Dawn __or what passed for dawn in Avalon—arrived too quickly.
Zayne woke first, as he always did. For a moment, he didn't move, just savored the weight of Nana curled against his chest, her hand splayed over his heart, her breathing soft and even.
Like a cat, he thought, allowing himself a small smile as she nuzzled deeper into his warmth without waking.
The smile turned bittersweet almost immediately.
Today.
Today they would attempt the impossible. Today they would climb the Ancient Tree, face hundreds of vampires, and try to reach the Wish Bridge before it collapsed.
Today, one way or another, this would end.
He carefully lifted Nana's hand from his chest, studying it in the gray pre-dawn light. Her palm was callused now, rough from months of gripping weapons. These weren't the soft hands of the hunter who'd eaten pasta in the Linkon Cafe. These were the hands of a survivor, a warrior.
Beautiful, he thought, pressing a gentle kiss to her palm. You're so beautiful, even with all the scars Avalon has given you.
Nana stirred at the touch, making a small sound of protest as she tried to burrow deeper into his chest. Her eyes remained closed, but a tiny smile played at her lips.
"Five more minutes," she mumbled.
"We don't have five minutes." But Zayne's voice was soft, his hand stroking her short hair. "The blood moon will rise soon. We need to move."
Her eyes opened slowly, blinking up at him. For a heartbeat, she looked exactly like she had back in Linkon—sleepy and soft and achingly normal.
"You're handsome," she said suddenly, still half-asleep. "Did I ever tell you that? Back in the hospital? You were always so handsome it made me blush. Even when you were being all clinical and robot-like."
Zayne felt heat rise to his ears. "You never mentioned it."
"Well, you were. Are." She reached up to touch his face. "Especially when you smile. You should smile more."
"I smile around you."
"I know." Her expression turned serious as full wakefulness returned. "Today's the day, isn't it?"
"Today's the day." Zayne helped her sit up, both of them immediately shifting into preparation mode. "Are you ready?"
"No.." Nana admitted honestly. "But I'm doing it anyway."
They moved through their preparations with practiced efficiency—checking weapons, securing supplies, eating what might be their last meal in Avalon. Neither of them spoke much. There was nothing left to say that hadn't already been said.
As they left the hospital and began moving toward District 23, toward the Ancient Tree, the sky began to change.
The gray shifted to darker gray. And then, slowly, impossibly, color bled into Avalon's eternal monochrome.
Red.
The blood moon rose on the horizon—massive, bloated, the color of fresh arterial blood. It painted the entire sky in shades of crimson, transforming the broken city into something even more nightmarish.
"There " Zayne whispered, pointing.
And all around them, Avalon came alive with violence.
Creatures that had been dormant burst from their hiding places. Demons and hybrids that had maintained an uneasy territorial balance suddenly turned on each other with savage fury. The blood moon drove them into a frenzy, and the streets became a battlefield.
"Don't engage," Zayne commanded, pulling Nana close as a hybrid pack raced past, chasing a group of demons.
"We need all our strength for the tree. Let them kill each other."
They moved like shadows through the chaos, avoiding fights, conserving energy. Every step brought them closer to the Ancient Tree, which loomed larger and larger until it dominated the entire horizon.
And then they were standing at its base, looking up.
My god, Nana thought, craning her neck back.
The pictures and descriptions hadn't done it justice.
The Ancient Tree was massive—easily a kilometer tall, its trunk wider than city blocks, its branches spreading in every direction like the skeletal fingers of some dead god.
And hanging from those branches, wrapped in their own leathery wings like grotesque fruit...
Vampires.
Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe. All sleeping, waiting for the blood moon to fully rise and wake them.
"They're beautiful," Nana whispered despite herself. They were. In the crimson light, the vampires' skin had an alabaster quality, their features sharp and aristocratic even in sleep.
Their wings—black and membranous, veined with red—wrapped around them protectively. They looked almost peaceful.
Almost human.
"Don't let that fool you," Zayne murmured. "The moment they wake, they're killing machines. One bite and you're one of them. Never forget that."
"I won't." Nana gripped her sword tighter. "Let's climb."
They began to ascend.
The Ancient Tree's bark was rough, providing good handholds. Zayne led the way, following the path he'd memorized two years ago, pointing out the safest routes, the branches that could support their weight.
They climbed in silence, barely breathing, hyperaware of every sleeping vampire they passed.
So close, Nana thought as they moved past a young vampire hanging just meters away. Its eyes are moving under its eyelids.
They climbed higher. Higher. The ground fell away beneath them, the city spreading out in all directions, painted red by the blood moon.
And above them—still so far but getting closer—the Wish Bridge gleamed like frozen starlight, its crystalline structure connecting to the swirling ice portal.
Almost there, Nana's mind chanted. Just a little further—
One of the vampires stirred.Nana and Zayne froze, pressed flat against the tree trunk.
The vampire—a young male, barely looked twenty—shifted in his sleep, his wings unwrapping slightly.
Please don't wake up, Nana prayed. Please, please, please—
The vampire settled back into sleep.
They kept climbing.
Minutes stretched into an eternity. Sweat dripped down Nana's back despite the cold. Her muscles screamed from the exertion. But they were getting closer. The Wish Bridge was maybe fifty meters above them now, so close she could see individual ice crystals in its structure.
And then—
SHRIEK
Bellow them, in the districts they'd passed through, a fight erupted. Bird-headed hybrids versus a demon pack, the sounds of their battle echoing up through the Ancient Tree.
The sleeping vampires began to stir.
"Climb!" Zayne hissed urgently. "NOW!"
They abandoned stealth for speed, hauling themselves up the tree as fast as they could. Around them, vampires were waking—eyes snapping open, wings unfurling, mouths opening to reveal fangs.
The first vampire lunged at a hybrid that had gotten too close to the tree's base.
The hybrid's scream cut off abruptly as the vampire tore out its throat.
More vampires woke. More screams echoed. The blood moon was fully risen now, and the cycle had begun.
Nana hand closed around a branch. Above her, the Wish Bridge was right there, maybe twenty meters away—
"NANA, JUMP!"
She didn't think. Just launched herself upward with everything she had, aether core flaring, reaching for the bridge—
So close—
Something closed around Zayne's leg.
A vampire—not young, not newly woken. Old. Massive. Its wings spread at least five meters wide, and its grip on Zayne's ankle was like iron.
"NO!" Nana screamed, grabbing for Zayne's hand even as they were both pulled downward.
Their fingers locked together. The vampire beat its wings, dragging them both away from the bridge, away from safety, down toward the writhing mass of newly-woken vampires below.
She fired her crossbow one-handed.
The bolt took the vampire through its shoulder—it didn't even flinch. She drew her sword, tried to slash at its wing—
The vampire twisted mid-air, so fast Nana barely tracked the movement. It was going to bite Zayne, she could see its fangs extending, could see—
Above them, the Wish Bridge began to collapse.
The blood moon cycle was ending too soon, the timing somehow wrong, and the crystalline structure was cracking, pieces falling away into the red sky.
No, no, NO—
"Nana!" Zayne's voice cut through her panic. "Let go! You need to reach the bridge before it's gone!"
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You have to—"
The vampire's fangs sank into Zayne's shoulder.
Time seemed to stop.
Nana watched in horror as the vampire drank, as the transformation began instantly—Zayne's eyes flickering, his canines lengthening, his skin taking on that alabaster quality.
"No," she whispered. "No, Zayne, no—"
Zayne's hand moved with surgical precision. Ice formed around his palm, crystallizing into a blade, and he drove it through the vampire's skull with devastating force.
The creature's grip loosened. It fell, dissolving into mist before it hit the ground.
But Zayne—
The wings burst from his shoulders, black and membranous. His eyes, when they opened, held that predatory gleam. His fangs were fully extended now, and Nana could see him fighting—fighting to stay sane, to stay Zayne, even as the vampire transformation tried to overwhelm his mind.
He dove, catching Nana mid-fall, his new wings beating powerfully.
"Zayne—" Nana was sobbing now, her hands clutching his neck. "Why you let him bite you?! You're turning. You can't go through the portal—"
"I know." His voice was strained, rough, barely his own. "The bridge it's collapsing,there no other way to bring you back to the portal unless I have wing's".
He flew upward, toward the rapidly collapsing bridge. Each beat of his wings was agony—Nana could see it in his face. The portal was rejecting him already, his legs beginning to dissolve into white mist where they got too close to its field.
"Zayne, stop! You're fading—"
Nana voice was cracked as the understanding dawn,he let himself get bitten so he could flying her up there...
He sacrifice himself..
"I don't care." He hissed through the pain, his vampire instincts screaming at him to feed, to bite, to turn Nana into one of them. But he fought it, every second a battle. "Getting you home. That's all that matters."
They reached the bridge—what was left of it. The ice portal swirled above them, beautiful and terrible and close.
Nana was shaking her head desperately.
"I don't want to go without you! We were supposed to go together! You promised—"
"Plans change." Zayne's smile was heartbreaking—fangs and sorrow and love all mixed together. His legs were dissolving up to his knees now, the portal's rejection of his vampire form eating away at him.
"Listen to me, Nana. When you get back, when you wake up in the forest—"
"No, no, please—"
He kissed her. One last time. His lips were cold now, inhuman, but she kissed him back desperately, tasting tears and blood and goodbye.
When he pulled back, his expression was determined, even as his body continued to fade.
"I promised to bring you back to Earth," he said. "No matter what. I'm keeping that promise."
And before Nana could stop him, before she could hold on tighter, he used the last of his strength to throw her into the ice portal.
"ZAYNE!" Her scream tore through the red sky.
She reached back, trying to grab him, trying to pull him with her—
Their fingers touched one last time,and Zayne keep pushing her more deeper.
"I love you," Zayne said, his voice already fading. "More than anything. Live, Nana. For both of us. Find happiness"
"PLEASE!" Nana was sobbing, still reaching even as the portal pulled her deeper.
"Don't leave me! We were supposed to be together! You promised—"
"I'm sorry." His hand slipped from hers as he pushed her deeper into the portal, using the last moments before he completely dissolved. "I'm so sorry. But you're going home. That's what matters."
The portal swallowed her. The last thing Nana saw was Zayne's smile—sad and loving and fading into white mist—as the vampire transformation and the portal's rejection consumed him simultaneously.
And then there was only cold. The sensation of falling through ice and time and dimensions.
And silence.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.