Scene One – Preparation and Tension
The Guild's infirmary was quiet except for the steady rhythm of Jeremiah's breathing and the faint pulse of the monitor. Katherine sat at his side, fingers intertwined with his, staring at the rise and fall of his chest as if willing him to wake. Every second felt heavier, pressing against her ribs, threatening to crush her.
She hadn't moved since the message came.
The words still echoed in her head.
If you want to save Jeremiah, come to Madison Square Garden. Alone.
The communicator lay on the table beside her, its faint glow already dimmed, but she couldn't stop glancing at it, as though the screen might flash again with another command.
The door opened quietly. Ezra stepped in first, followed by Tiffany, Cecelia, and Tousin. Their faces were drawn tight, fatigue showing in their eyes, but none of them looked ready to rest.
Ezra spoke carefully, his tone clipped. "You can't go."
Katherine's grip tightened around Jeremiah's hand. "I have to."
Cecelia moved closer, her voice firmer, angrier. "No. You're walking into a trap. Seraphyne knows exactly what she's doing. She'll use Caleb as bait and tear you apart."
"I can't let him suffer." Katherine's voice cracked, but she forced the words out. "If there's even a chance to bring Jeremiah back, I have to take it."
Tousin crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. "Think about where she told you to meet. Madison Square Garden isn't random. It's wide, empty, perfect for a summoning field. Seraphyne wants space to manipulate power. You step into that arena, and you're already surrounded."
Tiffany's voice was calm but sharp, cutting through the air. "Seraphyne doesn't want your death. Not yet. She wants to break you. Caleb is her tool. You'll fight him, and every strike you land will carve at your conscience. Every hesitation will weaken you. That's her plan."
Katherine finally tore her eyes from Jeremiah and looked at them. Her gaze was hollow, but her voice steady. "You don't understand. Caleb may be lost. Seraphyne may be twisting him. But Jeremiah… he doesn't have time. If I wait, if I hide, he may never wake up. If there's a chance, even one, I have to take it."
Ezra stepped closer, his expression hard. "Then let us come with you."
"No." Katherine shook her head sharply. "The message was clear. If Seraphyne senses you nearby, she'll kill him. Or worse, she'll use Jeremiah's life as leverage. This is between me and her."
The silence that followed was tense. None of them wanted to agree, but none could deny the truth of her words.
Cecelia clenched her fists. "So you'll walk into the lion's den, alone, and hope your willpower is enough?"
"I don't have hope," Katherine whispered. "I have him." Her eyes flicked back to Jeremiah.
Tousin sighed, his arms still crossed. "You're stubborn enough to do it. But know this—Seraphyne has layers. If she's lured you to the Garden, she has more than Caleb waiting. Glyphs, soldiers, maybe worse. She wants the city to bleed."
Tiffany stepped forward, resting a hand on Katherine's shoulder. Her voice softened. "If you go, remember this: Seraphyne thrives on control. Take that away from her. Choose where to strike, when to strike, and never let her dictate your pace. That's your only chance."
Katherine looked at each of them, her chest tight, her throat dry. "Then I'll go."
She leaned forward, pressing her forehead gently against Jeremiah's hand. For a moment, everything else vanished. The war, the Obsidian threat, the traps waiting for her—none of it mattered. It was just him.
"Stay with me," she whispered, her tears sliding onto his skin. "I'll bring him back. I'll bring both of you back."
When she stood, her eyes were red, but her resolve was steel.
Ezra didn't try to stop her again. He only said, "Then we'll be watching. Even if you don't see us."
Katherine didn't argue. She only nodded once, then turned toward the door.
The night outside waited, heavy with silence. Madison Square Garden loomed in her mind like a dark promise.
---
Scene Two – Arrival at Madison Square Garden (Night)
The Garden was a hollow carcass of itself.
Once alive with sound and breath, with thousands of voices rattling the rafters, now it stood in silence, a cavern of broken echoes. Katherine pushed the heavy side doors open and stepped into the darkness. Her boots scuffed against cracked concrete, the sound swallowed by the yawning arena.
The air reeked faintly of smoke and iron. Charred black streaks clawed across the walls where fire had licked its way up the corridors. The aftermath of Caleb's last escape. Burnt wiring drooped from the rafters like veins torn open. A few emergency lights pulsed on and off, their flicker like a heartbeat that refused to die.
She stopped at the entrance to the main floor. Madison Square Garden stretched around her, an empty coliseum lit in patches of orange glow and failing light. The seats climbed endlessly into shadows. The stage where the ring once stood had collapsed under heat and fire. Ash littered the ground, scattered like dust on a forgotten grave.
Her chest tightened. This wasn't an accident. It felt staged. Like she had been called here.
Katherine placed a hand on the hilt of her weapon at her hip and stepped onto the floor. The vastness pressed down on her. Every sound seemed amplified, from the crunch of broken glass under her boot to the steady draw of her breath.
Then—
"Still chasing ghosts, Katherine?"
The voice came from across the arena, low and sharp, familiar enough to cut through her guard.
Her eyes shot to the far end of the Garden. A figure emerged from the shadows where the stadium lights barely reached. Caleb.
Her pulse stuttered at the sight of him.
His frame was familiar—broad shoulders, restless energy, the same messy hair falling into his eyes—but something was off. His posture was coiled, like a predator caught between lunging and retreating. His eyes glowed faintly under the broken light, and the scars across his arms looked darker, deeper, almost alive.
Katherine's lips parted, but no words came at first. She had imagined this reunion, but not like this. Not in ruins. Not with fire still lingering in the walls.
"Caleb." Her voice carried, steady but strained. "You didn't have to run. We could have—"
"Could have what?" His laugh was short, harsh, not like she remembered. "You think things go back to how they were? Like I just sit down, share a meal, and we forget everything?"
She tightened her jaw. "I didn't forget you. I never did."
"Didn't you?" Caleb stepped closer, his boots echoing against the scorched floor. "While I was bleeding, while I was trapped, where were you? With them. With him." His words dripped venom on the last part.
Her fists clenched at her side. Jeremiah's name didn't leave his mouth, but it didn't need to.
"This isn't about him," she said firmly. "This is about you. About what they're doing to you."
Caleb's expression twisted. For a moment, the boy she once knew flickered behind his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
"What they're doing?" His voice rose, bitter. "You mean showing me the truth? Pulling the blindfold off? You don't get it, Katherine. They didn't break me. They made me see what you refused to see. You trust the Guild. You trust Jeremiah. You trusted everyone but me."
The words struck deep. She steadied herself, refusing to look away.
"I trusted you," she said, quiet but sharp. "Even when I shouldn't have. Even when it hurt. And I still do."
His laugh was colder this time, and it echoed around the vast arena.
"You don't trust me. You pity me. You think I'm weak. A project to fix. A lost cause to drag back into the light." His eyes narrowed, and his voice dropped. "But I'm not lost, Katherine. I chose this."
The shadows behind him stirred. A ripple of energy brushed the edge of her senses, faint but deliberate. Katherine's breath caught. She wasn't alone with Caleb.
"You didn't choose this," she said, raising her voice so it carried. "Someone is pulling at you. I can feel it."
Her words were answered by a slow clap.
From the darkness near the broken stage, a figure stepped forward. Seraphyne.
Her presence filled the Garden like smoke seeping into every crack. She moved with deliberate grace, each step calculated. Her disguise as a tour guide was gone. Here, she wore her true form—a black and violet cloak that shifted like living shadow, her eyes faintly glowing with silver fire.
"Sharp as ever," Seraphyne purred. "Though not sharp enough."
Katherine shifted her stance, her hand brushing the edge of her weapon. "So it was you."
Seraphyne tilted her head, smiling faintly. "Of course. Did you think he returned to you on his own? No, Katherine. I gave him strength. I gave him clarity. Something you never could."
Caleb's jaw clenched, his fists tightening at his sides. "Stop talking like I'm your puppet."
Seraphyne's smile deepened, but she didn't look at him. She kept her eyes locked on Katherine. "Oh, but isn't it easier this way? To let someone else carry the weight of choice?" She stepped closer, her presence darkening the air. "He wanted revenge. He wanted recognition. I simply gave him the means."
Katherine's breath quickened. She could feel the energy coiling beneath Seraphyne's words, faint tendrils weaving through the air. A ritual. Slow, deliberate. She was feeding off Caleb's anger, twisting it into fuel.
"You're using him," Katherine said, stepping forward, her tone fierce. "Draining him."
"Am I?" Seraphyne lifted a hand, fingers brushing the air near Caleb's shoulder without touching. He flinched but didn't step away. "Or am I showing him what he was meant to become?"
Katherine's eyes darted to Caleb. His breathing was unsteady, his expression torn. Beneath his anger, there was hesitation, a fracture in his certainty.
"Caleb." Her voice softened, urgent. "Look at me. Not her. Me."
He met her gaze, and for a heartbeat the fire in his eyes wavered. He looked tired, worn, like the Caleb she remembered. But then Seraphyne's voice coiled around him again.
"She abandoned you. She chose another. She left you to rot." Seraphyne's words dripped like poison, feeding the ritual. "And now she dares to speak of trust."
The arena groaned as the ground beneath them pulsed faintly with violet light. Ancient markings began to etch themselves across the cracked floor, curling outward in jagged patterns. Katherine's stomach sank.
A summoning circle.
Her hand closed around her weapon fully now, her stance lowering.
"Whatever you're calling here," Katherine said, voice sharp, "I'll stop it."
Seraphyne's laugh was soft, almost musical. "You'll try."
The circle brightened, light flickering off the ruined walls, casting long shadows across Caleb's face. He looked torn, his hands shaking, his gaze flicking between Katherine and Seraphyne.
"Caleb," Katherine pressed, her voice fierce now. "This isn't who you are. You don't need her. You don't need this. You're stronger than this."
He swallowed, his lips parting, his chest rising and falling with ragged breath. But Seraphyne's hand hovered closer, her whispers filling the silence.
"Say the word, Caleb. End the doubt. Begin the fire."
The glow from the summoning circle pulsed, heat rippling through the air. Katherine's grip tightened. She had seconds, maybe less, before Seraphyne completed whatever she had started.
Her heart hammered as she met Caleb's eyes one last time.
"Don't let her take you from me."
For a moment, everything stilled.
The circle burned brighter. Caleb's eyes flickered—torn between flame and memory, between rage and the shadow of who he used to be.
And then Seraphyne's lips curved. "Too late."
The arena roared with light.
---
Scene Three – The Trap Unveiled
The light from the summoning circle carved jagged patterns across the ruined floor of Madison Square Garden. Violet fire licked the edges of the glyphs, crawling outward, devouring the cracks in the concrete. Katherine's stomach dropped as realization struck: the Garden wasn't just a battlefield. It was a trap.
Her eyes darted across the walls. Faint etchings, blackened by soot, lined the pillars. Obsidian seals—sigils of containment and amplification—layered into the very bones of the arena. They weren't new. They had been etched long before tonight, lying dormant until Seraphyne called them to life.
"You see it now, don't you?" Seraphyne's voice carried across the circle, silk over steel. "This place is more than a ruin. It is a vessel. A stage for rebirth."
Katherine's grip on her weapon tightened. "You're using him. Using me. What do you want to summon here?"
Seraphyne's smile was all teeth. "Nexus-born. Creatures older than your world. Power your Guild fears. Power your Guild cannot control." She gestured to Caleb, who stood trembling at the circle's center. "And he will be the conduit. His fire is the key. Your resistance, the spark. Together, you'll open the gate for me."
Katherine's heart pounded. She stepped forward, voice sharp. "Caleb, listen to me. She's feeding off us. Off you. Don't give her what she wants."
But Caleb's eyes were aflame, glowing with unnatural light. His hands trembled, fingers curling into fists as heat rippled off his skin. The summoning circle drank in every flare, each spark feeding its pulsing core.
Seraphyne's whispers coiled into his ears, unseen but heavy. "Burn her. She chose another. She betrayed you. Burn her and be free."
Caleb's head snapped up. His voice was raw, cracked. "Why should I believe you, Katherine? Why should I believe anything you say?"
She swallowed, chest aching. "Because you know me. You know who I am. And I know you."
The circle surged with fire. Caleb roared, a sound torn between anguish and rage, and hurled a torrent of flame across the floor.
Katherine barely had time to react. She threw herself to the side, rolling across the ash-stained ground as fire scorched where she had stood. Heat washed over her, blistering, choking. She forced herself up, weapon raised, but she hesitated. Her arms trembled.
She couldn't strike him. Not like this.
Caleb came again, fire dancing across his arms, his movements fast but unrefined, guided by rage rather than control. He swung his fists, each strike releasing bursts of flame that cracked against the floor and walls. Katherine blocked where she could, dodged where she couldn't, her heart splitting with every clash.
"Fight me!" he screamed, his voice breaking. "Stop holding back!"
Her teeth clenched. Every instinct screamed to answer with force, but her chest burned with guilt. She saw flashes of the boy she remembered, the ally she trusted, the friend who had once stood at her side.
"I don't want to hurt you!" she shouted back.
"Then you'll lose!" Caleb thrust both arms forward, unleashing a surge of fire that erupted like a wave. Katherine braced herself, calling her energy to shield her body, but the force sent her sprawling. She hit the cracked floor hard, air bursting from her lungs.
Seraphyne's laughter rang out, smooth and cruel. "Yes, Caleb. Yes. Let the fire devour her. She is your chain. Burn your chains away."
Katherine forced herself up, lungs burning. Sweat dripped down her face, stinging her eyes. She could feel the seals in the walls pulsing in rhythm with the circle on the floor. Every strike Caleb unleashed was feeding the glyphs, empowering the summoning.
She needed to break the pattern.
"Katherine…" Caleb's voice faltered for a moment, his flame stuttering. His eyes flickered, pain bleeding through the fury. "Why didn't you choose me?"
The words hit harder than any fire blast. Her breath caught.
"Caleb…"
But Seraphyne's shadow darted between them. Her hand lashed out, striking Katherine across the chest with a wave of dark force. Katherine slammed back into the ground, coughing. The taste of copper filled her mouth.
Seraphyne loomed, eyes glowing. "Don't falter now, boy. Strike. While her guard is broken."
Caleb's hand lifted, flames coiling like a serpent ready to strike. His jaw trembled. Sweat rolled down his temples. His chest heaved with ragged breaths.
Katherine forced her eyes up, blood trickling from her lip, and whispered hoarsely. "You're not her weapon. You're mine. You're ours."
The fire in Caleb's hand flared, then dimmed, then flared again, torn between Seraphyne's control and his own will. He screamed, thrusting it forward—not at Katherine, but at the ground. The flames roared harmlessly into the circle, feeding it further.
Seraphyne's smile widened. "Perfect."
The circle pulsed brighter, the seals in the walls glowing in unison. The Garden itself throbbed with energy, the air so thick with power it crackled against Katherine's skin.
Katherine staggered up, weapon trembling in her hands. Rage, guilt, and desperation twisted in her chest. She didn't want to fight him. But if she didn't stop him now, the summoning would break through.
Caleb roared again, flames bursting from his arms, his body wracked with Seraphyne's whispers. His strikes grew faster, harder, his flames hotter, each one threatening to overwhelm her. Katherine blocked with every ounce of strength, her arms shaking, her body bruised.
Her eyes burned with tears she refused to shed.
"I'm sorry," she whispered under her breath, raising her weapon. "But I won't lose you to her."
With a surge of energy, she lunged forward, meeting Caleb's fire head-on.
The arena exploded with light.
---
Scene Four : The Escalation
The stadium's Garden trembled. The sigils burned brighter, cracks of violet energy snaking outward like lightning across the empty field.
Katherine's lungs screamed, her body heavy from the fight, but she refused to falter. Caleb staggered under Seraphyne's control, eyes glazed, hands wrapped in conjured flame as he moved for another strike.
Then, the gates slammed open.
"Kat!" Ezra's voice cut through the chaos as he and the others stormed in, ignoring her command to stay back. Tousin raised a hand, his palm crackling with distortion waves. He swept it downward, disrupting the etched runes across one section of the summoning circle.
The effect was immediate. The glowing pattern fractured, lines flickering and fading, but not fast enough. A jagged tear split open in midair, a black maw spilling mist that smelled of ash and rot.
Something clawed its way through.
The Garden shook as skeletal, armored limbs forced themselves out of the breach. Nexus-born. Its roar split the night, vibrating through Katherine's chest.
Seraphyne laughed, her form flickering like a phantom among the shadows. "Late as always. Let's see how long you last."
Katherine clenched her fists and launched forward. Every strike burned her reserves, but she found an opening. A surge of light shot from her palm and crashed into Caleb's chest. His body flew back, slamming into the grass. His eyes flickered, the haze breaking.
He collapsed, free but unconscious.
Katherine dropped to her knees, sweat dripping down her face. Her limbs trembled with exhaustion, but she crawled to him, pulling him into her arms. His breath was shallow, but steady.
Seraphyne's gaze lingered on them, her smile cruel. She backed into the shadows of the half-open portal, her voice curling through the Garden like venom.
"This is only the beginning."
The rift pulsed behind her, wider now. The first Nexus-born fully emerged, its skeletal frame wrapped in obsidian armor, its hollow eyes glowing. It threw back its head and roared, shaking the empty stadium.
Katherine froze, clutching Caleb tighter, her chest heaving.
She looked up into the monster's hollow gaze.
And for the first time that night, she felt fear crawl down her spine.
The roar echoed through New York.