Shit.

  Kael didn’t say it. He didn’t have to. The word pulsed behind his eyes, steady and loud, like the beat of a second heart.

  He forced himself up, limbs heavy, breath short. Rain slammed down like it wanted to bury him where he stood. His uniform clung to his skin—soaked through, cold enough to bite. His fingers trembled.

  But he was alive.

  Which meant…

  His hand rose instinctively to his chest.

  No mark. No glow. No sign of anything different. But he knew the rules. If he’d Dove, then somewhere inside him, a Core had formed.

  I have one now.

  The thought hit hard. He wasn’t ready.

  But here he was.

  He shoved the thought aside. Spiraling wouldn’t help.

  Not now.

  Kael crouched low behind a slab of collapsed concrete and scanned the ruined street. The storm blurred everything—sheets of rain slicing sideways, wind howling through the bones of dead buildings. Lightning split the sky every few seconds, turning rubble into jagged silhouettes.

  Then, in one of those brief flashes—he saw them.

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  Far off in the distance, two massive creatures collided in the rain. Hulking shapes, limbs crashing into each other with enough force to shake the air itself. Their silhouettes were jagged, inhuman. One seemed to pulse with flickering arcs of crimson light; the other moved like it had too many joints, arms whipping like cables.

  Thunder followed half a breath later, louder than anything before.

  Kael ducked lower.

  I need to get out of sight. Away from that.

  He searched for signs—anything that hinted at human presence. Flares. Markers. Symbols. But there was nothing. Just fractured structures and foreign shapes. The angles felt wrong. The architecture was almost familiar… but off. Curved where it shouldn’t be. Too smooth. Too clean.

  Crystal growths jutted from walls and asphalt, humming faintly when the wind passed over them. Symbols were etched into metal beams, untouched by rust, lines etched with precision beyond human hands.

  Kael moved.

  Cover to cover. Low and careful. Every sense stretched thin.

  The city was silent except for the storm.

  Eventually, he found it—a tall building still mostly intact. Something old-world. Maybe a hotel, or an office complex. Its upper floors had collapsed in on themselves, but the lobby remained, half-buried under twisted beams and shattered glass.

  It would do.

  He slipped inside.

  Instantly, the storm faded. The roar dulled to a distant hiss. Wind no longer tore at him. The silence hit harder than expected.

  Kael stepped forward, shoes squelching across dusty tile. His breath echoed. So did his heartbeat.

  It was dry.

  That was enough.

  He moved deeper, past cracked furniture and shattered light fixtures, until he found what might’ve been a reception desk—toppled, half-rotten, but stable. He ducked behind it, back to the wall, and let his eyes adjust to the dark.

  Then—

  Footsteps.

  Outside.

  Slow. Measured. Crunching through wet gravel.

  Getting closer.

  Kael froze. Breath caught in his throat. Muscles tight.

  Something else was out there.