Vaelric Duskbane wiped a smear of black, radioactive grease across his forehead, his breath hitching in his chest. His knees were jelly, and the heavy iron door of the pre-Collapse vault groaned in protest as he wedged his pry-bar into the seam."Come on, you piece of junk," Vaelric hissed, his muscles trembling. "Just pop open. I promise I won’t take the silverware. I just need some meds."A hollow metallic clack echoed through the basement. The vault door shuddered, sliding back just enough for him to jam his fingers in and heave. With a screech of tortured steel, it gave way."Finally," he wheezed, leaning his forehead against the freezing frame. "If this ends up being another box of expired canned beets, I’m retiring from scavenging. Seriously, I’m moving to a farm. Or a hole in the ground."Inside, the air was unnervingly stale. Sitting on a pedestal of fused glass was a sphere, the size of a grapefruit, swirling with a milky, iridescent light. It didn't look like medical supplie

Seraphyne didn’t move, though the tip of her blade trembled just a fraction. Vaelric slapped both hands over his mouth, his eyes wide and bulging."I didn't—I mean, he didn't—" Vaelric gasped, his voice straining against the invisible weight of the entity.“This sanctuary of rotted paper is insulting,” the voice projected, vibrating from Vaelric’s throat without him moving his lips. “I require space to stretch. My joints are rusted from a thousand years of confinement in that tomb.”"Stop it!" Vaelric wheezed, stumbling backward into a pile of decaying encyclopedias. "We’re leaving! Just... stop using my tongue for ventriloquism!"Seraphyne narrowed her eyes, stepping over a collapsed bookshelf. "Vaelric, if you’re pulling a prank, I’m going to lob off your ears.""A prank? Look at my face, Seraphyne! Does this look like a prank? I feel like I’m being piloted by a caffeinated titan!"“Pilot is a crude term. I am a passenger who has decided to take the wheel,” the voice boomed, though

The blue flash of the containment rounds singed the air, turning the humid night into a strobe-lit nightmare. Vaelric didn't wait for a second invitation. He sprinted, his boots barely touching the cracked asphalt, his body fueled by a kinetic surge that made him feel like he was running on springs."Hey! Don't you dare leave me behind, you neon-glowing track star!" Seraphyne shouted, her breath hitching as she vaulted over a jagged pile of rebar."I’m not trying to leave you! My legs are just on a very strict itinerary!" Vaelric yelled back, his voice strained.“The girl is a drag on our momentum,” the entity inside him rumbled. “Leave her to the Preservationists. They will dispose of her, and we shall proceed to the summit undisturbed.”"Shut it! If she dies, who’s going to keep me from turning into a pile of ash?" Vaelric hissed at the dark sky."What was that?" Seraphyne panted, catching up as they dove into the shadows of a collapsed highway overpass. "Were you just arguing with

The floorboards groaned, then surrendered, erupting in a shower of splintered timber and rusted nails. A limb, vast and covered in the same obsidian, jagged armor currently colonizing Vaelric’s own forearm, slammed onto the concrete. The beast below was not just a creature; it was a mirror of his own cursed potential."Sibling?" Seraphyne shouted, shoving a discarded chair into the face of a rushing guard. "I don’t care if it shares your DNA, Vaelric, it’s currently trying to make a shish-kebab out of the local architecture!""I didn't mean literally, Seraphyne! It just looks like... like the same tailor made us both!" Vaelric yelled, backing away as the creature’s massive, scaled head crested through the floor. It shrieked—a sound like tectonic plates grinding together."Well, tell your relative to stop remodeling the furniture and focus on being less murderous!" She fired a bolt into the beast’s shoulder, the metal sparking uselessly against the armor. "Do you have an off-switch, or

"Dad?" Vaelric’s voice wasn't just a whisper; it was a ghost of a decade-old memory, shattered by the cold reality of the present.The man in the tattered coat didn't smile. He just stared, his eyes pulsing with the same rhythmic gold that thrummed in Vaelric’s own chest. Then, like a glitch in a broken video feed, the man vanished, replaced by the heavy, tactical boots of two Preservationist soldiers who emerged from the treeline. A stun-baton cracked against the back of Vaelric’s neck, and the world dissolved into jagged sparks and static.Vaelric woke up to the smell of ozone and burnt coffee. He was strapped into a chair that felt like it was made of electrified razor wire. His arms were pinned, his chest exposed, and a dozen thick, glowing conduits were spider-webbed across his torso."Oh, great," Vaelric groaned, his voice raspy. "I always wanted to be a human power strip."A man in a crisp, white lab coat stood over a monitor, tapping at a holographic screen. "Your vitals are f