Harrison stood calmly at the center of the room, closing his eyes and focusing sending nerves of messages through his mind surrounding himself with red Aevum flame serving as a shield.The sound of hundreds of footsteps kept drawing closer, drawing the attention of the other founding families that stood ready to fight him.“What the fuck is that?” Luciana asked, her gaze narrowed to the door.“We have to attack him now!” Damian yelled. “On my count we take him down, 1, 2……”The rogues bursted through the door… Dozens of them. Maybe even more. Their eyes glowed with a faint, sickly light, their skin looking burnt, slowly peeling off. They moved like animals, hunched and hungry, their hands crackling with unstable energy."What the hell is this?" Julian yelled, stepping back.Damian's red Aevum flared brighter. "Failed experiments, fuck! He's been keeping them."Harrison stood calmly at the center of the room, his eyes still closed, a faint smile on his lips while the red Aevum surround

Staying to fight the founding families wasn't going to be an easy feat for Axel, because he hadn't gotten to understand what his powers really are and that to the founding families is an advantage he doesn't currently have. He looked over his shoulders, the fiery wings that emerged out of his back, his mother that he never knew existed in his arms and the city blurring below as he flew past. His wings suddenly started flickering, dissipating into thin air like they were never his to keep. The wings gone before he even decided he wanted to land, his mother hadn't told him to stop yet. He tried to channel but all he kept getting was a flicker of Aevum.“Axel? what's happening?” “I don't know! It's like the wings decided to turn off themselves, I don't understand what's happening!” He shouted amidst the wind as they were dropping downwards from the sky. “Fuck! Brace yourself for impact!” They both held onto each other's arm as they dropped fifteen feet into the flat roof top of an a

Vince drove the black sedan down a narrow gravel road, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, his eyes scanning the treeline with the patience of a man who had spent his whole life looking for trouble.Leo sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window. His reflection stared back at him pale, hollow-eyed, haunted. He hadn't slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Harrison's body flying across the room. He saw the blue flame, the look on Harrison's face when his voice had thrown him like a ragdoll.He had done that, he had hurt his boss. The man who paid him, fed him, kept him alive."You're quiet," Vince said, not looking at him. "That's never good."Leo didn't respond.Vince snorted. "Still thinking about last night? Get over it, Harrison's fine. You're fine. Everyone's fine.""I almost killed him.""You didn't though, that's what matters."Leo turned to look at Vince. "That's not what matters. What matters is that I have something inside me. Something I didn't ask for.

Axel sat cross-legged on the ground, his back against the wall, watching his mother move slowly around the room. She was gathering things like a piece of chalk, a small mirror, a candle that had seen better days."What are you doing?" he asked.Mariette didn't look up. "Setting up a training space. You can't learn to control the Aevum in chaos. You need structure, focus and Intent."Axel shifted uncomfortably. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to be focusing on.""That's exactly what we're going to fix."She knelt down in front of him and drew a circle on the floor with the chalk. Inside the circle, she drew five smaller shapes, a triangle, a square, a diamond, a crescent, and a star. Each one was positioned at a different point around the circumference."Sit in the center," she said.Axel hesitated, then moved into the circle. Mariette sat across from him, just outside the circle. Her eyes were calm, focused. "Close your eyes," she said.He obeyed."Now, tell me what you feel."A

"That was incredible," Mariette said. "Do you know how long it took me to sustain a flame like that? Weeks. You did it in two days."Axel shook his head, still dazed. "I don't even know how I did it. I just... stopped thinking. And it was there.""That's the secret," Mariette said. "The Aevum doesn't respond to your efforts, It responds to surrender, to trust. You've been fighting yourself this whole time and now you've finally let go."Axel looked at his hand, his palm was warm, but not burned. The skin was unmarked. It was like the flame had never been there at all."I never thought I could do something like this," he said quietly. "I never thought I was capable of anything."Mariette reached out and took his hand. "You're capable of so much more than you know. You've always been capable, you just needed someone to show you."Axel looked at her. His mother. The woman who had abandoned him, searched for him, found him, and was currently teaching him. He still didn't fully understand