Rise Of Hades' Hellborn: Trumpets Of The Damned

The Watch Of Cinders Revealed

Three matte-black trucks snaked through downtown traffic in a clean formation. The lead and tail vehicles carried armed operatives—members of Paragon’s elite Alpha and Beta squads.

But it was the center truck that mattered.

Inside, a reinforced steel cage divided the rear compartment. Thick bulletproof glass shimmered under flickering interior lights. Behind it, Myles and Louise lay chained to opposite sides of a bench, unconscious and unmoving. Across from them, Anna sat with her bow resting against the seat, eyes locked on Myles. His chest rose and fell with steady, shallow breaths.

Any minute now, she thought.

She tapped her comms. “Paragon to HQ.”

The reply came sharp and clear. “We read you, Lieutenant.”

“Target is stable. Still under, but we’ll be at HQ in under an hour.”

“Copy that,” came Sandler’s voice. “Eyes on the prize, Anna. Good work.”

Anna ended the transmission and leaned back, her gaze flickering to the watch strapped awkwardly to her wrist. Its obsidian face shimmered faintly—almost as if it pulsed.

---

Meanwhile… in the realm of Hades

The world was red ash and black smoke.

Myles walked alone across a jagged hellscape, the sky above twisted in crimson swirls. His boots kicked dust off volcanic stone as he absentmindedly tossed a pebble into the air. The moment it hit the ground, shadows surged and curled—then coalesced into a cloaked figure.

Hades.

“You don’t have time, Myles,” Hades said without preamble. His voice echoed across the scorched plains. “You need to get the watch far away. Now.”

Myles crossed his arms. “Alright, I’ve had enough cryptic garbage. Why the hell does everyone want my watch?”

Hades exhaled sharply. “Because it isn’t just a watch. It’s one of the Seven Trumpets.”

Myles blinked. “A trumpet? That’s not helping.”

Hades looked pained, even hesitant. “The less you know, the better.”

“Wrong answer,” Myles snapped. “If I’m risking my life and getting zapped with 1500 volts by rooftop archers, I deserve some damn clarity. So you’re gonna start talking.”

Hades' jaw tensed. His usual cool demeanor cracked for a moment, and the ground beneath Myles rumbled in tune with the god's irritation.

"You're bold, boy. But fine—you want answers? That 'watch' is no ordinary relic. It’s one of the Seven Trumpets. Each one unlocks a different seal tethered to the apocalypse."

Myles blinked. “So I’ve been walking around with the key to the end of the world on my wrist?” then his expression went rigid. “That’s not exactly something you toss in a pawn shop.”

“No,” Hades agreed. “And now Paragon has it. If they realize what they’re holding, they’ll try to unlock it—or worse, weaponize it.”

A growl built in Myles’s throat. “You knew this and let me wear the key of hell like a fashion accessory?”

“Yes,” Hades growled. “And that ‘key’ has been pulsing with energy for the past millennia—drawing them in. Demons, cults, even angels who believe it should be destroyed. They’re all coming, Myles. You must protect it at all costs.”

“It chose you,” Hades said calmly. The skies of the dreamrealm flickered crimson.

“They’ve found you,” Hades muttered, his form starting to fade. “Wake up. You're its bearer now. And unless you get it back, the world as you know it is on a countdown.”

---

Back in the real world...

Myles stirred.

Anna noticed the twitch in his fingers first. Then the slow, grim rise of his head. His eyes opened—smoldering with something ancient and burning.

Louise stirred beside him. “Oh boy. Someone looks like they had a chat with the devil himself.”

Myles’s eyes narrowed. “Worse. I had a meeting with my boss.”

Anna stood, her instincts firing up. “You’re awake.”

He tilted his head. “Yeah. And I’m pissed.”

He lunged but got held back by the chains. “ Give me back my watch lady!” He growled. 

“ Stay quiet or I'll have to shoot another bolt arrow at you” Anna said with a glare. A second later, the entire truck lurched violently, tires shrieking against the pavement. The driver yelled—a sound cut short by an explosion that blasted the lead vehicle into a twisted inferno ahead.

“Shit!” Anna swore, yanking the emergency brake as the convoy scattered like ants. She reached for her comm. “Paragon HQ, we’re—”

The line died in static.

Outside, flames painted the sky red. The rear escort truck had flipped, black smoke curling from its underbelly. Screams echoed, followed by the crunch of bone and metal.

Inside the center truck. Myles sat up, blood trickling from a gash above his brow. “They’re here,” he rasped. “You need to let me fight.”

Anna snapped toward him, pistol drawn. “You shut up. You’re my prisoner.”

Myles' voice hardened. “Then watch your whole squad die for your pride.”

Before Anna could respond, the air turned cold.

The sound came first—a whisper that coiled around the truck like breath on a mirror. A void-slick presence slithered through the seams of reality.

Anna's grip tightened. “What the hell…”And then he appeared.

A tall, porcelain-skinned half demon with twin horns like curved daggers and a crimson coat that trailed like blood smoke. Eyes like burning oil locked onto Anna with mocking grace.

Kaelin.

“Lieutenant Savannah Storm,” Kaelin purred, stepping over the corpse of one of her soldiers. “So diligent. So noble. So tragically late.”

Behind him stood Nixx—or rather, its silhouette. It flickered like a dying shadow, its form shifting erratically, stretching across surfaces like oil spilled on broken glass. 

Kaelin tilted his head. “Give me the watch, Anna. You can keep your little prisoner and crawl back to your superiors with a half-decent excuse.”

Anna hesitated. Her gaze flicked between Myles—who had gotten to work on his chains—and Kaelin, walking death wrapped in arrogance. Anna hesitated. Her grip tightened around the pistol. The weight of her decision coiled around her like a noose—Protocol said detain Myles, secure the relic, fall back.

But protocol never mentioned demons from nightmares walking through fire with shadow gods at their side.

Her gaze flicked to Myles, who was now glaring at Kaelin like a caged predator, his chains half-cut with something glowing faintly in his palm—probably divine, definitely not Paragon-issued.

Kaelin’s voice was velvet and venom. “Tick tock, soldier girl. I’m giving you a chance most mortals don’t get.”

Anna’s heart thudded. He wasn’t bluffing. Behind Kaelin, Nixx began to shift—its shadowy form unraveling and reforming, mimicking the soldiers it had just consumed. One second it wore a twisted version of the driver's face. The next, it morphed into Anna herself, grinning like a corpse.

She flinched. “You sick—”

Nixx launched forward.

Myles shouted, “ANNA, MOVE!”

She dove just as Nixx’s tendrils punctured the steel where she’d been standing, metal screeching like a banshee. Kaelin didn’t even flinch—he merely stepped back and let the demon stalk forward like a hunting dog unleashed.

Anna rolled, came up aiming—but hesitated.

She could shoot Kaelin and risk getting gutted by Nixx… or she could release Myles, the man she was ordered to lock down.

Her entire career, her loyalty, her identity told her one thing.

But instinct screamed the opposite.

Myles met her eyes, and this time his voice wasn’t angry—it was calm, steel-hard.

“You know you won’t survive this fight without me.”

She gritted her teeth. “You’ll run the second I break your chains.”

“Maybe,” Myles said. “But not before I kill them.”

Nixx screeched. A tendril lashed out—

Thwip!

Anna loosed an arrow mid-sentence, severing the shadow limb. The piece hissed and evaporated, but Nixx recoiled like it barely noticed.

Kaelin laughed. “Still pretending you’re not already dead, Anna?”

Her hand shook, not from fear—but from choice.

“Damn it,” she muttered, and pulled a hidden blade from her vest. She slashed Myles’s restraints. “You so much as breathe wrong, I’ll shoot you in the spine.”

Myles stood and cracked his neck. “Fair enough.”

He turned just as Nixx launched again, intercepting the creature mid-lunge with a brutal roundhouse and a quick shower of glowing violet bullets from his pistols materialized in his hands. Nixx screeched, twisted, and vanished into the walls.

Kaelin raised a brow. “Well… that was dramatic.”

Anna leveled her pistol at his head. “You wanted the watch? Come take it.”

Kaelin's smile deepened. “Gladly.” then he vanished. 

The truck groaned as something massive landed on the roof.

Anna and Myles exchanged a look. Then chaos reigned.