.Chapter 32 – Whispers Beneath the AshesThe city had not yet recovered from the chaos of the previous battles. Smoke lingered in the air like an unwanted ghost, and though rebuilding had begun in patches, the cracks in the streets and the burned-out shells of shops and houses told a louder truth: this place was wounded, and wounds took time to heal.Liam sat on the roof of the Bureau’s temporary safehouse, his legs dangling over the edge. Below, repair crews shouted instructions to one another as they hammered new beams into place. His team was inside, tending to maps and supplies, but Liam’s head was elsewhere.For days now, whispers had haunted him—quiet, indistinct murmurs that slipped through his thoughts when the night grew too still. At first he’d dismissed them as fatigue, a side-effect of too many sleepless nights. But when he began hearing them in the daylight, even during conversation, he knew something was wrong.It wasn’t just voices. Sometimes he saw shadows at the edge

Chapter 34 – The Veil of Unseen ShadowsThe corridors of the Bureau were quiet—too quiet. Kai, Juno, Tessa, and Draven moved cautiously, their footsteps echoing faintly on the polished floor. Only a few days had passed since the disastrous infiltration of the Sky Citadel, but the aftermath still weighed heavily on them. They had returned alive, yes, but the cost—revealing themselves to enemies far stronger than they imagined—had shaken even the most reckless among them.Kai rubbed his shoulder where the burn from the Citadel’s energy cannons still throbbed faintly. “So,” he muttered, breaking the silence, “we’re supposed to act like nothing happened? Pretend we didn’t just declare war on a flying fortress?”Draven snorted, his voice low and sardonic. “You don’t declare war on the Citadel, boy. They declare war on you. What we did was poke a dragon in the eye and hope it didn’t notice.”“Bad news,” Juno said, her fingers tapping against the device clipped to her wrist, “the dragon noti

Chapter 36 – The Fractured AllianceThe cavern smelled of smoke, iron, and betrayal. Flickering torchlight played tricks on the jagged walls, casting elongated shadows that seemed to mock the Bureau’s fractured state. For the first time since their reluctant partnership began, the team no longer stood shoulder to shoulder. Instead, invisible lines of distrust and bruised pride split the cavern wider than any abyss.Marcellus adjusted his spectacles, the cracked lens reflecting an odd glimmer from the runic circle etched into the stone floor. He spoke carefully, as though picking each word from a pile of daggers.“We can’t move forward until we decide. Either we dismantle the artifact now, while we still have control, or we risk carrying it deeper into this madness.”Elira crossed her arms, chin tilted with that stubborn confidence that had carried them through far worse.“You’re thinking like a librarian, Marcellus. If we destroy it here, we may never unlock its true power—and we’ll n

Chapter 38 – The War of Fractured ShadowsThe air above the Bureau crackled with tension as if the heavens themselves were aware of the impending clash. What began as whispers in hidden corners—rumors of betrayal, of portals opening where they shouldn’t, of enemies gathering—had finally risen into a storm that could no longer be ignored. The Bureau stood like a fortress, its walls humming faintly with wards, its halls buzzing with anxious footsteps and hurried plans.Inside the Council Chamber, a long oval table was cluttered with maps, glowing crystals, and stacks of frantic notes. Every face was drawn with exhaustion. The Bureau was at war, though none of them had been prepared for how quickly shadows could fracture and rise.“Intel confirms it,” said Rafe, his voice hoarse from too many nights without sleep. He slammed a hand against the table, rattling a cluster of maps. “The Eclipse Order has split. Half of them follow Veyra, half follow Kharros. Two leaders. Two armies. And they

Chapter 40 – The Enemy WithinThe Bureau was no longer the same place it had been when Jack first stumbled into it by mistake. Gone were the days of chaotic training exercises, harmless bickering between mismatched teammates, and pieced-together missions that somehow succeeded through sheer luck. Now, the air inside the Bureau’s halls was sharp, tense, and heavy—like static before a lightning storm. The organization had enemies outside, yes, but the most dangerous enemy of all had revealed itself within their very walls.It started with whispers. Not the supernatural kind, but the kind that slipped through corridors like smoke. Agents missing during missions. Files disappearing from the archives. Orders arriving with subtle inconsistencies—tiny changes that nearly led entire teams to their deaths. And worst of all, someone had sabotaged the Bureau’s central defense grid, leaving headquarters vulnerable for nearly three hours before engineers patched it. That was no accident. That was