Lia clutched her jacket tightly, trembling slightly. Not from the cold. But from everything boiling beneath her skin.
— "My brother…" she began, hesitating. "He was 13. They took him one night, without any explanation. Told him he was 'chosen.' A lie. An illusion."
Her voice cracked slightly, but she swallowed it quickly.
— "I saw him… only once after that. He wasn't himself anymore. His eyes… they looked empty. Like something was wearing him from the inside, but he was no longer there. Since then… I've lived for one thing only."
She looked at Seth again, not knowing who he really was. Just a man with a tired gaze and a silence that weighed too much.
— "To see them all burn—the Council. If you want to stop them… then we can help each other. If not… leave now."
Silence fell between them, heavy and stifling.
Seth looked at her for a long few seconds, as if the words were burning on his tongue, but he refused to let them out. In her eyes, he found no comfort, no promises—just a flame that was dimmed, but not dead. A wound still pulsing, buried deep.
He nodded slightly, a barely perceptible movement, but one that said everything that needed to be said.
He wasn't going to leave.
The girl said nothing, but a spark of trust lit in her eyes. Perhaps for the first time in a long while.
— "Alright," she said, more to herself. "Then we'll start with something simple."
She turned abruptly and began walking through the ruins of a collapsed building, motioning for him to follow.
— "I know where one of their control points is. If we want to understand them, we need to track them. But let's be clear: the first sign you're hiding something, I leave you there."
Seth didn't answer. He just followed, in silence.She didn't seem to be lying. Her eyes had that spark only people crushed by pain still carried. But even now, he didn't know who she truly was.
He lowered his hood, and the faint light revealed his face—transfigured by exhaustion and suspicion.
— "What's your name?" he murmured, his voice rougher than he intended.
She hesitated for a moment. Then:
— "Lia."
— "Alright, Lia. What's next?"
Lia reached into her worn jacket and pulled out a folder full of bent papers, some stained with dried blood, others with burnt edges.
— "I stole this from one of their labs. I don't know how long it'll take before they realize it's missing."
Seth took the file, and "Apex Eye" subtly lit up in his eyes. The letters, codes, and hastily written symbols on the pages rearranged themselves into a language he now understood.
— "These are locations…" he murmured. "And names."
One of them was Victor.
— "They control all transformations," Lia continued. "They don't just experiment. They choose those with potential—it doesn't matter the age or the will. If you're valuable for their war, you're taken."
Seth felt his stomach twist.
— "Tell me where your brother is."
Lia cast him a long, heavy glance.
— "He was in the basement of a building in Sector 5. If they haven't moved him yet, we still have a chance."
A short metallic sound interrupted them.
A motion sensor.
Seth turned his head sharply.A red beam sliced through the air, dancing gently across his face.
— "Down!" Lia shouted, and in a lightning-quick motion, she pulled out a metal pipe with a capacitor at one end—a makeshift shock weapon.
A drone hovered a few meters above the rooftop, projecting a blue hologram over them, like a massive label: "SUBJECT IDENTIFIED – RISK LEVEL: MAXIMUM."
A sharp hiss, then an aerial short circuit exploded — Lia had struck the drone precisely, sending it spiraling in smoke toward the pavement.
— "I thought we had time…" she muttered through clenched teeth.
— "We don't." Seth tightened his fists. "They recognized my signature. I stayed too long."
From the distance, modulated sirens were already approaching—not police sirens, but the Council's. Those metallic, distorted sounds, as if an alarm were being strangled by a creature.
— "Plan B?" Lia asked, a bitter glint in her eyes.
Seth nodded briefly. — "We draw them in. And break them."
He signaled with a nod, and the two ran down a narrow alley between buildings, slipping through service doors and walls covered in mold and graffiti.
The building ahead looked abandoned—shattered windows, a metal door left ajar by someone in a hurry or insane.
— "Here," Seth muttered.
They entered quickly. The smell of rust, dust, and mold invaded their lungs. The main hallway was dark, but Seth didn't need light—his senses, sharpened in the wild and perfected by his new nature, were already active.
— "Upstairs. Third floor," he said, with a confidence that came from more than instinct.
They reached a wide room, unfurnished, only plaster debris on the floor and a large window—perfect for visibility. Lia quickly pulled something from her backpack—two pressure traps and a trigger wire. Seth, using some metal pieces and a shard of glass, built a rudimentary alarm system.
— "How many minutes do you think we've got?" Lia asked, looking at him.
Seth closed his eyes for a moment. His breathing slowed. He felt vibrations in the air. Footsteps in the distance.
— "Ten. Maybe less."
— "Then we welcome them properly."
Seth pressed against the wall, listening.
A metallic rustle.
An irregular stomp, too heavy for a normal human.
Then a distinct sound: heavy, wheezing breath, followed by a muffled laugh. Not just soldiers. Not just humans.
— "There are five," he whispered. "Two… are speaking. The others…" Seth clenched his jaw. "They're no longer what they were."
Lia grabbed a long knife, holding it with both hands, her breath ragged.
— "Do you know how to stop them?"
— "Only if I tear them apart," Seth replied. Calm. Cynical. Realistic.
A creak. The entry door had been fully opened.
Seth positioned himself by the broken window, with a good view of the hallway. Lia retreated to the room's corner, where the traps were set. The plan was simple: let them enter. Then fire and fangs.
The first one in was a tall creature, its burned skin stretched over bones, neck twisted at an impossible angle. It moved like a spider on two legs. Behind it, another monster with disproportionate limbs and glowing green eyes.
Then, two men in dark uniforms, the Council insignia on their chests. They wore masks covering their mouths, but their eyes — their eyes were alive. And cold.
— "Seth… Apex…" murmured one of them. "You're really here?"
His voice echoed like something mechanized. A familiar face… but unrevealed.
Seth didn't wait any longer.
He raised his hand.
— "Cover your ears," he told Lia.
Then, the scream.
A sound torn from another plane of existence, cracking the walls, making the creatures collapse instantly and forcing one of the Saviors to drop to his knees, bleeding from his ears.
A vortex of air formed in the room, and in its center, Victor appeared.
Flying.
With a torn cloak, a furrowed brow, but eyes locked forward.
— "You called," he said simply, grabbing Seth by the shoulder and yanking him out of the room, Lia right behind.
Seth's voice was broken, but through the shock and dizziness, he managed to say:
— "I didn't know I… could call you…"
— "Well, now you do."
The room exploded behind them as one of the creatures accidentally triggered a trap. In the air, over the city's ashen sky, Seth closed his eyes and slipped into semi-consciousness.
He was saved.
But at what cost?