Chapter 1 - 7
"Black Sun Rising"**
The world came back in fragments.
First: the smell of burning copper.
Then: the taste of blood on his teeth.
Finally: the weight of a girl slumped against his chest, her silver hair matted with red.
"Lys?" Kai's voice cracked. His fingers brushed her neck—*still pulsing.* Relief flooded him until he saw the glowing restraint collar around her throat. WDO issue. Execution-grade.
A shadow moved beyond the smoke.
"Subject K.V." Professor Solfrost's polished shoes clicked against shattered glass. "You erased forty-three percent of Laboratory Sector 9. Impressive, even for your lineage."
Kai's core *thrummed* in warning. The professor held a black remote.
"Remove her collar." Kai's words dripped with a venom he didn't recognize.
Solfrost tilted his head. "Why? She failed her assignment. You were supposed to die cleanly in that chamber. Now—" He thumbed the remote's trigger. "—I'll have to demonstrate why we leash rabid dogs."
Lys *jolted* awake with a gasp as the collar's spikes bit deeper.
Kai *moved.*
**Reality bent.**
One moment Solfrost stood smug. The next, Kai's fist connected with his jaw—*bone crunched*—as the remote disintegrated mid-air. The collar fell away.
Lys coughed, her ice-blue eyes wide. "Kai, your—"
He looked down. Black veins spiderwebbed up his right arm. The floor *warped* where his shadow touched it.
"Ah." Solfrost wiped blood from his lips. "There's the *real* you."
Alarms blared. Reinforcements coming.
Lys grabbed Kai's wrist. Her touch grounded him—the creeping darkness halted. "We need to *go.*"
Behind them, Solfrost laughed. "Run all you like. You'll—"
Kai *flicked* his fingers.
The professor's voice *vanished* mid-sentence, his mouth still moving soundlessly.
"Temporary vocal singularity," Kai muttered. "Should last... eight hours?"
Lys stared. Then—*she laughed.* A real, breathless sound Kai felt in his ribs.
They fled into the storm.