2025-09-29 16:13:55A light rain glazed the sidewalks of Ashborne that night. Neon signs flickered above, their reflections rippling across the wet asphalt.
Amid the restless city that never slept, Jake stood outside the glass display of the district’s biggest jewelry boutique. His eyes locked on a golden watch behind the pane, its gleam cutting sharp as a blade.
“Quick. Five minutes tops,” he whispered to himself, like a promise.
He stepped inside. The automatic door chimed shut behind him. The air smelled of fresh carpet laced with expensive perfume. A clerk approached with a professional smile.
“Good evening, sir. How may I help you?”
Jake returned the smile, voice steady. “I can manage on my own.”
His hand traced along the glass cases, eyes scanning with precision. Only three other customers lingered inside—a middle-aged couple and their restless child.
Jake crouched in front of the display, lips barely moving as he muttered, “Three cameras, two guards, one exit. Easy.”
When the clerk turned his back, Jake moved. Swift, almost invisible—nothing but a blur. In seconds, the golden watch was in his hand.
He stood, slipping it into his jacket pocket. Nearly free—until a shrill cry broke the silence.
“Mom! Mom! He took the watch!” The child pointed at Jake, finger trembling, voice cutting through the store.
The clerk gasped. “Hey! Stop!”
The two guards at the corner rushed forward. Jake’s lips curved in a cold, thin smile as he stepped back.
“Not that fast,” he said under his breath.
The clerk shouted, “Lock the doors! Hurry! Track it by the chip!”
A spotlight flared from the security cameras, pinning Jake in its beam. Instead of panicking, he struck a pose—then slammed his shoulder into the glass. CRASH! Shards exploded, scattering light in all directions. Customers screamed.
Jake strode out into the rain, alarms wailing in his wake.
“Damn it! He’s not on the system! The chip isn’t active!” the guard barked. “Deploy units—now!”
Panic rippled as security scrambled to pursue.
“Target headed north! Code 127!” one guard shouted into his radio.
Jake glanced back. Two guards closed in, breathless. Patrol officers joined in, sirens rising in the distance.
“Chase me if you want. Idiots like them don’t know the rat runs around here,” Jake muttered.
He darted across the street, horns blaring as cars skidded. Rain poured harder, city lights blurring into streaks. He moved like a shadow, faster than any normal man.
He vaulted a fence into a side street—only to find a police cruiser blocking the way.
“Freeze! You’re surrounded!”
Jake laughed at the warning. “Surround me? Go ahead—try.”
He sprang onto the hood, vaulted over, and landed on the opposite sidewalk. Pedestrians screamed, some raising phones to record.
Suddenly, a drone’s spotlight lit him up. It hovered low, camera fixed squarely on him.
At headquarters, an officer leaned toward the monitor. “Target in the north district! Lock coordinates—”
The feed shook—then went dead.
“What just happened?”
“Impossible… we lost him,” the operator stammered, pale. “He vanished from the system.”
Meanwhile, Jake slipped into a narrow alley between old buildings. His breathing was calm, steady—as if he hadn’t just run for blocks.
“Perfect,” he muttered.
He emerged on the far side. The rain had eased, only a drizzle clinging to his shoulders. The streets here were nearly empty, lit only by tired streetlamps.
He stopped beneath a broken neon sign: Baron’s Diner. From the shadows, a deep voice called out.
“Interesting.”
Jake stiffened, instincts sparking. “Who’s there?”
A man in a gray suit stepped forward. His expression was calm, but his eyes cut deep—like he could read Jake’s thoughts.
Jake dropped into a stance, voice low. “If you’re one of them, walk away now. I won’t hesitate to smash that pretty face of yours, rich boy.”
The man gave a faint smile. “I’m not security. Not a cop. And definitely not ordinary.”
Jake narrowed his eyes. “Prove it.”
The man raised his hand. A small card slipped from his fingers, landing at Jake’s feet.
Jake looked down. The card was blank—no name, no photo—just a strange circle with a cross through it.
“What is this? Tch. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care! Move, unless you want my fist in your face!”
The man stepped closer, voice quieter now, weighted. “Arrogant. You think outrunning a few cops makes you special? Just because no one’s ever been able to track you… doesn’t make you great, does it?”
Jake froze, heart pounding. The words hit harder than he expected.
He stared, wanting to fire back, but nothing came out.
The man smirked, turning back into the shadows. “We’ll meet again, Jake. Go—run. They’re still out here.”
Jake stood rigid, fists tight. Rain spilled down his face once more.
“Freak,” he spat. The twenty-year-old turned and stalked away, leaving the silver-haired stranger smiling in the dark.
Every so often, Jake glanced back—the man still stood there, watching him with that unsettling smile.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
55
Fear did not arrive with thunder, nor with the violent crack of earth splitting open beneath careless feet; instead, it arrived like a subtle pressure against the mind, a tightening sensation that crawled beneath the skin and whispered warnings with a voice too ancient to belong to any living creature.The First City of Light woke to this tension, its luminous towers flickering in unsteady rhythms that betrayed the calm façade its architecture tried desperately to maintain. There was no disaster yet, no visible threat on the horizon, but every person who stepped outside felt a tightening in their chest as if the world had decided to breathe through them whether they permitted it or not. This was not panic created by imagination; this was the world’s fear bleeding through its lungs.Mira felt it instantly when she stepped out from the central root-chamber, the ground beneath her boots vibrating with an uneven pulse that matched the thrum of an anxious heartbeat. The sky hovered in a su
54
The morning began with a taste of iron in the air, the kind that drifted across the landscape right before a storm decides to tear the horizon open. People in the First City of Light paused mid-stride, instinctively lifting their faces toward the shifting sky as it rippled with pale green threads. The sensation wasn’t quite fear and not quite awe; it sat somewhere in the space between, like a word unspoken but ready to burn on someone’s tongue.Mira stepped out onto her balcony, letting the cold wind rush across her face. She inhaled deeply, and her chest tightened. The city’s bioluminescent towers were glowing with an unusual intensity, pulsing like frantic hearts. It wasn’t the gentle rhythm she had grown used to since the world’s rebirth. It was sharper. Faster. Uneven.The city was feeling something it had never felt before.Rage.She whispered, “Elen… what are you doing?”But she already knew the truth.It wasn’t Elen acting out.It was the world itself responding to something bu
53
The dream began the way most dreams begin—softly, without edges, drifting through the mind of a child who still believed the world was a place where everything could be understood if one only stared long enough. Lio had always been quiet, the kind of Resonant boy who listened more than he spoke, sensing the faint whispers of the living earth with more ease than he understood his own thoughts. When other children played near the glowing terraces of the First City, he lingered near the roots, tracing their subtle vibrations with curious fingers.But this dream felt different.It began with light, pale and trembling, flickering like a candle trapped inside fog. Then the light bent inward, collapsing into a tunnel of crimson haze. Lio walked through it instinctively, drawn by a voice that wasn’t a voice, a warmth that wasn’t warm, a call that carried familiarity he could not explain.When the haze cleared, he found himself standing in an enormous cavern lit by threads of dark red luminesc
52
The dream began the way most dreams begin—softly, without edges, drifting through the mind of a child who still believed the world was a place where everything could be understood if one only stared long enough. Lio had always been quiet, the kind of Resonant boy who listened more than he spoke, sensing the faint whispers of the living earth with more ease than he understood his own thoughts. When other children played near the glowing terraces of the First City, he lingered near the roots, tracing their subtle vibrations with curious fingers.But this dream felt different.It began with light, pale and trembling, flickering like a candle trapped inside fog. Then the light bent inward, collapsing into a tunnel of crimson haze. Lio walked through it instinctively, drawn by a voice that wasn’t a voice, a warmth that wasn’t warm, a call that carried familiarity he could not explain.When the haze cleared, he found himself standing in an enormous cavern lit by threads of dark red luminesc
51
The first warning was not a sound but a distortion, a subtle warping of the air that sent a faint metallic taste across the horizon. It drifted above the southern ridges like heat rising from cracked asphalt, except it carried weight—an awareness pressing against the senses of everyone attuned to the living world. Even those who lacked Resonant abilities felt the change, pausing mid-step as goosebumps crawled along their arms, triggered by a shift they could not name but instinctively feared.Mira registered the disturbance seconds before the shockwave hit. She straightened sharply, her gaze snapping to the far south where the sky rippled with unnatural tension. The clouds bent inward, as though pulled by a gravitational breath from deep beneath the crust.She whispered, “It’s happening again.”A Resonant guard rushed toward her, eyes wide. “The southern plates are vibrating in fractured sequences. They’re not following Elen’s rhythm anymore.”Mira inhaled slowly and felt the strain r
50
The city did not rise from blueprints or scaffolding or human ambition; it grew, inch by trembling inch, like a luminous creature testing its limbs beneath the dawning sky. The earth shaped its walls from living stone that pulsed with bioenergetic veins, and every tower curved toward the sun the way flowers tilt for warmth. When viewed from afar, the First City of Light shimmered like a cluster of breathing lanterns—alive, watchful, and intimately aware of every heartbeat wandering through its corridors.Yet even in its beauty, something restless simmered beneath the surface.A hum threaded through the city streets, too rhythmic to be natural, too intentional to be dismissed. Humans and Resonants alike paused mid-step, drawn by the echo vibrating through the root-grown bridges connecting each district. Even the glowing archways, shaped from crystalline sap, brightened and dimmed in uneven intervals, as though responding to a pulse no one understood.Mira stood at the center of the mai
You may also like
The rejected Son-in-law
Hunni95.8K viewsBack From Prison!
KMyay176.5K viewsBillionaire in Disguise
Faith123.1K viewsThe Heir's Revenge
Twine Twin78.6K viewsThe Return of Don Denver
VKBoy34.9K viewsThe Betrayed Billionaire
Crystal 369 viewsThe Trillionaire Driver.
Freezy-Grip375 viewsThe Legendary Miracle Doctor Returns: War God
God Of War1.5K views