The Hive’s chamber shook like a storm. Kevin’s body rose higher, lifted into the red glow of the beating heart. His small arms spread out helplessly, his eyes glowing gold and red at once. His mouth opened in a silent scream.Jonah roared. His claws burned brighter than ever, golden flames cutting through the darkness. He tore through the infected rushing him, ripping their bodies apart. Black blood sprayed across his chest, mixing with his own. His breaths came ragged, each one filled with pain, but he did not stop. “Kevin!” Jonah screamed, his golden eyes locked on the boy above. “Hold on! I’m coming!”The Hive laughed, its voice filling the chamber, echoing from the beating heart. “Fool. The boy is already ours. Do you not see? His veins shine brighter than yours ever did. He was made for this. You were only the first draft, Jonah Crest. A failure that escaped.”Jonah’s claws tore into another monster, shredding it apart. He spat blood, growling, “If I’m a failure, then I’ll be

The void cracked like glass. Golden fire clashed with red lightning as Jonah charged Olos.His claws blazed, his roar echoing across the endless black sky. Olos stood calm, his white coat unruffled, his pale hands glowing crimson. When their power collided, the ground itself split apart. Kevin screamed inside the bone cage. His small hands clutched the bars, his golden glow flickering. The clash shook him, tore at him. Every blow between Jonah and Olos felt like knives in his chest.Jonah slashed, claws burning. Olos lifted one hand and caught them in his palm. The impact sent shockwaves through the void. Jonah’s eyes widened. “You!”Olos smiled thinly, his glasses glinting. “So much rage. So much failure packed into one shell.”Jonah roared, forcing his claws forward. Sparks exploded, golden flames licking at Olos’s arm. Olos didn’t flinch. He raised his other hand and drove it into Jonah’s chest.The blow sent Jonah flying across the void. He crashed through a broken pillar of bon

The red light swallowed them whole. Jonah’s claws burned gold as he reached for Kevin’s hand, but the Hive’s tendrils dragged them down. The ground beneath their feet cracked apart, the void folding in on itself. Jonah roared, trying to fight free, but the pull was too strong. Kevin screamed, his small hand stretching through the bars until the light engulfed them both, and then, silence.Jonah landed hard on his knees. His claws scraped against cracked stone. The air was heavy, thick, burning with a stench of rot. When he looked up, his heart sank.They were no longer in the void. They stood in the middle of a ruined city. Buildings leaned at broken angles. Cars lay smashed in the streets, blood pooling around their wheels. Smoke rose from fires that never died. The sky above was red, bleeding, alive with veins of black lightning.Kevin was beside him, trembling. His small glow flickered weakly, like a candle in the storm. “Where are we?” Kevin whispered, his voice shaking.Jonah

The ground split open beneath Jonah’s knees. He could barely breathe, his claws dripping gold fire, his chest torn with wounds that refused to close. Beside him, Kevin clung to his arm, his small body trembling, his glow flickering faintly like a candle in storm winds. Jonah forced himself to lift his head, and then he saw it.Lisa’s body twitched on the broken street. Her chest split open like paper tearing, red light spilling out. Her pale arms stretched wide, her face twisting with pain, her lips forming Jonah’s name, but from her body crawled others.Hands, broken and mangled, tore their way free. Faces pressed against her skin, screaming. The old man from the shop. The boy with the cap. The mother with the child. One by one, the dead Jonah remembered, the ones he had failed, the ones he could never save, they all came pouring out.Their mouths moved together, whispering, crying, shouting, “Jonah. You left us. You failed. You killed us.”Kevin screamed and buried his face in Jo

The chamber trembled as the creature stepped free from the heart. Jonah’s claws sparked bright gold, but his body froze. His eyes widened. His breath caught in his throat.Because standing before him was himself. The same height. The same broad shoulders. The same claws. But where Jonah’s burned with golden fire, this one’s burned with black-red flame. Its eyes glowed like pits of darkness, its skin crawling with veins that pulsed like the Hive’s walls.It tilted its head, smiling with Jonah’s mouth. “I know you,” it said, voice smooth and cruel. “Because I am you.”Kevin gasped, clinging to Jonah’s side. His glow flickered with fear. “Jonah, it looks like you.”Jonah’s claws trembled. His golden fire hissed against the chamber’s heat. “Stay behind me, Kevin.”The Hive-Jonah chuckled. The sound was deep, mocking, sharp like blades scraping stone. “Still pretending to protect? Still playing the hero?” Its black claws flexed. “But you’re no hero. You’re me. You always were.”The chambe