The room had collapsed behind them. Fire curled up from shattered beams. Masonry moaned above. And in the center of the wreckage—where smoke and ember danced like a funeral veil—stood Maverick.
His blade rested on his shoulder, scorched and heavy.
Across from him, the strongest of the searchers stepped out through the haze. Broad-shouldered. Gauntlets thick with embedded crystal. His breath left steam in the cold air, and as he moved, the earth beneath him followed—carving low rumbles through the broken stone floor.
Name: Drenn.
Unco:Corebind — the ability to absorb, amplify, and manipulate raw material within his environment, strengthening his own body or shaping weapons from the debris around him. He fed off stone, ore, metal—turning terrain into armor, terrain into power.
The two locked eyes.
"You're the leader," Drenn said, stepping forward, boots cracking tile. "Then you're mine."
Maverick didn't blink. "Took you long enough."
Drenn lunged first.
