The cabin was cold.Harrison sat in the wooden chair at the center of the room, the same chair Axel had been tied to, the same chair where he had absorbed the lingering traces of his son's Aevum. His hands rested on the armrests, trembling. His breathing was shallow. The black rot on his stomach had spread overnight, creeping up toward his ribs like fingers of shadow.He had been sitting there for hours, staring at nothing.The door was locked and the windows shut. Vince and Leo were still out searching the Windsor properties, following his orders. .And then the air shifted.The temperature dropped. The candle on the table flickered and died. The shadows in the corner of the room began to move not naturally, but deliberately, like something was breathing inside them.Harrison didn't flinch. He had been expecting this. "You're back," he said flatly.A figure stepped out of the darkness, a black cloak and a hooded face. The same holographic presence that had appeared before, but this t

The warehouse was a maze of rusted machinery and crumbling concrete. Dust hung in the air like a suspended shroud. The target had been hiding for three hours, moving through the shadows like a rat seeking shelter but the rat was tired and the hunter was patient.Elena moved through the darkness like smoke. Her footsteps made no sound on the debris-strewn floor. Her breathing was slow, controlled, barely audible. Her silver eyes scanned every corner, every crevice, every possible hiding place.She found him cowering behind a collapsed conveyor belt. A man in his thirties, desperate and frightened, his hands crackling with unstable blue Aevum a failed experiment, one of Harrison's castoffs. He had been on the run for weeks, stealing food, sleeping in alleys and the founding families had finally tracked him down."Please," the man whimpered, his voice shaking. "Please don't hurt me. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this."Elena's face remained expressionless. She had heard these ple

The warehouse fell into a suffocating silence.Axel's hands were still glowing, the blue flame flickering uncertainly at his fingertips. His heart pounded in his chest. His eyes darted between his mother and the woman standing in the doorway, who had appeared out of nowhere and spoke like she knew them, who radiated an aura of controlled danger.The woman stepped forward. The morning light caught her face, revealing sharp features, silver eyes, and dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was young but her eyes were old, like someone who had seen too much and felt too little."Mariette Windsor," the woman said again. "It's been a long time."Mariette's face was pale, her hands trembled at her sides but her voice was steady when she spoke. "You shouldn't be here.""I shouldn't be anywhere." The woman's lips twitched into something that wasn't quite a smile. "But here I am and here you are. And him." Her silver eyes shifted to Axel. "The carrier of the blue flame."Axel stiffen

The tunnel was dark and cold. Water dripped from somewhere above, echoing through the narrow passage like a slow, steady heartbeat. Axel followed his mother through the darkness, his hand pressed against the damp stone wall for balance. His other hand glowed faintly blue, casting just enough light to see a few feet ahead.They had been walking for what felt like hours. The tunnel twisted and turned, branching off into passages that seemed to lead nowhere. Mariette moved with purpose, never hesitating, never looking back. She knew these tunnels. She had grown up in them.Axel's legs ached. His lungs burned. But he didn't complain. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the city. The enforcers. The purple Aevum. The way his flames had exploded out of him like something alive.He had hurt someone, burned them and seen the fear in their eyes.And a part of him had liked it."Stop," Mariette said suddenly.Axel almost collided with her. She had stopped in front of a rusted i

The tunnel stretched on forever as they both continued walking. Axel walked in silence, his hand pressed against the damp stone wall, his eyes fixed on the faint blue glow emanating from his palm. The light was steady now, controlled, intentional. He had learned to summon it without thinking or fear.But the echoes in his head were getting louder.It started as a whisper in the back of his mind. A voice that wasn't his own, speaking words he didn't understand. Then came the flashes like images that flickered behind his eyes like heat lightning. A field of blue fire. A figure standing in the center, tall and still, watching. A city he didn't recognize, crumbling into ash.He shook his head, trying to clear the images but they kept coming."You're not ready yet."The voice was soft, ancient, familiar. It wasn't Harrison's nor was it Mariette's. It was something else. Something that felt like it had been waiting inside him his whole life."Axel?" Mariette's voice cut through the fog. "A