Part I — The City Beneath the City
They moved through tunnels that felt older than the streets above — stone veins pulsing with dim bioluminescent fungus, steam pipes groaning like organs in some sleeping machine.
Kai followed the silver-haired woman, still barefoot, still half-broken from the change.
Her name, she told him between breaths, was Lira.
"Runaway from the Alpha Order," she said. "Half-wolf, half-witch, one hundred percent bad decision."
He almost smiled. "You saved me."
"I saved your noise," she corrected. "If you died up there, they'd have found the frequency and cut it from the air."
They reached a chamber shaped like a cathedral — part subway ruin, part temple. Symbols carved into the walls hummed faintly, glowing blue-white as they passed.
Dozens of figures milled about: some with eyes too sharp, others moving too smoothly, too quiet — the supernatural underclass. Werewolves, fae, vampires, ghosts bound to human skin.
A ragtag city beneath the city.
Lira called it The Veil.
"Everything the surface pretends doesn't exist ends up here," she said. "And every order that claims power draws from it — like veins from a poisoned heart."
Before he could reply, a deep bell tone rippled through the chamber.
Heads turned.
A procession approached — tall figures in ceremonial gray, cloaks stitched with silver threads, eyes glowing like cold fire.
Lira muttered, "The Alpha Order."
Her hand brushed her knife. "Try not to snarl at them."
Kai's lip twitched. "No promises."