THE WAR THAT FOLLOWED ME

CHAPTER 2: SHADOWS OVER NEW ARDENT

The city was dying loud.

Kade could hear it in every explosion, every scream that echoed through the smoke-choked streets. New Ardent had always been chaotic—that was part of its charm, its identity—but this was different. This was the sound of a place being erased.

He ran through the wreckage, boots splashing through puddles that reflected burning buildings and fractured the sky. The neon signs that used to advertise cheap thrills and expensive dreams now flickered weakly, like they were gasping for air. Above him, the rift in the sky pulsed with that same electric blue light, and more dropships poured through like a swarm of metallic locusts.

Inside his head, the relic hummed.

It wasn't painful exactly, but it wasn't comfortable either. It felt like someone was running calculations directly on his brain—threading possibilities through his neurons, showing him futures that hadn't happened yet. Most of them ended badly.

You're being tracked, the relic whispered. Not with words, but with certainty. Sensors. Three blocks north. Two patrols converging.

"Yeah, I figured," Kade muttered.

A hover-bike exploded overhead, raining debris. He ducked, felt the heat wash over him, kept moving.

Somewhere to his left, a child screamed.

Kade's feet changed direction before his brain caught up. He found the kid trapped under a collapsed vendor stall—maybe eight years old, eyes wide with terror. A Vaelith scout was descending from a rooftop, its backward-jointed legs unfolding like a spider's.

The Phaseblade was in Kade's hand before he thought about it.

The scout's visor swung toward him, glowing red. Kade moved fast—faster than he should've been able to move, but the relic was feeding him angles, trajectories, weak points in the armor. The blade connected with a sharp hiss, and the alien crumpled, dissolving into ash and sparks.

Kade pulled the stall off the kid. "Run," he said, not unkindly. "Find somewhere underground. Don't stop."

The kid stared at him for half a second, then bolted.

Kade watched him go, chest tight. How many more? How many kids, families, people are just trying to survive?

You can't save them all, the relic reminded him, clinical and cold.

"Watch me," Kade said through his teeth.

He ducked into an alley, heading for the tunnels. The maintenance corridors beneath the city were old—built decades ago when New Ardent was still growing, before it learned to climb into the sky. Most people had forgotten they existed. Kade hadn't.

The entrance was hidden behind a collapsed service hub, electrical lines sparking where the structure had buckled. He slipped through a gap in the wreckage and descended into the dark.

The air down here was thick—oil, ozone, damp concrete. Emergency lights flickered sporadically, casting everything in sickly yellow. Kade moved carefully, listening for movement. The tunnels had a way of amplifying sound, turning footsteps into warnings.

He found Mila in a wider chamber, crouched behind a jury-rigged console that looked like it had been assembled from three different centuries of technology. She didn't look up when he approached, just kept typing, fingers flying across the keyboard.

"You're insane," she said, which seemed to be her new favorite greeting.

"Nice to see you too."

"The city's burning, Kade. They're everywhere. And you're just... what? Playing hero?"

"I don't have a choice," he said. "They're here for the relic. Which means they're here for me."

Mila finally looked up. Her expression was hard to read—anger, maybe, or fear, or something in between. "You should've destroyed it. Years ago. Before any of this."

"I tried." Kade leaned against the wall, suddenly exhausted. "Believe me, I tried. But destroying it would've killed... everything. Everyone within a hundred miles. The relic is not just a weapon, Mila. It's alive."

As if to prove his point, the relic pulsed in his mind, acknowledging the statement.

Mila stared at him. "You're carrying a living weapon in your head."

"Yeah."

"And they want it back."

"Yeah."

She turned back to the console, jaw tight. "Then we're all dead."

"Not yet," Kade said. He pushed off the wall, coming to stand beside her. "What are you doing?"

"Hacking the city grid. If I can reroute power to the lower districts, we can create blackout zones—places their sensors can't see." She pulled up a map of New Ardent, overlaid with heat signatures and patrol patterns. "It won't stop them, but it might slow them down."

The relic fed Kade data instantly—probability spikes, optimal routes, weak points in the Vaelith network. "They're scanning in pulses," he said. "Every forty-seven seconds. If you time the blackouts between scans—"

"We'll be invisible," Mila finished. She looked at him sharply. "How did you know that?"

Kade tapped his temple. "The relic. It... helps."

"Helps," Mila repeated, like the word tasted bad. "It's in your head, whispering tactical data, and you think that's helping?"

"Right now? Yeah."

She didn't argue, just went back to typing. A moment later, streetlights across three blocks flickered and died. On the map, a dark zone spread like ink.

"Done," she said. "But we can't stay here. They'll sweep the tunnels eventually."

"I know." Kade checked his Phaseblade—still charged, still humming. "Where's Rashid?"

"Deeper in. Financial district tunnels. He's gathering people—anyone who can fight."

"Good. We'll need them."

They moved through the tunnels in silence, navigating by memory and the occasional emergency light. Kade kept one hand on his blade, the other near the wall, feeling for vibrations. The relic tracked movement above them—patrols, dropships, civilians fleeing. It fed him everything, all at once, and he had to focus to keep from drowning in it.

You cannot survive this alone, the relic said again. You need allies. You need strategy.

"Working on it," Kade muttered.

Mila glanced at him. "You talk to it?"

"Sometimes it talks to me."

"That's comforting."

They emerged into a ruined plaza on the edge of the industrial district. The buildings here were older, shorter, built from concrete and steel instead of glass and light. Fires burned in metal drums, casting flickering shadows. Debris was everywhere—twisted metal, shattered glass, bodies.

Kade's stomach turned. He'd seen battlefields before, but this was home. This was different.

Three Vaelith soldiers moved through the plaza, methodical and silent. Their armor gleamed in the firelight, sensors sweeping back and forth.

Kade and Mila pressed into the cover behind a collapsed wall. The relic fed him options—attack patterns, weak points, escape routes. None of them were good.

The first soldier has reinforced armor, the relic noted. Strike low. The second is scanning for thermal signatures—avoid direct line of sight. The third is the squad leader. Eliminate it first.

"Great," Kade whispered. "Any suggestions on how?"

Yes. Don't die.

"Very helpful."

The first soldier raised its rifle, scanning the plaza. Kade waited, counting heartbeats. Then he moved.

He came out low and fast, Phaseblade leading. The blade caught the squad leader in the joint between chest and shoulder—exactly where the relic had shown him. Sparks flew. The alien staggered, and Kade twisted, using the momentum to drive the blade deeper.

The second soldier turned. Mila was already moving, activating a drone that zipped past the alien's head and released a blinding electromagnetic pulse. Sensors overloaded. The soldier stumbled.

Kade didn't waste the opening. Two more strikes—precise, brutal—and the second soldier dropped.

The third one was faster. It rolled, bringing its rifle up, and Kade barely dodged the energy blast. Heat seared past his shoulder. He threw himself behind debris, breathing hard.

It's calculating your movement, the relic warned. Adapting.

"Yeah, I noticed."

Mila shouted something he didn't catch. Another drone zipped overhead, releasing smoke. The plaza is filled with thick, acrid fog.

Kade moved through it like a ghost. The relic guided him—three steps left, duck, strike high. The blade found the third soldier's neck. It collapsed in a heap of melting armor.

Silence.

Kade stood in the smoke, blade still humming, chest heaving. His hands were shaking again.

Mila appeared beside him, breathing hard. "You okay?"

"No," Kade said honestly. "But I'm alive."

"That'll have to do."

They made their way deeper into the tunnels, following old service routes that wound beneath the financial district. The air grew colder here, and the sounds of the city above faded to a dull roar.

Rashid was waiting in a large chamber that had once been a subway hub. Maybe thirty people were gathered—civilians, mostly, but a few ex-militia, some kids who looked too young to be holding guns. They all looked terrified.

Rashid himself was older, lean and hard-eyed, with the kind of face that had seen too much and survived anyway. He looked up when Kade and Mila entered.

"You're the one," he said. Not a question.

"Yeah," Kade said.

"The one they want."

"Yeah."

Rashid studied him for a long moment. "They're saying you've got alien tech in your head. That you can see the future."

"Something like that."

"And they want it back."

"They do."

"And if we don't give it to them?"

Kade met his gaze. "They burn the city. Block by block. Until there's nothing left."

Rashid nodded slowly. "So we fight."

"We fight smart," Kade said. "We use the tunnels. We hit them where they're weak. We don't die in the streets."

"And if that's not enough?"

Kade didn't answer. Because honestly, he didn't know.

The relic pulsed in his mind. It won't be enough. Not without me.

A holographic projection flickered to life in the center of the chamber, cast by a Vaelith drone hovering somewhere above. It was the commander again—tall, elegant, terrifying in its calm.

"Kade Reyes," it said. "Surrender the asset. Or watch your city burn."

The projection shifted, showing a younger Kade in battle armor, holding the glowing Core Relic. Everyone in the chamber turned to look at him.

Mila's hand found his shoulder. "You can't give it to them."

"I won't," Kade said quietly.

The projection flickered and died.

Rashid stood. "Then we fight. Tonight."

Kade nodded. He could feel the relic thrumming inside him, feeding him data, possibilities, futures. Most of them ended in fire.

This will cost you, the relic warned.

"I know," Kade said.

Outside, the Vaelith was descending. Energy weapons lit up the night. And somewhere in the burning ruins of New Ardent, Kade Reyes made a choice.

He wasn't running anymore.