The rain slicked streets smelled of oil, wet asphalt, and decay. Jace’s boots slapped against puddles, each splash echoing like a warning through the narrow alleys of Detroit’s forgotten east side. Behind him, the city murmured with whispered secrets, the stolen memories of hundreds trapped in the walls.He didn’t dare look back. Not at the glowing mural that had become… alive. Not at the shadow with the blue eyes that had followed him, calm, patient, inevitable. Lumen was everywhere, or at least, it seemed that way.He needed a plan. He had no allies. No weapons. No backup. And yet, in the pit of his stomach, he felt the thrill of a hunter, and a hunted, coiled together like a blade.The alley opened to a side street lined with abandoned warehouses. Neon signs flickered, some buzzing, some dead. Jace’s chest tightened. He wasn’t going to make it to the main street without encountering someone, or something.Then he heard it. Footsteps. Not behind him, but ahead. Deliberate. Heavy. An

The city had never felt so alive, and so alive with menace. Rain slicked streets reflected fractured neon in puddles like shattered mirrors, every flickering sign screaming warnings Jace could barely understand. His hands ached, his lungs burned, and his heart slammed against his ribs as he sprinted alongside Dex and Nora.“You think Lumen’s just going to let you walk away?” Dex growled, his chain whipping over his shoulder like a living thing. “They know what you are, kid. They know what the city feels when you touch it.”“I know!” Jace shouted, struggling to keep pace. He could feel it, the mural from the warehouse, pulsing through his veins like molten glass. It wasn’t just paint. It wasn’t just art. It was a force, alive, hungry, and warning him: danger was coming.Ahead, the alley opened into a courtyard littered with abandoned cars and graffiti-stained walls. Jace skidded to a stop, chest heaving. The neon from a busted motel sign flickered across the wet asphalt, revealing Lume

The tunnels beneath Detroit were older than anyone dared to remember. Concrete veins, fractured and damp, stretched like the hidden arteries of the city. Every echo was amplified: footsteps, distant drips, whispers carried on the stale, cold air.Jace Arden led the way, Dex behind him like a shadow, chain coiled and ready. Nora followed cautiously, camera and notebook pressed against her chest. Every step deeper made the world above feel like a memory, a neon dream they might never return to.“This place…” Nora whispered, eyes scanning the walls. “It’s like the city itself is alive down here.”Dex snorted. “Alive? You’ve got no idea. The tunnels remember more than most people can handle. They’ve seen death, betrayal, crime… and magic.” He flicked a hand toward Jace. “Especially your kind of magic.”Jace’s hands itched. He felt it, the residual pulse of the mural from the rooftop battle. It had followed him here, fragments of neon veins glowing faintly along the walls. The energy wasn’

The tunnels beneath Detroit were silent now, except for the faint hum of neon veins tracing the walls like veins in a living body. Jace Arden knelt on the cold concrete, sweat and rain dripping down his face, chest heaving. The murals behind him pulsed faintly, not chaotic this time, but deliberate, almost… communicative.“I can feel it,” Jace whispered. “They’re… talking to me.”Nora crouched beside him, camera dangling, eyes wide. “Talking? Jace… they’re just memories, right? Fragments of people?”“They’re more than that,” Jace said, eyes tracing the twisting neon patterns along the walls. “They… they have intent. They’re aware. And they’re waiting for me to decide.”Dex leaned against a cracked wall, chain loosely coiled. “Decide what?”Jace closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind. Neon tendrils uncoiled slowly, edges glowing bright cyan, weaving into shapes he could manipulate. He felt memories pulse beneath his fingertips, fear, hope, shame, secrets, each fragment like a spar

The city above ground was a different kind of predator. Neon signs flickered against the wet asphalt, reflecting fractured rain puddles like broken mirrors. The air smelled of oil, smoke, and rain-soaked concrete. Every alley whispered secrets, every streetlamp flickered like a heartbeat, and Jace Arden could feel it all.He led Dex, Nora, and Phoenix through the maze of Detroit’s abandoned streets. The murals were behind him, fragments of neon hovering invisibly in the alleys, feeding off the city itself. They were alive, sentient, and growing bolder with every step.“I don’t like this,” Dex muttered, scanning the darkened storefronts. “Above ground, they’ve got eyes everywhere. Lumen will be watching.”“They’re here,” Jace said, voice low. Neon pulses ran along the walls, alerting him. “The city is shouting. The murals… they’re reacting to something.”From a distance, blue eyes glinted in the reflection of a broken window. Lumen’s agents, fast and silent, emerged from the shadows, c