The aftermath of Samuel’s transformation rippled across the compound like an invisible shockwave. While most of the team scrambled to interpret what had just happened, Samuel sat in complete silence on the edge of the medical table, his eyes no longer glowing but his entire presence radiating something different—something deeper. His breathing was slow, measured. Even the faint hum of energy in the room seemed to bend toward him, pulled in by a new center of gravity.Sarah was the first to speak. “You remember everything?”Samuel gave a single nod. “Not just memories. Instincts. Knowledge. My father's plan. The reason I was hunted. The purpose behind every lie they told me. It’s all there now.”Aria leaned forward. “Then tell us. Start from the beginning.”Samuel looked around the room, now filled with people he trusted—people who had followed him even when he doubted himself. He let out a slow breath.“My father was never just a scientist,” he began. “He was part of a resistance. One

Samuel lay in silence, his breath ragged as a tremor ran through his chest. The battlefield around him had stilled, the sky above no longer torn by rifts or scorched with cosmic fire. Grass that had long been dead began sprouting in patches. Air that once crackled with foreign static now felt fresh, familiar. He had touched the Nexus—and lived.Aria crouched beside him, her eyes wide. “What happened inside?”He didn’t answer at first. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, as if his soul hadn’t completely returned from the depths of the Nexus. Finally, his lips parted. “I broke something they thought was unbreakable.”“Does that mean it’s over?” Joey’s voice came from behind, low and hoarse.Samuel shook his head. “No. We’ve declared war. And now they’ll respond.”A low rumble rolled across the land, not from the sky, but beneath the earth.Sarah stiffened. “That’s not thunder.”“No,” Samuel muttered, slowly pushing himself to his feet. “That’s the foundation shifting. Something is waking

The road stretched endlessly ahead, a cracked vein of asphalt winding through forgotten fields and half-buried ruins. Samuel rode at the front of the group, his bike humming low beneath him, the sound barely rising above the rush of wind. Ilara sat behind him, her arms wrapped loosely around his waist, her silence louder than any words she could have spoken.To his left, Dareth rode with one hand on the handlebars, the other occasionally sparking with restrained fire. His eyes scanned the horizon, ever alert. Though they hadn’t spoken much since the chamber, the bond formed in that sacred place was undeniable. Dareth had chosen to follow, and Samuel could feel the weight of that choice every time their gazes met.Behind them, a small truck carried supplies, old tech scavenged from their last safehouse, and messages encoded with coordinates for future allies. The road was no longer safe to travel alone. Too many whispers had begun to stir. The Gatekeeper’s influence was spreading faste

Night lingered over the highlands, but it brought no silence.Far north of Blackreach, in a region where wind-carved rocks jutted like broken teeth from frost-covered plains, Sarah stood at the center of a circle etched in old blood and salt. Nyra, beside her, held out her hand, fingers glowing with a faint, pale light.“This is where the shard should be,” Sarah said. Her breath hung in the air. “But I don’t feel anything.”“That’s because it’s asleep,” Nyra replied. “This one isn’t corrupting space like the one Samuel faced. It’s sleeping inside someone.”Sarah froze. “You mean someone is carrying it?”“Yes,” Nyra murmured. “And they don’t know it yet.”The wind shifted.From the nearby cliffs, shapes emerged—five figures, cloaked, faces hidden beneath hoods. They moved with purpose, not stealth. They weren’t hiding. They wanted to be seen.Nyra raised her arm and summoned a barrier of moonlight.“Don’t,” said the figure at the front. A woman’s voice. Sharp. Measured. “We’re not here

The stars above Mirrorhold shimmered with an unnatural hue.Samuel stood on a cliff edge just west of the city, his eyes fixed on the sprawling expanse of mirrored spires that reflected the sky like blades of fractured reality. From this distance, Mirrorhold looked beautiful—its glass towers glittering with iridescence, each light a lie. Beneath the facade, rituals churned, magic twisted, and death lingered.“They’ve sealed the outer gates,” Ilara said beside him, her tone unreadable.“They know we’re coming,” Dareth added, leaning on his sword. “Or maybe they’ve been waiting.”“Doesn’t matter,” Samuel replied. “We move at dawn. The longer we wait, the more they summon.”Nyra crouched near the edge, hands pressed to the rock, her brow furrowed. “Something is... wrong.”“What do you mean?” Kael asked.“The leylines. They’re not flowing through the city anymore. It’s like Mirrorhold is... eating them. The energy’s being siphoned.”Joey exhaled sharply. “That can’t be good.”“It’s not,”