Location: Silver City – Nightbound HQ
Silence inside the Nightbound HQ was oppressive. Monitors flickered in the blackness. Maps of Silver City and the wider world issued alerts—energy spikes, changes in the weather, mass evacuations.
Helena leaned her elbows on the center table, palms down, tense shoulders. Her knuckles were red from having been in a fight earlier, but she did not feel the pain. She only felt the hollowness brought on by Zara.
"We were too late," Eira said softly, standing across from her.
Myles drew a breath, tapping at the holo-map. "Not yet too late. But. she's not lost in the storm. She is the storm now. Her energy signature keeps shifting. like she's shattering."
"No," Helena's voice broke across the room. "She's still clinging. I know she is."
They all stared at her, seeing the naked determination burning behind her eyes.
"She's not the enemy," Helena continued, her voice low and activist. "The Eclipsed Order did this to her. They're the ones who released the Shardkiller. They wanted her cracked."
"And they're attacking her now," Myles griped, waving out across the map to illustrate the larger perspective. Blinking red markers splurged down a huge web everywhere across the globe—new Shard aberrations popping into being. "They're waking up the Old Shards. Preparing to do something massive."
Helena stood up. "Then we take the initiative."
Eira winced. "You mean. war?"
Helena nodded once. "War."
---
Location: Eclipsed Order Stronghold – The Ascendant Vault
The High Herald strode into the Vault, her robes swirling black power. Reality vibrated with the beat of the first bearer's soul—the first Shardkiller, buried for ages but now breathing through reality's fissures.
The Herald knelt before a broken obsidian altar, setting her palm on it. It thudded beneath her hand.
"Awaken, Vessel," she whispered. "The storm is in our hands."
Twelve black-arming acolytes lined up behind her lowered their heads. Each of them bore a sliver of the Old Shards in their chests, their ill omen red light pulsing within them.
The Herald rose, her lip twisting into a smile.
"Tonight, the Nightbound fall," she said. "And the world follows."
---
Location: Silver City – Nightbound HQ, War Room
Helena summoned the team.
Off duty, Myles had second-guessed the probable next action of the Order: a Shard convergence point hidden deep in the dark recesses of long-abandoned Arcadia District—the ancient core of Silver City, shunned for decades.
"They will try to awaken the Shardkiller in its entirety," Myles said. "With Zara as its foundation. If they succeed, it won't just reduce Silver City to ashes—it'll rip everything apart."
Helena scanned the faces of the Nightbound—Eira, Myles, Orion, Nova, and the rest who had stood by her since the beginning.
"This is it," she said. "We rescue Zara—or we lose everything."
There was a heavy silence. Then, one by one, they nodded.
"We're with you," Eira said.
"To the end," Myles added.
Helena clenched her gloves, her voice hard. "Then let's bring her home."
---
Location: Arcadia District – Under the City
The Nightbound moved through the rubble like ghosts, silent and deadly. Unusual colored lights burned along the fractured streets. Shard anomalies hung in the air like broken stars, warping gravity itself.
Behind in the distance, the location of the Order's ritual was huddled beside the ominous black spire. Storm clouds brewed above, and lightning crackled in the air, casting a sickly purple glow over all.
"We don't have much time," Myles cautioned over comms. "The energy buildup is accelerating. If we don't shatter the ritual before the final convergence. there won't be a Silver City to rescue."
Helena clenched her fists. "We stop them. Whatever it takes."
They crept into the shadows.
And high above them, out of sight, Zara watched from within the tempest.
Her heart ached as she saw them—her family, her friends. Part of her wanted to scream, to stretch out, to beg them to run. To save themselves.
But the Shards tainted her will.
They whispered:
They will betray you.
They will abandon you.
They fear you.
Zara closed her eyes to the storm's voice, clutching her chest.
"No." she wheezed. "I won't let them fall. I won't be your tool."
But she was aware in her heart that the last battle was imminent.
And it was coming sooner than anybody would realize.
---