Iron Revenant: Blood Of The Marked

Blood And Lies

Jace Caldwell’s knees scraped the warehouse floor, his scar burning like a brand as Ethan—his brother, dead two years, now impossibly alive—stood in the rubble, clutching a second Obsidian Heart. 

Its sickly green glow pulsed in sync with the one Victor Kane held, NexTech’s silver-haired CEO smirking in his gleaming exosuit.

 Silas, the defector with augmented lenses, aimed his pulse rifle at Jace’s head, his betrayal a fresh wound. Lena Voss lay unconscious, blood pooling from her shoulder, the first Heart’s case at her side. The warehouse was a warzone—shattered crates, sparking drones, and the echo of tendrils retreating into shadows. 

Jace’s Glock trembled in his hand, his heart torn between rage and hope. Ethan, alive? Or another of The Shroud’s cruel games?

“Jace,” Ethan said, voice low, his red eyes flickering like dying embers. “Put the gun down. You can’t win this.”Jace’s scar pulsed, and The Shroud’s voice slithered through his skull: He’s not your brother. Kill him.

 His vision flickered—Ethan’s face warped into The Shroud’s, its shadowy form laughing in the void. Jace shook it off, his chest tight with grief. “You died,” he growled, standing, Glock steady. “I saw the explosion. I scattered your ashes.”

Ethan’s lips twitched, a ghost of the kid who’d tagged along in Brooklyn. “NexTech rebuilt me. The Heart… it doesn’t let you go.” He raised the second Heart, its glow casting jagged shadows. 

“You’re marked, like me. They want you more.”Kane stepped forward, his device dimming both Hearts’ light. “Enough family drama,” he said, voice smooth as venom. “Caldwell, you’re the vessel. The Heart’s power flows through you. Join us, or we take it from your corpse.”

Silas’s rifle hummed, his lenses dark. “He’s right, Jace. You’re a liability. The mark’s unstable.”Jace’s scar burned hotter, his senses sharpening—every crack in Kane’s exosuit, every bead of sweat on Silas’s brow, glowed in his mind.

 He moved, faster than human, tackling Silas. The rifle fired, scorching the ceiling as Jace slammed his fist into Silas’s jaw, cracking bone. Silas crumpled, but Kane was faster, his suit’s gauntlet firing a dart into Jace’s neck. Pain exploded, his vision swimming, but the scar swallowed it, healing the wound in seconds.Ethan lunged, grabbing Jace’s arm.

 “Stop fighting, Jace! They’ll kill you!” His grip was iron, unnatural, but his eyes held a flicker of pain—human pain. Jace shoved him back, heart breaking. “You’re not him,” he snarled, firing at Kane. The bullets sparked off the exosuit, useless.

The warehouse shook, tendrils erupting from the floor—black, writhing, like the subway creature. They lashed at Kane, who dodged with mechanical precision, his device pulsing. 

The tendrils turned on Jace, grazing his side, blood spraying. The scar sealed the wound, but the pain lingered, The Shroud’s voice roaring: Embrace me, Iron. Jace’s vision split—half warehouse, half void, Ethan screaming in a lab, the Heart in his chest, his body dissolving into shadow.

Jace snapped back, gasping, as Lena stirred, grabbing the first Heart’s case. “Jace, destroy it!” she rasped, blood staining her lips. Kane aimed his device at her, and the Heart’s glow flared, tendrils surging toward her.

 Jace dove, shielding her, the tendrils slicing his back. His scar burned, and his body moved on instinct, dodging with impossible speed. He grabbed the first Heart, its heat searing his palm, syncing with his scar.

Images flooded his mind—Ethan in a lab, wires in his flesh, Kane’s voice: He’s the blueprint. The vision shifted—Ethan’s face in the void, pleading, Save me, Jace. The Shroud laughed, its red eyes consuming everything. Jace roared, hurling the Heart at Kane. 

It smashed into his suit, sparking, and the tendrils retreated, the glow dimming.Ethan grabbed Jace, pinning him against a crate. “You’re making it worse!” he shouted, red eyes flaring. 

“The Hearts are linked. Destroy one, you kill us both.”Jace’s heart lurched. “Kill us?” He shoved Ethan off, but Kane was moving, his device humming. The second Heart pulsed, and Ethan’s body flickered, like a hologram glitching. 

“What did they do to you?” Jace whispered, grief choking him.Kane laughed, stepping over Silas’s unconscious form. “Your brother’s a prototype. You’re the final model. The Heart needs a vessel to wake The Shroud fully. You’re it.”Lena staggered to her feet, gun raised. 

“He’s lying, Jace. The Hearts are a trap. They’ll destroy everything.” Her voice broke, tears mixing with blood. “Ethan wanted to stop this.”Jace’s scar screamed, and The Shroud’s voice drowned out hers: She’s theirs. 

End her. He shook it off, but Ethan’s hand shot out, grabbing Lena’s throat. “You lied to him,” Ethan hissed, his voice half-human, half-Shroud. “You used us both.”Jace tackled Ethan, the brothers crashing through crates, wood splintering. Ethan’s strength was unnatural, his punches cracking Jace’s ribs, but the scar healed them, pain fading to heat.

 “Fight it, Ethan!” Jace yelled, pinning him. “You’re still in there!”Ethan’s red eyes softened, just for a moment. “I tried, Jace,” he whispered, then flickered again, his body dissolving into black mist, the second Heart falling to the floor. Jace grabbed it, its pulse syncing with his scar, and the void swallowed him again.

In The Shroud’s realm, Ethan stood, half-shadow, half-flesh, the Heart in his chest. “They rebuilt me,” he said, voice breaking. “But I’m not me. The Shroud’s in us both now.” He reached out, and Jace felt it—a connection, their blood, their pain, linked through the Hearts.Jace snapped back, gasping, the warehouse a chaos of smoke and blood. 

Kane was gone, the first Heart with him. Lena clutched her throat, coughing, but alive. The second Heart lay in Jace’s hand, its glow fading. Silas groaned, stirring, but Jace ignored him, staring at the Heart. Ethan’s voice echoed: Save me.

Drones buzzed outside, boots closing in. Lena grabbed Jace’s arm. “We can’t stay. Kane’s got the other Heart. He’ll wake The Shroud.”Jace’s scar burned, and his phone buzzed—a new video, unknown number. Ethan’s face again, in a lab, his voice calm: “Jace, the Hearts are twins. One creates, one destroys. You’re the balance.” 

The screen flickered, showing Kane in a desert facility, the first Heart glowing in a machine, tendrils spiraling around it.Lena’s eyes widened. “He’s activating it. We have to stop him.”Jace nodded, but The Shroud’s voice roared: You’re too late.

 The warehouse doors blew open, and a new figure stepped through—not Kane, not Ethan, but a woman in a black exosuit, her face scarred, her eyes glowing red. “Caldwell,” she said, voice like a blade. “You’re holding my Heart.”

Before Jace could react, the second Heart pulsed, and his scar exploded with pain, dropping him to his knees. Lena fired, but the woman moved faster, her suit deflecting bullets. She raised a device, and the Heart in Jace’s hand flared, tendrils erupting from his chest, not attacking—but binding him, pulling him toward her.

Ethan’s voice whispered, not from the Heart but inside Jace’s skull: She’s the first Marked. And she’s here for you.