Alex didn't take the shard immediately. He could feel it, even from a foot away — an unnatural pull, like the drag of the tide under a swimmer's feet. Its heat was wrong too; not the warm thrum of dragonfire, but a colder burn that gnawed at the edge of his senses.
"What is it?" he asked.
Kael didn't blink. "A key. Or a piece of one. Depends who you ask."
"That's not an answer."
"It's all you get," Kael said, his tone flat. "Touch it."
The dragon system's voice rippled through Alex's mind.
It will hurt. That is how you know it is true.
Alex took a breath, then reached out.
The instant his fingers brushed the metal, his vision detonated. The pier, the rain, Kael — gone.
He was standing in a desert under a sky the color of ash. In the distance rose a structure — massive, obsidian-black, its shape shifting between a gate and a jagged crown. Around it swirled three banners, their cloth snapping in a wind that didn't touch him. Each banner bore the crest of a ruling faction — the Government's polished sigil, the Mafia's crimson wolf-head, and the Guild's fractured spiral.
Above them all, circling slowly, were shapes. Winged. Ancient. Their eyes burned with the same molten gold as his own.
Alex took a step forward — and the ground cracked under his foot.
From that fissure, something reached up. A claw, scaled and black as void, wrapped in chains of light. The voice that came with it was not the system's. It was heavier. Hungrier.
> Little Apex… do you think the Hunt is for you? You are the prize.
Alex's chest burned. He could feel the dragon system pushing against the voice, shielding him.
Wake up.
The vision shattered.
He was back on the pier, rain lashing his face, Kael's hand gripping his shoulder hard enough to bruise.
"Breathe," Kael ordered.
Alex sucked in air, his heart pounding. His fingers were still on the shard, but now it was cold, inert.
"What was that?" Alex demanded.
Kael's expression was unreadable. "Proof. They're already moving. All three factions. The Hunt's started."
Alex's gaze locked on the shard. "Then we move faster."
Kael shook his head. "You move wrong, you die before you see the first checkpoint. And they'll use her—" His voice dipped lower. "—they'll use Lira to make sure you do."