The plaza burned again, but this time it wasn't wood or stalls. It was people.
Veyra had been too quiet after Warehouse 31 and the failed parade. Too quiet after Helix's vans took names from the streets. Silence is never safety—it's a knife being sharpened where you can't see.
And she sharpened hers on Sector Four.
---
They dragged the victims at dusk. Not ten, not a handful—thirty souls lined up against the plaza wall. Men and women, some young enough to still carry schoolbooks, some old enough to lean on sticks. Their only crime was being loud enough for someone to accuse.
Veyra stood before them in her stitched coat, braid tight as a whip. A relic burned red in her palm—the same Hollow Relic she had flaunted days ago. Its glow reflected in her eyes like coals.
"Umbra hides," she said, voice clear across the square. "So others will burn until they step into the light."
She lifted her hand.
The relic screamed, red arcs snapping into the captives. Shadows peeled away from the ground, burned clean until the bodies slumped, alive but emptied. Thirty at once. Thirty husks.
The plaza howled. Families screamed, children clutched at legs, people dropped to their knees. But no one moved forward. Fear froze them.
Veyra turned, smiling faint, daring anyone to challenge her. "Tell Umbra this," she called. "The city is mine. Their shadows belong to me."
---
I watched from the edge of the crowd, hood low. The Lexicon throbbed in my chest, hotter than fire, pages turning sharp enough to cut. Mara was beside me, knuckles white around her blade. Jonas loomed like a statue about to crack.
"She'll hollow the whole city," Mara hissed.
Jonas' voice rumbled, low and steady. "She bleeds too loud."
I kept my eyes on Veyra. Threads shimmered around her—pride bright as fire, arrogance thick as tar. But underneath, faint, I saw fear. Not of us. Of losing grip.
"She's forcing a choice," I murmured. "She wants us to show our face."
"Then we give her steel," Mara snapped.
I shook my head. "Not yet. If we strike now, Helix will have their proof. They'll swallow us with the Fang in one bite."
Jonas turned his head slowly toward me. "Then how long do we wait?"
"Until the people stop watching her with fear," I said. "And start watching us with belief."
Mara's laugh was bitter. "Belief won't stop relic fire."
"No," I said. "But it will make her afraid. Afraid enough to break herself."
The Lexicon pulsed heavy, approving, pages settling into place.
---
That night in the shop, silence sat heavier than smoke. Jonas cleaned his fists with a cloth that didn't need cleaning. Mara sharpened her blade, too fast, too hard.
"She crossed the line," Mara said. "She butchered them in the open."
"She's cracking," I said. "And when cracks spread, walls fall."
Jonas finally spoke. "Walls can crush when they fall."
The Lexicon throbbed. I wrote in the ledger with hands that shook just enough to notice.
Veyra hollows thirty in the plaza. She dares Umbra to step into the light. We remain the shadow. For now.
The ink bled dark, heavy.
For the first time since Umbra had risen, I wondered how long we could stay hidden before the fire found us anyway.
---
Author's Note (Relic):
Hollow Relic (Rare): Burns away the shadows of living targets, leaving them alive but drained and weakened. When used on many at once, it risks permanent damage to both victims and user.