A thick fog clung to Ash Whisper as though the town itself was holding its breath.
In the early morning stillness, Alaric moved through the eastern perimeter with purpose. His movements were fluid—no wasted motion, no hesitation. The confrontation with Marcus had changed something. Not just in how he carried himself… but in how people watched him.
Even without knowing the details, they could sense it. That something dangerous had brushed close—and Alaric hadn't flinched.
Lia walked beside him, silent but ever-present, her eyes sharp as blades. She hadn't spoken much since he returned the previous evening, but her presence alone was grounding. Steady.
Even if something else burned behind her eyes when she looked at him now.
"You're changing," she said finally.
He didn't look at her. "I have to."
"No," she said, stepping in front of him, making him stop. "You're already different. And I'm trying to figure out if that's a good thing."
Alaric looked past her for a moment, toward the watchtowers and the horizon beyond. Then back to her. "It doesn't matter if it's good or not. I'm not who I was in the slums anymore."
Lia's gaze softened—just a little. "You're still my brother. Don't let him rewrite that."
"I won't." He said it like a vow.
Later that day, Asha brought word.
"We picked up a transmission near Sector Nine. Coded burst, old format—very old. Took Patch hours to break it."
Alaric raised a brow. "What was it?"
Asha handed over a crumpled slip of paper. One word: "Embergate."
It meant nothing to Alaric.
Selene, however, stiffened.
"That's a blackout site," she said. "A place people pretend doesn't exist. Used to be a Council black lab—genetics, implants, prototype weapon tech. It went dark five years ago after a 'containment breach.'"
Asha crossed her arms. "Rumors say they tested enhancement serums there. Stuff that made Seraphim look like candy water."
Alaric's fingers curled slightly. "And now someone wants us to go there?"
Selene nodded slowly. "It's a lure. Or a message."
"Maybe both," Alaric said.
They left that night—Alaric, Selene, and two scouts. Lia wanted to go, but he refused. She argued, fought even—but he didn't budge.
"This place might still be radioactive," he said, deflecting. "Or worse. I need you to hold things down here."
He didn't add that he didn't trust the silence surrounding Embergate.
Because sometimes silence didn't mean emptiness.
It meant waiting.
They approached Embergate just past midnight.
It rose like a broken tooth from the sand—a collapsed tower, barely intact, half-swallowed by the desert. Its gates, long rusted shut, now hung open. Welcoming. Or warning.
The scouts stayed behind to monitor. Alaric and Selene entered, flashlights sweeping long-dead hallways. Everything smelled of rust and stale chemicals. Footsteps echoed off steel walls like ghosts running in the dark.
"What exactly did they do here?" Alaric asked.
Selene's voice was quiet. "Augmentations. Brain implants. Human weapon trials. Half the subjects were political dissidents, the rest… volunteers. People looking for a way out of the gutter."
"Like us."
"Except they didn't get a way out. They got cages."
They found the lab core four floors down. Machinery lay in ruins. Terminals long-dead. But one screen still glowed faintly. A black terminal with a blinking green cursor.
USER IDENTIFIED: VALE
The hairs on Alaric's neck stood up.
He stepped forward, and the screen came to life:
"Welcome back.If you're reading this, then the inheritance was not entirely erased.They will hunt you for it. You know that now."
"But they don't understand yet. Not truly.The bloodline matters.And the ashes of Embergate still burn."
"Choose your path carefully, Alaric Vale.The door will open only once."
A prompt followed: [Initialize Hidden Protocol?]
Alaric didn't move.
"What is this?" Selene asked, tone suddenly colder.
He didn't answer.
"Alaric—what is this?"
He turned to her slowly. "I don't know yet. But my parents… they weren't nobodies. They were tied to something deep. Maybe this was part of it."
Selene stepped forward. "If this is what I think it is, then you're playing with fire."
Alaric stared at the screen a moment longer, then clicked "No."
The screen went dark.
"Not yet," he said.
By the time they returned to Ash Whisper, the sun was rising, bleeding red across the sand.
Patch ran up to meet them.
"We've got a problem," he said.
Lia stood just behind him, arms crossed, rifle slung. "Someone breached the northern quarter two hours ago. Left a message on one of the walls."
"What kind of message?" Alaric asked.
Patch handed him a photo. It was scrawled in blood.
"I see you now. Let's begin."
Selene's jaw clenched. "Marcus?"
"No," Alaric whispered.
"This was someone else."
Someone watching from higher than the Council.Someone who had known his name before he'd spoken it.