Rain didn’t fall that nightn it poured like the sky itself was trying to drown the city, Miguel didn’t notice.He stood on the edge of the crosswalk, clutching the sodden paper in his hands, his termination letter, folded so many times the creases had split. His reflection wavered in the black water pooling in the gutter, fractured by ripples every time a car splashed by.Mom’s gone. She’s really gone, The words had been echoing in his head for hours, louder than the honking traffic, louder than the storm. The phone call came that morning, a sudden heart attack, no warning, no last words. He hadn’t even been there to hold her hand.And as if the universe had scheduled cruelty with surgical precision, an hour later he’d walked in on his girlfriend with another man. Not just any man, his own coworker, smiling over her shoulder like Miguel was an inconvenience they’d both been waiting to be rid of.Now the job he’d given seven years to was gone too. “Budget cuts,” they’d said, though Mi

The canal water hit him like a wall of ice, It forced the air from his lungs in one brutal rush, the shock stealing even the will to kick. The current was stronger than he’d expected, dragging him sideways into the shadow of a bridge.Move, the goddess’s voice hissed in his skull. Or they’ll pin you like a fish on a hook.Axel fought to surface, his boots tangling in something slick and unyielding beneath him, ropes? Nets? Panic flared. The water pressed in from all sides, muffling the shouts above.Arrows hissed into the canal, sending violent ripples through the water. He ducked under again, kicking free from the ropes. His lungs screamed.The sword was still in his hand, impossibly, it didn’t feel heavy, even submerged. The runes pulsed faintly, the light cutting through the murk in thin crimson lines. Down, she ordered.“What?!” His voice was nothing more than a muffled roar in his own head. Trust me, It was madness, but he followed. The sword’s glow illuminated the canal floor an

The hooded figure didn’t move closer, They didn’t need to.Even at this distance, Axel felt the weight of their gaze pressing against him, an invisible pressure that made his chest tighten. The soldiers behind them stood in unnatural stillness no clinking of armor, no shifting of boots, as if they’d been carved from the same pale metal.Don’t speak to them, the goddess murmured in his head, her tone like frost biting skin. They are a Herald, Axel’s grip tightened on the hilt. “Herald of what?”Of me. Before I was betrayed.The hooded figure tilted their head slightly, as if hearing the goddess’s voice themselves. “Ah… so you do still whisper to your vessel. I wondered if the seal had broken enough for that.”Kael’s hand brushed his arm, low and tense. “We need to go. Now.”The Herald raised a single gloved hand, palm outward and Axel’s feet locked in place. Not by will, but by a pressure in the air, a binding like invisible chains around his ankles.“You were not chosen for this, Axel

The room felt too small. The safehouse had always been narrow, but now the walls seemed to press in, the air thick with the weight of three different storms about to collide. Kael’s hand never left the dagger on her belt.Ethan’s eyes never left the sword in Axel’s grip. And the goddess, she was inside his head, burning hot, her voice wrapping around his thoughts like a vice. Kill him before he opens the wound further.“Axel,” Kael said, her voice low and precise, “tell me exactly who this is. And don’t try to downplay it.”“I already told you,” Axel replied, trying to steady his breathing. “He’s”He stopped himself. No, that wasn’t the whole truth. The word “friend” didn’t fit anymore. Not after everything Ethan had just said.Ethan smirked, reading the hesitation. “We were friends,” he said for him, taking another deliberate step into the room. His boots made no sound on the warped floorboards. “Before the accident. Before your second life started.”Kael’s gaze sharpened. “Second li

The words stuck in Axel’s mind like splinters. The one who put me here. The goddess’s voice still coiled in his thoughts, smooth as ever. Don’t look so shocked. You didn’t think I forged myself, did you?Kael was still staring at him, her eyes narrowing. “What did she just say to you?”Axel tightened his grip on the sword. “That Ethan’s message… wasn’t from her.”Kael’s expression darkened. “Then who?”Tell her, the goddess whispered, like she was daring him. Let her squirm, Axel didn’t take the bait. “She says it’s from someone else. Someone who… put her here.”Kael’s hand hovered near her dagger. “Then that’s worse than I thought.”The night air carried a damp chill as they moved through the winding streets. Every shadow looked deeper now, every corner a potential breach point. The lamps seemed to flicker more than before, and Axel found himself watching the ground, half-expecting another seam of darkness to rip open at his feet.Kael’s voice was low, cautious. “You’ve heard the sto