coming.
Steel-ning herself, Zara emerged from the shadows and into the room. The two men standing guard stiffened, their hands instinctively reaching for their weapons. But before they could react, Zara held up her hand, and the shadows burst forward, enclosing them like a living net. Within seconds, they were lying motionless on the floor.
The Broker, a slender man with slicked-back hair and wary eyes, stood in the center of the room, his face pale with fear.
"You—you're not supposed to be here!" he stuttered, backing away.
Zara moved forward, her eyes cold. "Tell me what you know about the Eclipsed Order."
The Broker took a deep gasp, looking around the room as if in search of a way out. But there was none. "I—I don't know much. They're a mysterious outfit. Mess about with ancient energies, artifacts, that kind of thing. Have been around since centuries, but no one has any idea what they're pursuing. Except now. they've got their eye on you."
Zara gritted her teeth. "Why?"
The Broker hesitated, then murmured softly. "They think you possess the key to something. An ancient weapon or power they've been searching for. They've had their pieces all these years, and now they think you are the last piece they need."
Zara's mind spun. A weapon? Powers from ancient times? None of this made sense, but everything was beginning to fall into place. The laboratory, the markings, her powers—it was all connected to something so much greater than she had originally conceived.
Before she was able to ask The Broker any questions further, an abrupt noise cut through the atmosphere. Zara spun about and saw a body of heavily-armed mercenaries file into the space, their gaze emitting the very same unaccountable energy that she had first seen.
It was war.
Zara moved with killer precision, her powers flowing through her like a dark river. Shadows attacked, stripping weapons from their owners and enveloping them in suffocating darkness. But the mercenaries were unyielding, their attack cold-blooded and systematic.
As she fought, Zara realized she had little time. The Eclipsed Order were not merely attacking her—thay were moving against something much more deadly. And if she could not hold them back, the sunrise would never happen again.