The red storms hadn't stopped.
If anything, they multiplied—wild, sentient beasts gnashing over the skies, ripping apart the clouds, searing the air with bolts that screamed. The resistance barely held its breath, lungs choked with smoke and fear. Our days were numbered, and every breath reminded us.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
The countdown carved itself into our minds.
And the Queen? Oh, she didn't hide anymore.
Her face—once a myth told through fear—now glowed on every screen. Radiant, terrifying, too perfect to be real. She smiled, but it never touched her eyes. Her voice slithered through the frequencies, repeating the words like gospel:
"The Gates will open. Choose your side."
On the fourth day, we received a transmission.
Encrypted. Fragmented. Barely legible.
But unmistakably hers.
Kael.
"They've awakened the Queen's Teeth... Rae, you need to... before they... hollow..."
Static swallowed the rest.
We didn't sleep after that.
"What are the Queen's Teeth?" Eryn asked as we prepped gear. Her voice trembled. Not fear—rage.
Ashi glanced at me. I answered.
"They're not weapons. They're people. Created by the Queen during the first collapse. Infused with stolen Marks. Mindless now. But deadly."
"They're already moving," Ashi added. "We've seen the burn trails. Cities silenced overnight. It's them."
"They're headed here?" Eryn asked.
I nodded. "We don't have much time."
We split into teams.
I led one to intercept the Teeth.
Ashi stayed to defend the outpost and decode the rest of Kael's transmission.
Eryn volunteered to accompany me, along with a small strike unit: Mara, Thenn, and Koyl. We moved through the forested edge of the Barren Crescent, where lightning split the sky like veins across shattered skin.
By nightfall, the air tasted metallic. Wrong.
We weren't alone.
They came in silence.
Five figures. Tall. Unnatural. Their bodies shimmered like glass soaked in blood. No eyes. Just slits where the Mark symbols pulsed beneath translucent skin.
Mara opened fire first.
Her bullets melted before touching them.
Thenn followed, blades drawn, chanting rites from the Old Guard. One of the Teeth moved so fast I barely saw it—it touched Thenn's head.
He crumpled like paper.
I screamed and the Mark on my arm lit with searing heat. Something ancient surged. I felt the air bend around me, twist, and then—I unleashed it.
A wave. Pure force. Not magic, not science—something else. The lead Tooth cracked, splitting down the center. A hollow scream tore from it, one that echoed inside my mind.
Koyl pulled Mara back. Eryn threw a flash disruptor.
And we ran.
We returned with only bruises and the body of Thenn.
The outpost held. Barely.
Kael was waiting.
Ashi had found her again—or maybe Kael found us. This time, she brought a map.
Not of land. Not of ruins.
Of memory.
"It's not just about the Gates," Kael said, pointing at the pulsing lines. "It's about what's inside them. The Queen isn't just opening them to invade. She's feeding them. The Marks. The Teeth. Us."
"What do you mean, feeding?" Eryn asked, arms crossed.
Kael's voice dropped. "She needs us to awaken the Ninth."
Silence.
Ashi stepped forward. "What's the Ninth?"
Kael didn't blink. "The first and last of the Starborn. The origin of the Marks. The one even the Queen fears."
I sat slowly. "Why awaken it?"
"To consume it," Kael whispered. "If she absorbs its core, she'll become everything. Time, death, creation, fate. No rebellion. No resistance. Just her."
We all stared at the map.
The Gates were more than a portal.
They were a trap. For the Ninth. For us. For everything.
On the eve of the second day, the sky wept fire.
An entire city—Brayen's Spine—was erased.
No survivors. No remains.
Just a glowing mark where it used to stand.
We watched the Queen's broadcast. Her smile wider.
"Five days remain. Choose."
We planned a raid.
The last known location of a dormant Gate was buried beneath the Glassen Cradle, once a place of worship. Now—a fortress crawling with Teeth and Queen's loyalists.
I would lead. Kael would guide. Eryn, Ashi, and the others would support from command.
Before leaving, I visited the Archive.
Where the Names of the Fallen were etched into the wall.
I added Thenn's name.
Then mine.
Not because I expected to die.
But because who I was before this war... was already gone.
We left under shadow.
The Teeth were waiting.
This time, I didn't run.
And neither did the Mark.
To be continued....