The night was cold enough to bite. Frost clung to the blackened earth around the crater, glimmering faintly in the pale light of a broken moon. Adam's breath came in sharp clouds as he crouched beside Leventis, whose chest rose and fell shallowly against the crater floor.
A faint luminescence pulsed beneath Leventis' torn skin—soft, rhythmic, like embers refusing to die.
"Hey—hey, stay with me," Adam urged, shaking him gently. "You're alive, you hear me? You're alive."
Leventis' eyes fluttered open, unfocused and hollow. "Adam… where…?"
"Don't talk," Adam cut in, his voice tight. "You've been through hell. Literally, from the looks of it."
He passed a trembling hand over the portable scanner on his wrist. The readings flickered erratically—vitals alternating between human and something else. But Adam didn't care. Not yet.
"You're back," he whispered. "That's all that matters."
Above them, the sky buzzed with the hum of drones. Crimson searchlights sliced through the fog like hunting blades. Adam's display pinged—a warning tone. Government scanners inbound.
"Damn it…" he whispered.
He slipped his arm beneath Leventis' shoulders and hauled him upright. Leventis stumbled, barely conscious, mumbling something incoherent that dissolved into the wind. Adam didn't stop to listen. He dragged him through the treeline, mud and leaves crunching beneath their boots, until the forest swallowed them both.
Hidden in the ravine below, Adam's rover waited, its engines already warm. He keyed in the coordinates with shaking fingers. "Hang in there, brother," he muttered as they pulled away.
Back inside the city, chaos brewed quietly under polished glass.
Commander Rayne stood before the central display in the command center, the blue light from the holograms casting sharp lines across his face.
"That signal—it moved before we lost it," he said evenly. "Someone got there first."
"Sir," an officer replied, "local units are sweeping every residence near the academy district. If this is connected to the previous anomaly—"
"It is connected," Rayne snapped. "And whoever's covering it up knows exactly what they're doing."
His gaze lingered on the pulse readings still flickering across the display—alive, intelligent, and familiar but then the reading suddenly vanished.
Adam's lab was silent except for the constant hum of cooling vents and the soft rhythm of Leventis' breathing. He laid him carefully on a narrow cot in the corner, wires and monitors wrapping around his wrists and chest.
The readings were erratic, but stable enough—for now.
Leventis stirred, his voice a whisper. "Where… am I…?"
"You're safe," Adam replied. "Just rest. Don't move. The government's looking for whatever fell tonight, and if they find you…"
Leventis turned his head weakly, his half-glowing eyes dull beneath the sterile light. bitterness cutting through his exhaustion.
He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. The realization clawed at him—he had helped design the same scanner systems that were now hunting his best friend.
For the first time since joining the New Government, Adam regretted it.
Three nights passed.
Adam kept Leventis hidden in the lower sector of his lab, buried beneath scrambled data streams and falsified surveillance loops. Every hour, he rerouted new feeds, forging blind spots in the government's network.
Leventis' strength was returning—slowly. But something in him had changed. He spoke little, his gaze distant, as if watching something only he could see.
Meanwhile, messages spread across Estana like whispers.
NOTICE:
The New Government is offering compensation for verified information related to the Sector 12 anomaly.
Chino scoffed when he read it, tossing the message aside. "Figures. Pay people to sell out." He deleted it without a second thought.
Angelina didn't.
She sat on the edge of her bed, the message glowing on her cracked phone screen. Her rent was overdue. Her father's medicine supply was dwindling. And she hadn't heard from Adam in weeks.
What if it's him they're after? she thought. What if it's something worse?
She tried to sleep. She couldn't.
By the end of the week, the New Government was knocking on every door in Estana.
Commander Rayne led the operation personally, flanked by Captain Garrison—his most trusted field officer.
"If this anomaly is what I think it is," Rayne said as they walked, "then it's tied to the Gashadokuro incident. We can't afford another outbreak."
Garrison gave a curt nod but stayed silent. Every mention of the word anomaly sent a dull ache through his chest. He had convinced himself his brother was gone—but somewhere deep inside, that certainty was beginning to crack.
The knock came.
Angelina opened her door to two uniformed officers—and behind them, Commander Rayne himself.
"Miss Vale," Rayne began, his tone formal but probing. "We're conducting a search for an unidentified individual. Reports suggest he may have connections to your former classmate, Adam Stormwell."
Her throat tightened. "Adam? I—I haven't seen him in weeks."
Rayne studied her carefully. "You'd tell us if you knew something, wouldn't you?"
She hesitated.
It's for the city's safety, she told herself. For survival.
"There's… there's a lab," she finally said. "Old research wing beneath the academy. He's been working there."
"Thank you," Rayne said curtly, turning to leave.
But no payment came. No message followed. Only silence—and guilt heavy enough to drown in.
Garrison's unit reached the lab by noon.
A harsh knock echoed against steel.
Adam was on his feet in an instant, shoving Leventis into the narrow compartment behind the server racks. "Don't make a sound," he whispered. "Please."
The door burst open. White light flooded the lab as soldiers poured in.
Garrison stepped forward, rifle raised. His eyes swept across the monitors—vital readings, heartbeat logs, static-laced graphs.
"Adam," he said quietly. "What are you hiding?"
Adam didn't answer. His jaw tightened. His gaze flicked, for a single heartbeat, toward the hidden wall.
Garrison saw it.
He strode forward, slammed the switch, and the false panel retracted with a metallic hiss—revealing an empty space.
For a long, tense moment, no one moved.
Garrison's expression hardened, anger warring with something softer beneath. Commander Rayne stepped in beside him, eyes narrowing.
"What are these old vitals for?" he demanded.
"I was… running tests," Adam stammered. "System improvements. Nothing more."
Rayne raised a hand, and soldiers moved to block the exits. The commander's voice was calm but razor-edged.
"Mr. Stormwell," he said, stepping closer, "you joined this program to protect this city—to help us fight the monsters that destroyed it. If you're hiding something…" He leaned in, his tone dropping to a chilling murmur. "I will find out."
Then he stopped.
Tiny orange-red motes drifted through the air near the closet—like embers from an invisible flame. Rayne's eyes narrowed slightly.
After a long silence, he turned away. "We'll continue the search elsewhere," he said, his voice unreadable. "Let's move."
Garrison hesitated, guilt and suspicion twisting in his chest, before following his commander out.
Orders soon rippled through the city—door-to-door searches, full surveillance sweeps, curfews reinstated. Estana's peace was cracking.
When the footsteps faded, Adam exhaled shakily and pressed the release panel. The wall slid open, and Leventis stepped out, eyes half-lidded but steady.
"They're gone," Adam whispered. "You're safe. For now."
Days turned into weeks. Adam kept Leventis hidden, caring for him in the shadows of the lab. But outside, tension simmered.
Chino sent messages asking to meet—Adam ignored them.
Angelina sat in silence, guilt eating away at her.
And somewhere deep beneath the surface of Estana, fate waited—quietly sharpening its edge.