THE RELIC OF VEINS

Chapter 3 — The Hollow Veins Attack

The first impact cracked the ceiling. Dust fell in gray sheets. The hum of the machines cut out. Then, silence. Bruce’s voice barely carried. “Was that an earthquake?”

Lena drew her pistol again, eyes fixed on the door. “No. That was them.”

A second strike tore through the outer wall. Sparks burst from the conduits, lighting the room in stuttering flashes.

For a heartbeat, Bruce saw shapes in the darkness, figures moving like shadows through smoke, their bodies twisted by something not human.

The relic in his chest began to pulse faster. “They smell us,” it whispered. “They want the fire back.”

Bruce pressed a hand against his sternum. “I can feel them, like static crawling up my skin.”

Aimes backed toward a control panel. “They shouldn’t be able to find this place. Not unless someone”

“Save the theories,” Lena snapped. “Get the exit sealed.”

“They’ll breach it in seconds!”

“Then buy me ten.”

A clang echoed through the corridor outside, metal screaming as claws scraped it apart. A shriek followed, high and wet, like a person inhaling their last breath forever. Bruce froze. “What the hell are they?”

Lena didn’t answer. She stepped forward, raised her gun. “When the resonance fails, it mutates. Those are the Hollow Veins.”

The wall burst inward. A figure lunged through, a man, or what had once been one. His veins glowed violet under his skin, pulsing like worms.

His mouth stretched too wide, full of teeth that weren’t supposed to be there. He landed on all fours and hissed, words slurring through broken vocal cords. “Give… back… the fire…”

Lena fired. The bullet struck his forehead. For a moment, he just blinked, then the wound closed. Bruce staggered back. “That’s not possible!”

“They don’t die easy,” Lena said. “Headshot buys us seconds. Heart, maybe a minute.”

“Heart. Right.” Bruce flexed his hands, heat rising again. The air shimmered around him. The creature screamed and charged.

Bruce swung instinctively. His fist connected, and fire erupted. The creature went flying, flames consuming its chest. It shrieked as it burned, the light inside its veins flickering out like a dying neon sign.

When the flames died, nothing remained but ash. Lena stared at him. “You’re learning fast.”

“I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Intent doesn’t matter. Instinct does.”

Aimes shouted from behind the console, “We’ve got multiple signatures, six, maybe more!”

As if summoned, the corridor lights exploded one by one. More figures poured in, crawling, twisting, whispering. Their voices overlapped like wind chimes made of bones. “We smell the relic. We smell the heart.”

Bruce backed toward Lena. “I hope you’ve got more than one clip.”

“Always.” She popped the magazine, reloaded without looking.

The Hollow Veins moved like liquid shadow. One darted up the wall, another slithered across the ceiling, its limbs bending wrong. Lena fired again, controlled bursts, dropping two. The others came faster.

Aimes screamed, “Behind you!”

One crashed through the observation window, dragging him out in a blur of motion. Blood splattered across the glass. Bruce froze. “Aimes!”

Lena grabbed his arm. “He’s gone. Move!”

He hesitated, then the relic flared inside him, molten heat rushing to his hands. “No.”

He stepped into the corridor. The Hollow Veins turned toward him. Their eyes glowed faint blue, empty, hungry.

Bruce raised his hands. The fire obeyed. It wasn’t a blaze this time, it was something deeper, thicker, like blood made of light. It poured from his veins, coiling into the air, then shot forward like a living serpent.

The corridor erupted in crimson flame. Screams filled the darkness. Lena watched, half in awe, half in horror. “You’re burning them alive.”

“They’re already dead.”

The flames snuffed out as suddenly as they came. Silence again, except for the slow drip of something wet hitting the floor. Then, whispers.

Not from the survivors. From the walls. “You burn to live. You live to burn.”

Bruce pressed his palms to his ears. “Make it stop.”

Lena looked around, gun trembling slightly. “The relic’s projecting auditory resonance. It’s pulling the voices through the Vein Lines.”

“In English, please!”

“It’s calling to others.”

He swore under his breath. “Fantastic.”

Another crash, deeper this time, from beneath the floor. The tiles split. A massive hand clawed its way out, skinless, veins pulsing black. Bruce stumbled back. “Tell me that’s not another one.”

“That’s worse,” Lena said. “That’s what happens when they feed too long.”

The floor exploded upward, revealing a creature twice Bruce’s size. Its body shimmered with raw energy, bones visible through translucent flesh.

Its head tilted, mouth opening in a sound that wasn’t sound, just vibration. Lena’s voice dropped. “Resonant Overgrowth.”

The thing lunged. Bruce dove aside as claws ripped through steel. Sparks showered. The relic in his chest pulsed, eager. “Feed me,” it whispered again, sweeter this time. “I’ll make it stop.”

He gritted his teeth. “Not your puppet.”

“Then die like the rest.”

He looked at Lena. “Can you kill it?”

“Not fast enough.”

“Then run.”

“I don’t run.”

He almost smiled. “Neither do I.”

The creature struck again, claws slamming down. Bruce caught the blow with both arms, bones screaming under the force, and let the relic flood his veins. For a moment, he felt nothing but heat. Then everything.

Flame burst from his eyes, his mouth, his wounds. The world turned white-orange. Lena shielded her face. “Bruce, stop!”

He didn’t hear her. The fire wasn’t fire anymore, it was alive, crawling over his skin, singing in his ears. “We are one,” it whispered. “Blood and flame, healer and destroyer.”

The creature roared as the blaze consumed it. Its veins split, glowing bright, then burst like fireworks. When it collapsed, the floor glowed molten red.

Bruce stood in the center of it, shaking, smoke rising off him. Lena lowered her arm slowly. “You… you just vaporized a Resonant Overgrowth.”

He looked down at his hands, skin cracked, glowing faintly beneath. “It’s not me,” he said quietly. “It’s hungry.”

“Always,” the relic purred.

He fell to one knee, gasping. Blood dripped from his nose, thick, dark, steaming where it hit the floor. Lena rushed to him. “Stay with me. Don’t lose focus.”

He laughed weakly. “You said I’m not human anymore. Guess you were right.”

“You’re more than human. That’s the problem.”

He met her eyes, barely conscious. “Aimes… he said the relics were dormant. How’d they wake up?”

She hesitated. “Someone’s stirring the Primordial Vein.”

“The what now?”

“The first relic. The source of all this.”

He groaned. “You could’ve led with that.”

“We didn’t know it was active. Until you.”

The ground trembled again, just once, like a distant heartbeat beneath them. The air turned cold. Lena looked toward the shattered corridor. “That wasn’t the Overgrowth.”

Bruce forced himself up. “Then what was it?”

A whisper slid through the dark, too close to be echo. “Ashveil…”

Bruce froze. The voice wasn’t in his head this time, it came from the air itself. Lena raised her weapon, scanning the shadows. “Who’s there?”

From the smoke, a figure emerged, tall, cloaked in black, veins glowing faint red under his skin. His eyes burned with the same light as Bruce’s. “Impossible,” Lena whispered. “He’s supposed to be dead.”

The man smiled, teeth gleaming like knives. “Death doesn’t mean much anymore.”

Bruce felt the relic shiver inside him. The whisper turned frantic. “He’s the one who made me.”

Lena stepped back, whispering under her breath. “Dr. Victor Aimes.”

Bruce stared. “No. That’s not, he died”

The figure tilted his head. “Did I?”

His voice was calm, smooth, and utterly wrong. “Hello, Bruce. Let’s see what my experiment has learned.”

The air rippled with heat. The relic screamed. And Bruce’s world went white again.