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Chapter 46
The possessed Council member charged from the shadows, mouth unhinged, black ichor dripping from its jaw like venom. Its body moved wrong—too fast, too fluid, like it had no bones left, only hunger.Jack reacted first.He stepped in front of Emily, dragonfire erupting from his palm and blasting the creature back. It screamed, twisting in mid-air, before slamming into one of the tower’s cracked columns.“Seal the circle!” Angela shouted, voice strained. “We can’t let anything breach it during the Rite!”Ryan stumbled, nearly breaking formation. Patricia grabbed his shoulder, steadying him. “Stay sharp. You fall, we all fall.”Jack turned to Emily and Ryan, eyes fierce.“We don’t have time. The seals are reacting. We have to awaken the marks. Now.”Angela stepped forward, producing two obsidian vials etched in red runes. The liquid inside shimmered like molten blood.Sarah appeared in the tower’s entrance, breathless, clutching the dragon dagger tightly against her chest.“I found the l
Chapter 45
He stood in the doorway, watching Sarah clutch the dragon dagger like it might crack and spill time itself.His heart thudded like war drums beneath his ribs. There wasn’t time to linger.He stepped into the catacomb’s shadows.Behind him, Sarah didn’t call after him.She knew better than to try and stop the tide.The drive down from Old Joe’s ridge felt like descending from the past into a burning present.As the vehicle crested the hill overlooking Harmonfield, Jack’s breath caught.The city below wasn’t just burning—it was bleeding.Smoke billowed from shattered buildings. Lightning cracked the skies, streaking violet and black. Roads were torn like paper. The clock tower—the one Ryan used to graffiti—lay in ruins.The Vault had broken through.Jack gripped the wheel tighter.They rolled through the city’s remains, past overturned vehicles and flickering streetlamps, as cries echoed from side streets. Patricia reached for her pistol without a word. Emily pressed her hand against th
Chapter 44
The drive to the safehouse was quiet—too quiet.Patricia stared straight ahead, fingers locked tight in her lap, her silence louder than any scream. Emily kept glancing sideways at Jack, her eyes burning with a thousand questions she didn’t dare ask. Ryan’s words kept echoing in Jack’s mind like a blade drawn across steel.> “They’ve begun the manifestation.”Those five words struck harder than gunfire.Jack gritted his teeth and tapped the comms. “How do you know?”Ryan’s voice crackled in response. “Satellite scans picked up energy spikes near Harmonfield. Same signature from Reidsville. It’s happening, Jack. They’re forcing the Vault open.”Emily slammed a fist against the dashboard. “They’re not even hiding it anymore.”“No,” Patricia said softly. “Because they think no one can stop them.”Silence returned, heavier than before.By the time the convoy rolled into the hills, and others went their ways. Jack’s jaw was tight, his thoughts darker than the road behind them. The safehous
Chapter 43
The mist curled thicker around their boots as Jack stepped ahead, his presence cutting through the tension like a blade. The Shepherds didn’t move, but their leader’s smirk deepened.“You shouldn’t have come here, Harbinger,” the man said, voice smooth like poisoned silk. “Reidsville was supposed to be your grave.”Behind Jack, Sarah kept her weapon trained. “Jack,” she whispered again, more urgent now. “This feels wrong. It’s too quiet.”Emily’s fingers hovered near her sidearm. “No sniper lights. No backup. They’re not trying to kill us... yet.”Jack’s gaze flicked around the warehouse perimeter. Shadows moved just beyond the broken glass windows. A trap, clearly—but not the kind meant to kill.A warning.“We’re not here to start a war,” Jack called out. “We came for the heir. We know they’re here.”The Shepherd leader tilted his head. “You think this is about one heir?” He took a slow step forward. “It’s never been about that.”Jack’s brows furrowed. “Then what is it about?”But th
Chapter 42
Jack pushed the door open, cold rain meeting his face like a slap. The others filed out behind him in silence, tension crackling like static between them.Angela’s words haunted him: Don’t let them turn me.He glanced at her as they reached the SUVs waiting in the alley. She hadn’t looked away from the horizon, as if already preparing to become someone else’s memory.Sarah slipped her hand into Jack’s again. No words passed between them. Just the shared weight of what came next.Three days later at Cairo, EgyptThe air was dry, thick with dust and incense. Beneath the golden sun, Jack and Sarah moved through the crumbling alleyways of Old Cairo, their boots crunching against sand-covered stone. Ryan’s contact had led them here, whispering rumors of a descendant hiding within the underground catacombs.Ryan had provided the jet, the credentials, the cash.But it was Emily who stood out the most.Released on probation under Angela’s authority, she was now wearing plain clothes and a dis
Chapter 41
The room’s air had thickened into something dense—unspoken truths pressing against every wall. Jack stared at the coordinates on his phone screen, the pulsing cursor like a heartbeat in the dark.Angela’s voice sliced through the quiet. “They’ve chosen their next move. We don’t have long.”Jack lowered the phone, his eyes still sharp. “You said the third vault… What’s in it?”Angela hesitated. Her hand drifted unconsciously toward the scar under her collarbone. “Not what. Who.”Sarah’s brows pinched together. “What do you mean?”Angela drew in a long breath, as if bracing for something no one in the room was ready for. “The vaults were never just containment facilities. They’re prisons. Seals. For something ancient. Something we were never meant to wake.”William crossed his arms. “Ancient like… how ancient?”Angela looked him dead in the eyes. “Before language. Before nations. Before even the bloodlines were named. The thing locked in the third vault—”She paused.“—is a shard of The
Chapter 40
He stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door Olivia had just walked through. His pulse pounded in his ears, her words echoing like a curse.“You’re not the only heir still breathing.”Behind him, Sarah’s footsteps padded softly across the wooden floor. “Jack,” she said again, more firmly. “Who was that woman?”He turned, face still hard, unreadable. “She called herself Olivia West.”Sarah’s brow furrowed. “The Olivia West? From the embassy fire?”Jack gave a tight nod. “The very same. Except… apparently, she didn’t die. She’s been alive, orchestrating things from behind the scenes. And now she wants us to join her.”Sarah shook her head in disbelief. “This doesn’t make sense. Why now? Why come here?”The front door clicked again.Both turned sharply.Olivia stepped back inside, hands raised in mock surrender. “Relax,” she said smoothly. “If I wanted anyone dead, they’d be gone already.”Jack’s jaw tensed. “You always this dramatic?”Olivia ignored the jab and turned to Sara
Chapter 39
The rooftop wind had died down, but his thoughts swirled like a storm.“We follow the path,” he’d said.Now, that path led him back underground.The prison’s long corridor echoed with his footsteps. His boots struck the concrete like a warning. The guard at the security door gave him a curious glance but said nothing. They all knew who he was now. Word had spread.Emily sat behind the glass again. Her eyes were clearer this time. Focused. And that was what unsettled him most.Jack slid into the chair across from her. No guards. No extra precautions. Just tension.“You came back,” Emily said quietly.“You said something I can’t ignore,” Jack replied. “So talk.”Emily didn’t hesitate. “George wasn’t acting alone. He had a partner. Someone smarter. Crueler. Someone who stayed hidden while he played the fool.”Jack leaned forward. “Name.”“Olivia West.”Jack’s brows pulled together. “She died five years ago in the embassy fire.”Emily shook her head. “That’s what they wanted you to believ
Chapter 38
Jack's fingers trembled as he ran them over the faded map, tracing the curling paths and ancient symbols inked in a language that pulsed with forgotten fire. The scroll's seal—the crest of the Eastern Dragon Clan—had unraveled something inside him. This wasn’t just a piece of parchment. It was a call.“When the true flame awakens, the God of War returns.”Sarah sat across from him in the candlelit vault, her brow furrowed. “Do you think this ‘God of War’ is… real?”Jack exhaled, the weight of legacy pressing deeper into his shoulders. “If it’s tied to the Dragon Clan, then yeah. It’s real. And probably buried beneath this city.”She leaned closer. “That message—it wasn’t just for you. Joe knew something was coming.”Jack nodded. “He always did.”His eyes lingered on the scroll before reaching for a stack of faded letters tucked behind the map. The handwriting was unmistakably Joe’s—rough, deliberate, almost angry with purpose. One envelope had Jack scrawled across it in bold ink.He o
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