The broken glass of the penthouse in Harrington Tower was illuminated by the morning sun, which glinted on the pieces that were scattered around the floor like frozen sparks. As the aftermath of the storm from the previous night settled into a tense stillness, heavy, metallic dust lingered in the air. A few feet above the fractured marble, Phoenix and Ash hovered, their wings trembling, their bodies brittle and alternating between Benjamin's shadow and human purity.With her hands pressed against the lads' quivering bodies, Tatiana knelt on the ground. Despite her mind racing with the awareness that the serum's impact would not persist, her lips moved in a silent prayer. Every moment was important.Bloodied but determined, Alexander grasped a chalice of crimson liquid that glistened strangely in the broken sunlight. He had created the serum, which contained a hazardous mixture of biochemical modifications intended to keep Benjamin unconscious long enough to purchase time.Alexander re

The penthouse was in ruins. The sharp smell of blood and ozone mixed with smoke curling from broken glass and charred walls. Tatiana checked the babies' pulse while kneeling next to them. The serum was still holding Benjamin's waning presence in place as Phoenix and Ash were breathing and their wings were shaking but remained grounded. However, there was a slight, nearly undetectable stirring.The air changed before anyone could respond. The penthouse floor shimmered with a little ripple that resembled a heatwave. The twins' eyes darted to one another when their chains rattled. Then they abruptly and violently disappeared, leaving only the slightest hint of brimstone in the air as smoke erupted from their shapes."Where did they go, exactly?" Tatiana let out a gasp and gripped the vacant area where they had been only a moment before.With his wings drooping and his head in his hands, Alexander slid into the charred floor. The twins had been anchored by the serum, but they had suffered

There was silence on the National Mall, but the serenity was false. Above the sidewalk, smoke from the broken sandcastle hung in twisted spirals, capturing the early morning light and creating unsettling shadows on the reflecting pool. Tatiana's fingers gripped her shotgun more tightly as her eyes scanned the wreckage. She could sense in her bones that the silence was fleeting.The air then changed. The remains of the sandcastle were encircled by a sharp, electric whisper of wind. Mira emerged first, into the open with a self-assurance that no youngster had ever shown. However, Tatiana's chest was shocked by her eyes, which were black, bottomless, and incredibly empty."Mira..." Fear and incredulity fought in Tatiana's voice as she exhaled.With an unnervingly calm smile on her lips, Mira cocked her head. "Mother," she uttered in a voice that was not her own. Benjamin's distinctive tone is deep, baritone, and commanding.Knives started levitating about Mira in a silent, lethal orbit b

As Alexander's enormous, black-feathered wings spread out and caught the rising sun like molten metal, the cathedral trembled. His feathers unleashed a torrent of fire that ignited the sand-formed spires that shimmered like crystallized hell and scorched the glass walls. The cathedral's structure was distorted by the heat, and sand and crystal fragments began to fall like sharp hail.With knives circling her like a lethal halo, Mira screamed while hung in space, her voice blending with Benjamin's baritone. "No! Our dominion is this! Alexander's fire was pushed back by her wings, which were half demonic and half angelic. She was mirrored by Phoenix and Ash, whose wings caught the fire and flames slid over their silver and black feathers, exposing skin that had started to solidify into translucent glass.The church started to shine from within as the heat increased. Every nook and cranny of the mall was reflected as light bounced off the walls and dispersed into prisms. The youngsters w

Melted gold poured across the devastated landscape as the sun rose over the National Mall. Glass buildings and sandcastles, twisted creations of a battle that had altered reality itself, gleamed in the dawn light. The smell of scorched sand and melted glass was a reminder of the mayhem that had just occurred as smoke hung low in the air and curled in languid spirals. Innocent, pure, and unaware of the evils that had formerly ruled them, the three children, Mira, Phoenix, and Ash, tottered in the aftermath amid the wreckage, their small feet making impressions on the scorched sand.With her chest clenched and her fingers idly stroking the subtle warmth of the phoenix tattoo rising across her flesh, Tatiana stood at the edge of the chaos. Beneath the rising sun, the blazing wings spread from her collarbone across her chest, glowing scarlet and golden. The rhythm of her own heartbeat, which had just been about to stop, seemed to be pulsing through each feather. She flexed her hands, sens