The rain fell upward, and hell followed.
Kael stood at the refinery's smashed viewport, Stormheart throbbing in his intertwined hold. Neon Avalon's horizon drained indigo light as torpid Doors flared awake—wounds tearing open over the city's cadaver. Far-off shouts clawed through the static-charged air.
"They're coming."
Lyss's voice echoed from the beast's throat. The animal lay coiled on the refinery floor, violet light beating underneath its scales where her awareness rode its apprehensive framework. "The rain... It's waking the Sleepers."
Valen to Kael's side, void-crystal splitting perceptibly because it
eaten up his jawline. He grasped a broken pipe, knuckles white. "Sleepers?"
"Those the Doors touched but didn't murder," Lyss whispered through the mammoth. "Silas'sto begin with, tests. The Walker mixes them."
—
The primary wave hit the refinery's border at sunset.
Not Purges. Sleepers.
Their bodies were distorted but whole—civilians with indigo veins bulging beneath skin, eyes smooth white, mouths slack. They moved with ghostly synchronicity, climbing impact dividers like creepy crawlies, drawn to the Stormheart's beat.
"KEY... Donate KEY..."
The psychic ramble vibrated in Kael's molars.
Valen raised his gem arm. "Can your unused pet win its keep?"
Kael squeezed his palm to the beast's nose. Chase.
The animal uncoiled, shaking the chamber. Lyss's violet light burst in its eyes. With a thunder that split concrete, it surged through the destroyed wall—a living torrential slide of scales and shadow.
-
Board Portrayal (Mental Vision):
Kael sees through the beast's eyes:
Sleepers diffusing like cinder some time recently, its claws.
A child-Sleeper, no more seasoned than ten, solidified mid-lunge—her eyes flicker human for one pulse.
Lyss's command: "HOLD." The mammoth slips to a halt, claws inches from the girl's confront.
"Don't!" Kael's voice was crude. "They're still in there!"
"THE WALKER SEEDS THEM LIKE Explosives,
"Lyss warned."
"TOUCH THEM, AND"
The Sleeper-child exploded.
Not fire. Soul-shrapnel.
Psychic hammered the monster in reverse. Kael shouted as shared torment speared his mind—memories not his claim:
A mother's bedtime song.
Silas's needle sliding into a modest spine.
The Walker's voice: "Sprout for me."
—
Valen dragged Kael behind a collapsed generator as shrapnel sprinkled. "They're bombs, Thorn! You delay, we pass on!"
Kael clutched the Stormheart. Its light uncovered the truth within the smoke:
Sleeper-corpses changing, sewing bone from indigo vapor.
The Walkers' sigil burning in their chests—a green-black eye.
And tall over, a modern Entryway yawned—directly over the refinery.
"Lyss!" Kael yelled. "Can you feel it? The Walker's opening an entryway!"
The monster roared—not resistance, but misery. Void-crystal spikes were emitted from its flanks. Valen panted as his clan's gem scars flared in harmony.
"IT'S Utilizing THE Crystal... Tracing US..."
"Lyss's voice frayed."
VALEN—CUT IT OUT! Now!
Valen didn't waver. He seized a fallen steel shard.
"Wai—!" Kael lunged.
As well as late.
Valen slammed the shard into his crystal-infested bear. CRUNCH-SHATTER. Shining parts splashed. He collapsed, crying, as the separated precious stone rings writhed like passing snakes.
Over them, the incipient Entryway faltered.
—
The mammoth was stunned, Lyss's light stabilizing it. Kael pulled Valen up, blood smooth between them. "Why?"
Valen uncovered teeth in a rictus smile. "Walker doesn't... possess me." He tapped his half-crystal sanctuary. "I'm Thorne blood. We as it were stoop... to ourselves."
"Approaching!"
Lyss screeched.
From the unsteady Entryway, a void-hound fell—a skeletal frightfulness of shadow and spiked bone. It landed on the refinery, claws shrieking on metal.
"SCOUT," Lyss murmured. "THE WALKER TESTS OUR Dividers."
Kael raised the Stormheart. The rune in his palm burst violet-black.
"At that point, we break its teeth."
End of Chapter 19.