Shadows clung to the walls like living things. Behind him came footsteps, heavy, intentional, far too close. “Stop running, boy!” a voice barked, rough and cold. “You know what we want.”Derick didn’t stop. Couldn’t. He threw a desperate glance over his shoulder. Three men in dark coats pushed through the rain, their faces obscured.Their movements didn’t match normal human limits; they were too precise, too controlled, too fast.Derick skidded around a corner, nearly slipping. “Why me?” he whispered through clenched teeth. “I didn’t do anything !”The alley dead-ended. “No… no, no.” Derick spun in panic.The men stepped into the narrow space, blocking the exit. Rain drummed onto metal dumpsters, echoing the growing dread in Derick’s chest.The largest of the three cracked his knuckles. “You’ve been a nuisance,” he said, voice low. “Your family drew the wrong attention. Your existence is inconvenient.”Derick lifted trembling hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just, I

The three Dominion Hunters lunged at once, silent blurs of darkness ripping through the rain. “Derick, MOVE!” Kael barked.Derick stumbled back instinctively, heart slamming in his chest. The nearest Hunter’s hand sliced through the air like a blade, aimed directly at his throat. Kael intercepted him.Steel clashed, though neither man held a weapon. Sparks burst from their bare hands. Derick froze. “How ?!”Kael shouted without looking back, “DON’T just stand there! Stay behind me!”The second Hunter shot toward Derick from the side. Derick ducked, tripping over the curb, hitting the ground hard. “Get up, Warborn,” the Hunter hissed. “Running is pointless.”“I don’t even know you!” Derick yelled, scrambling backward.“Your past remembers us,” the Hunter replied. “That’s enough.”Derick’s breath hitched as the Hunter raised his hand. Shadows coiled around his palm, forming a dagger made of darkness itself.Kael’s voice cut through the chaos. “Derick! Focus on your breath!”“I’m busy no

The explosion hurled dust and debris into the night sky, rattling windows along the street. A shockwave slapped across Derick’s back as Kael dragged him into the alley.Derick twisted around. “MAYA!”Kael yanked him harder. “Don’t look back! She made her choice!”Derick stumbled. “We can’t leave her”“You don’t understand what a Warden is!” Kael snapped. “We stay, we die!”The street behind them burned with black fire, warping the air like heat over asphalt. Shadows writhed unnaturally along the ground, reaching, searching.Derick’s heart hammered. “She’s fighting that alone !”“And she wouldn’t last ten seconds if she had to protect you at the same time!” Kael shot back. “MOVE!”They sprinted down the alley, shoes splashing through puddles as the rain hammered harder. A deafening blast erupted behind them, followed by Maya’s voice, fierce and commanding: “STAY DOWN!”Another explosion. The sky flashed white, then purple. Derick’s legs faltered. He gripped the wall, gasping. “I can’t

Darkness. Cold. Silence. Derick floated through nothingness, weightless, as if the world had dropped him into an endless void.He tried to breathe, but there was no air, only the sensation of drowning in shadows. Then a voice whispered through the emptiness: “Derick…”Soft. Familiar. Painful. He twisted toward it, gasping. “M-Maya…?”Light flickered, weak, golden, like fireflies struggling to stay alive.The voice came again, trembling. “Please… wake up.”Derick reached for the light, but his hand passed straight through it. He flinched. “Maya! I can hear you! I’m here, where are you?!”Her voice shuddered, distant. “You’re fading… please hold on…”Derick’s chest tightened. “No! Don’t leave, tell me where you are!”But the golden light dimmed, flickered, and then vanished. Derick screamed into the void, “MAYA!”Silence swallowed his voice whole. A sudden impact slammed him onto a rough stone floor. Derick gasped as his lungs filled with air, cold, sharp air that burned his throat.His

The light struck Maya before Derick could even breathe. “MAYA—NO!” he screamed, voice tearing at his throat.The explosion swallowed her whole. Dust and golden fire erupted skyward. Shockwaves threw Derick backward inside the golden chains, slamming him against the warped sky of the memory realm.He gasped violently, eyes burning, lungs collapsing. “Maya… Maya… Maya…”As the smoke thinned, her silhouette appeared, crumpled on the broken battlefield, motionless. Derick’s blood froze.“No… please… please get up…” His voice cracked. “You promised. You said you wouldn’t leave me again…”A low rumble rolled across the battlefield. The God of War, Derick’s past self, descended through the smoke, each step shaking the ground. His golden armor gleamed like judgment itself.The giant, thunderous voice boomed: “Attachment weakens you.”Derick snarled through gritted teeth, tears streaking down his face. “She cared about me! She believed in me! How is that weakness?!”The armored titan lifted it