SERINA POV
I kicked down Fat Beron's door at midnight because knocking was for people who had time to waste.
The loan shark jerked awake in his bed, reaching for the crossbow he kept under his pillow. I was faster. My knife pressed against his throat before his fingers touched the weapon.
"I need ten thousand gold crowns," I said. "Now."
Fat Beron's piggy eyes focused on my face, then dropped to the Zero mark on my wrist. His fear turned into a nasty smile.
"Get out of my house, Zero trash, before I call the guards."
"The Academy took my brother. I have seventy-two hours to pay ransom or they kill him." My knife dug in just enough to draw a drop of blood. "I'll pay triple interest. I'll work for you for ten years. I'll do anything."
"Anything?" He laughed, a wet sound like drowning. "You're worth nothing, girl. Less than nothing. Even if I wanted to help—which I don't—no amount of work from a Zero could ever pay back ten thousand gold. You'd be dead of old age before you earned half."
I wanted to cut his throat. Wanted to watch him choke on his own blood. But killing him wouldn't save Kael.
I left before I did something I'd regret.
The next loan shark threw me out bodily. The one after that set his dogs on me. By the time dawn broke over Dustward, I'd visited every money lender, crime boss, and shady merchant in the slums.
Every single one said the same thing: No loans for Zeros. You're too risky. Too worthless. Too likely to die before paying us back.
I sat on the steps of an abandoned building, counting my coins for the hundredth time. Thirty-seven copper. Not even enough to buy a decent meal, let alone save my brother's life.
Sixty-eight hours left.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking. Kael was probably so scared right now. He'd be calling for me, wondering why I wasn't coming. He always believed I could fix anything. When we had no food, I stole it. When we had no money, I earned it. When bullies hurt him, I made them regret it.
But this? This was impossible.
I pressed my palms against my eyes and tried not to scream.
"You look like someone who's run out of options," a voice said above me.
I looked up to find a woman watching me from the shadows. She was maybe five years older than me, with wild red hair and a Six tattooed on her wrist. Her clothes were nice—too nice for Dustward—but her eyes were calculating in a way I recognized. Criminal eyes.
"Who are you?" I asked, hand moving toward my knife.
"Nyssa Thornhart. I deal in solutions for people who can't find them anywhere else." She sat down beside me without asking permission. "Word travels fast in the slums. I heard about the Zero girl whose brother got snatched by the Academy. Heard she's been making threats all night, trying to borrow an impossible amount of money."
"If you're here to mock me, save your breath."
"I'm here to offer you a job." Nyssa pulled out a rolled map and spread it on the steps between us. "See this? It's the Forbidden Shrine of Endings. Inside, there are artifacts worth more than ten thousand gold. Ancient dragon treasures that collectors would kill for."
My heart started beating faster. "If it's so valuable, why hasn't anyone stolen it already?"
"Because anyone below Rank Five who enters that shrine dies screaming within minutes. The wards don't just kill you—they unmake you. Erase you from reality like you never existed." Nyssa's smile was sharp. "But here's the thing. You're already nothing, according to the ranking system. Maybe the wards won't even notice a Zero."
"You want me to rob a cursed shrine that kills people."
"I want to give you a chance to save your brother. The artifacts in there could buy his freedom ten times over." She rolled up the map. "I'll even give you a thirty percent cut of whatever you bring back. That's generous, considering I'm the one with the buyers lined up."
"And if the wards kill me?"
"Then you die trying to save your brother instead of giving up." Nyssa stood, brushing dust off her pants. "The shrine is a day's walk into the Dead Forest. If you leave now, you'll have time to get there, grab what you need, and get back before your deadline. If you sit here feeling sorry for yourself, Kael dies for sure."
She handed me the map. I stared at it, my mind racing.
This was insane. Suicidal. The Forbidden Shrines were sealed for good reasons. People who went near them didn't come back.
But Nyssa was right—I was out of options. Every legitimate path was closed to a Zero. If I did nothing, Kael would be tortured and murdered while I sat here being helpless.
At least this way, I'd be doing something.
"What's really in that shrine?" I asked quietly. "The truth."
Nyssa's smile faded. For a moment, she looked almost serious. "Legends say it holds Drakthar, the World-End Dragon. Three thousand years ago, he destroyed half the continent in a rage. The gods themselves had to chain him in that shrine to stop him from ending everything."
"You want me to walk into a prison that holds a dragon who destroys continents."
"The dragon's been asleep for three millennia. He's basically a myth at this point." But Nyssa wouldn't meet my eyes when she said it. "The real treasures are the chains binding him—made of condensed magic worth a fortune. Grab a few links, get out fast, sell them, save your brother."
Sixty-seven hours left.
I took the map.
"Smart girl," Nyssa said. "Head north from the slum gates. Follow the old trade road until it stops, then keep going into the Dead Forest. The shrine is—"
"I can read a map."
"One more thing." Nyssa grabbed my wrist, her fingers pressing against my Zero tattoo. "If you do wake the dragon somehow, don't try to fight him. Dragons can't be killed by normal weapons, and he'll be very, very angry about being disturbed. Your only chance is running fast enough that he gets bored chasing you."
She walked away, disappearing into the morning crowds like she'd never been there.
I looked at the map in my hands. Looked at the X marking the shrine's location deep in the forbidden territory where magic went wrong and monsters hunted humans for sport.
This was the worst idea anyone had ever had.
I packed what little supplies I owned—my knife, a water flask, a length of rope, matches, and the last piece of bread we had in the house. Put on my sturdiest boots. Tied my hair back tight.
Touched the spot on the floor where Kael usually slept.
"I'm coming for you," I whispered to the empty room. "I don't care what I have to do. I don't care what I have to wake up. You're my brother, and I'm bringing you home."
The Zero mark on my wrist burned like it was trying to tell me something.
I ignored it and headed north toward the Dead Forest, toward a prison holding an ancient dragon, toward either salvation or death.
Sixty-six hours left.
And somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice that didn't sound like my own whispered: Finally. She's coming.