The Healer’s Ascension

Chapter Five: The Veil Beneath the City

The subway was nearly empty this late at night. A handful of commuters slumped in their seats, earbuds in, eyes glazed over. The dull flicker of the overhead lights made the car feel more ghostly than alive.

Jason sat hunched on the cracked plastic bench, hoodie up, hands stuffed into his pockets to hide their trembling. Across from him, Elias leaned against the doorframe, coat torn and bloodstained but his expression unreadable.

Jason finally broke the silence. “So where exactly are we going?”

Elias’s eyes flicked toward him. “Someplace safer than this.”

Jason barked a bitter laugh. “Forgive me if I don’t exactly feel reassured. Safer? You mean the kind of safe where nightmare shadow-things can’t just crawl out of the dark and eat me alive?”

Elias didn’t answer.

Jason shook his head, looking down at his sneakers. The memory of the Shade’s claws, the way they carved through stone, the way its eyes had locked onto him, kept replaying in his mind like a broken record. He gripped his kne