The black-market submarine drifted silently through the crushing darkness of the South Pacific trench, its reinforced hull creaking under the immense pressure.Inside, the cramped submersible cabin glowed with pale blue lights. Andrew sat slumped against the wall, his head lolling slightly with the motion of the sub. His breathing was shallow, his skin too pale under the blue glow of the emergency lights.Hannah sat close beside him, her hand still wrapped around his. She didn’t speak. She couldn’t. Her lips were cracked, her eyes unfocused—but her grip never loosened.Taylor knelt in front of them, checking vitals for the fifth time. "They're fading fast," he muttered. "Pressure meds aren't holding. We need to move."The pilot’s voice crackled over the comms. "Five minutes to drop point. You're going out through the side hatch."Leon snapped his helmet into place. "Check your rebreathers. No second chances if you breach deep."Frederick glanced toward Andrew and Hannah. "They can't s

The golden glyphs froze mid-spin. For a moment, everywhere was absolutely silent. Andrew and Hannah were still suspended within a golden sphere, surrounded by a ring of burning symbols and dancing lights, their bodies unmoving but their skin pulsing with internal radiance.“SUBJECT REJECTED. DEATH PROTOCOL INITIATED.”A high-pitched scream of power screeched from every direction as the tomb’s ceiling pulsed red. The glyphs began to rotate again, faster, now cracked with fault lines of energy.A tremor split the floor beneath the circle. Runes blazed.A blast of lethal light surged toward Andrews and Hannah. Andrew’s eyes snapped open — and they were no longer human.Silver-white fire poured from his irises, bleeding upward into the swirling air. Time itself seemed to hesitate.His voice broke through the rising shriek — as it was more intense “No more tests.” His body shuddered — and then steadied.Ash swirled around him in spiral bursts, drawn inward like he were a planetary core. T

Cassiel’s hand rested on Andrew’s chest, his pupils glowing with a mirror image of Andrew’s ashfield. Around them, the node’s walls pulsed like arteries, reacting to their link.Andrew’s breath was shallow. His body trembled—not from pain, but from something older. Deeper.He’d seen the vision again. The throne of ash. The firestorm. His reflection crowned in ruin.“They think I’m supposed to lead them,” Andrew muttered.Cassiel smiled faintly. “You already are.”Taylor stepped forward, glancing around warily. “We can’t stay. The node’s waking others up. Global pulses are climbing.”Leon checked his watch. “Sat-scans will find this place in under an hour.”Andrew exhaled slowly. He looked toward Hannah, who leaned silently against a metal support, one hand resting over her abdomen.His voice was clear now. “We go back to Lantana City.”Jin’s voice crackled in over the comms. “Get moving. You’ve got movement inbound—deepwater drones. Three minutes.”Cassiel stepped back. “This isn’t th

The SkySpire Tower shimmered against Lantana’s dusk skyline, obsidian-paneled, was veiled in security protocols so dense that one would think that even air particles goes under clearance.Inside the seventy-seventh floor ballroom, Lights refracted off crystalline panels. Music drifted from a string quartet half-hidden behind a minimalist sculpture installation. Guests from across the globe swirled in tailored tuxedos and diamond-laced gowns, sipping curated wine lists under banners that read: “Global Innovation in Civil Defense & Resource Strategy.”Andrew—now walking through the entrance as “Kai Desmond,” a Nigerian-born private investor in defensive AI algorithms—unknown to every one around him. His skin tone was darker now his eyes reshaped and his hairline altered. Sure. . He had used his Ashblood abilities to subtly alter his facial bone structure, adjust his skin tone, and deepen the timbre of his voice. Nothing extreme—just enough to pass biometric scans and casual scrutiny.

The ballroom fell into a hush as the auctioneer’s gavel slammed down.“Lot Seventeen—finalized. Subject ‘EL-207’... sold to Korran Dynamics for one-point-two billion dollars"Elsa stood frozen under the spotlight, arms bound behind her back, a dazed, mechanical look on her face. Her signature golden shield shimmered faintly at her wrist, half-formed from instinct, not will. She didn’t move—not even when the handlers stepped forward to claim her.She looked lost. A prisoner pretending to be present.Something inside Andrew snapped.He stepped forward from the crowd. “She’s not going anywhere.”The microphone hadn’t picked him up—but his voice carried.Heads turned. Security tensed. The two handlers paused mid-step.Andrew stepped right up to the base of the platform, pulling a black card from his inner jacket pocket and slamming it down on the auction terminal. The impact echoed like a gunshot.“Override the sale. I’m claiming her.”Gasps rippled through the crowd.The system blinked r