The night did not sleep. It held its breath. Every thundercloud, every trembling tree branch, every shivering vein of earth felt the shift a kingdom without its king, a throne bleeding in the rain.Zara carried him. Not because no one else could, but because no one else was allowed. Rayyan’s weight pressed into her bones. His blood soaked into her shirt, hot and human and terrifyingly slow.His head rested against her shoulder, breath shallow against her collarbone each exhale a war fought and almost lost. He felt heavier than gravity itself. He felt like consequence.Boots splashed behind her Rayyan’s soldiers moving in formation, silent with something like reverence and dread. Their eyes tracked the man in her arms… and the woman who would not set him down even when her spine screamed.The world had narrowed to a pulse. Hers. His. And an echo of the traitor’s blade still ghosting her throat. She did not shake. She did not stumble.Zara walked like she had been carved from fury and de

The gunshot split the night like a scream through fragile glass. But it wasn’t Zara’s body that hit the ground.It was the operative behind her, the one who had crept too close. A bullet tore through him, and he dropped instantly, blood blooming dark across the rain-slick stone.Silence vibrated. Then chaos detonated. Shouts. Boots thundering. Muzzles flaring. Rain slicing downward in frantic sheets. Zara didn’t think. She moved.She dove over Rayyan’s body, dragging him toward the nearest broken wall. Bullets hissed past her ear, sharp enough to slice air, too close to fear, only instinct now, survival, devotion carved into her bones.“Cover fire!”A new voice roared through the courtyard, deep, commanding, furious. Silhouettes burst from the shadows, masked, armed, relentless.They moved like a unit trained in death and devotion, precision honed from wars the world never saw. Zara’s eyes widened. Not enemies. Not this time. Rayyan’s people.The traitor cursed, expression twisting, c

Rain smothered the skyline, washing away sirens. Cities across continents flickered in and out of power.Glass towers pulsed like hearts. Old satellites drifted off-course like sleepwalkers.And beneath it all, a sound too low for human ears vibrated every molecule of air. A pulse. A summons. A warning. The world did not yet realize it was kneeling. Not yet.The convoy tore across a slick, black highway engines screaming, tires spitting water like shattered glass. Inside, Zara pressed her palm against Rayyan’s cheek as though heat from her touch alone could anchor him to life.His breathing wavered. A gasp here. A faltering exhale there. A man who could break kingdoms with a glance now fought simply to exist.She whispered, not realizing her voice shook: “You don’t get to leave before the war even starts.” Monitors beeped softly. Too softly.The medic wiped sweat from her brow. “We need surgical stabilization in the next twenty minutes or"“Finish that sentence and I put you out of

The world shrank to sound. The gunmetal hum of the storm. The frantic beep of Rayyan’s heart then the absence of it. The medic’s shaking voice: “Flatline! He’s crashing!”Hands moved. Gel smeared. Pads pressed to Rayyan’s chest. “Charging clear!” A violent jolt. His body seized. Nothing. Again. “Clear!”His spine arched, then fell still. Zara did not blink. Her hand rested on Rayyan’s shoulder, not to hold him but to anchor herself.The Hybrid’s last words still pulsed behind her skull: You are going to ruin me. Let it be ruined. Let the universe splinter.She whispered, not to the medic, not to the soldiers but to the dying fire inside the man she loved: “Don’t make me walk this world without you.”Her voice shook like a blade in a war drum storm, trembling only because it was coiled with too much will. The medic’s voice broke: “No pulse again!”“Clear!”. The shock ripped through Rayyan again. Silence. And then BEEEEEEEEEEP. Flat. Empty. Final. No heartbeat. No return beep.Just t

Darkness wasn’t absence. It moved. A breathing thing swallowing the base whole. Emergency lights stuttered into thin red veins along the corridor walls not enough to illuminate, only enough to reveal how much was missing.The ceiling groaned. The floor trembled like a heartbeat returned with teeth. And beneath it all, a sound like rock remembering it used to drown continents.Zara did not let go of Rayyan’s arm. Jayden drew his sidearm pointless gesture, sacred instinct. General Kasimir barked into the emergency comm clipped to his collar, voice sharp enough to cut panic in half.“Command to all units status and readiness check. Speak.”Static answered. Then “…we’re in the dark… movement in the lower levels”, Scream. Steel tearing. Silence. Kasimir’s jaw tightened.Rayyan’s pulse no, the thing masquerading as his pulse quickened like a predator scenting warmth. He dug nails into his palms until crescent moons of pain burned clarity. Not now. Not you.Not yet.A soldier stumbled int