CHAPTER 125 :The convoy looked tougher than it actually was.Two armored crawlers, one utility truck, a trailer full of equipment Owen definitely “borrowed,” and three people pretending everything wasn’t about to fall apart. They were halfway across the Ashlands when the sky shifted — not darker, not lighter, just… wrong. Like the air itself sucked in a breath.Tyla noticed first.“Billy,” she called from the front seat. “Your relic’s doing that thing again.”Billy, hunched in the back, pressed a trembling hand to his chest. “I know. It’s reacting to something.”“Something like what?” Owen asked from the driver’s seat.Billy didn’t answer — because the answer hit them before he could speak.A blast ripped through the sand ahead, flipping the lead crawler like a toy. Tyla slammed into the dashboard, Owen yanked the controls, and Billy grabbed the rail overhead as the whole truck fishtailed violently.“AMBUSH!” Owen shouted.No kidding.Figures rose from the dunes — masked, armed, movi

Chapter 127 :Billy’s pulse slammed in his ears, every heartbeat reverberating with the relic’s energy coursing through his veins. The air around him seemed to shiver, small stones and dust rattling from the surrounding terrain as if the world itself recognized the surge of power. His eyes glowed faintly with a golden pulse, and when he moved his hands, the ground before him warped like liquid metal.Tyla’s voice cut sharply through the chaos. “Billy! Stop!”Her tone wasn’t just fear; it was frustration wrapped in desperation. He froze mid-gesture, and their eyes locked—hers wide with alarm, his flickering with a power that barely felt like his own. The relic’s whispers had grown insistent, urgent, almost pleading with him to release it fully.“Don’t… you understand? I can’t!” Billy’s voice was strained, thick with panic and exertion. His limbs trembled, the energy trying to wrest control from his mind. Every thought became a pulse of light, a hammer striking rhythmically in his skull

CHAPTER 129 :The storm had rolled in so fast that the sky looked like it had been carved open, spilling dark clouds over the mountains. The air felt electric—charged, restless, almost predatory. Even before Billy’s knees buckled, Tyla felt something was off. His pace had slowed, his shoulders tensing like he was listening to something she couldn’t hear.They were halfway across the ridge when he stopped completely.“Billy?” Tyla stepped closer, squinting through the sheets of rain. His face was pale—too pale—and his gaze was fixed on a point just beyond her shoulder. But there was nothing there. Nothing except wind, rock, and the churn of an angry sky.“Don’t.” Billy’s voice was low, nearly swallowed by the storm.Tyla froze. For a moment she thought he was talking to her, but his eyes had unfocused, his breathing gone shallow. She recognized this look. She hated this look. It was the same expression he had whenever the relic inside him stirred—an expression of someone fighting again

CHAPTER 131 :The storm didn’t calm when Billy steadied.If anything, it felt like the sky held its breath—waiting.Billy sat slumped against a slanted boulder, soaked and shivering despite the unnatural heat radiating off his skin. Tyla kept a firm grip on his forearm, partly to reassure him… partly to reassure herself he wasn’t about to vanish again.“Talk to me,” she said, voice low but steady. “What’s happening in your head?”He swallowed hard, jaw flexing like he was wrestling thoughts he didn’t want to voice.“The relic… it’s changing,” Billy said finally. “It’s not just noise anymore. It’s… forming.”His hands trembled as he pressed his palms to his temples.“It’s speaking.”Tyla’s throat tightened. “Speaking how?”“I don’t know!” Billy snapped, then instantly winced like the frustration hurt him more than her. “It’s images, sounds—like memories but not mine. Or maybe they are mine. I can’t tell anymore.”Tyla leaned closer, ignoring the way the rain plastered her hair to her f

CHAPTER 132 :Billy didn’t wake gently.He jerked awake like someone yanked him out of a nightmare mid-scream. His whole body tightened, then loosened all at once, as rain hit his skin and cold air slapped him back into reality.He was shaking, breath staggered, the storm’s roar muffling everything except the ringing in his skull.Tyla knelt beside him, soaked to the bone, strands of wet hair plastered to her cheek. Her hand hovered near his shoulder, not touching until she was certain he was actually conscious. She didn’t push. She didn’t coax. She just stayed — steady and stubborn in that way she always was when he tried to break apart.“Billy,” she said softly. “You’re here. You’re back.”He swallowed air like he’d been drowning.“I saw him,” he whispered, voice raw. “Tyla… I saw him.”She didn’t respond right away. She knew he needed to say it before she said anything.Billy pushed himself upright, shaky but determined, his eyes haunted by something deeper than fear. Something he’