They didn't have long to catch their breath.
The ruin of the lab was hot with the smell of scorched flesh and chemical smoke. Sparks popped from severed cables. Mira clung to Kross, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. Renn was half-laughing, half-choking on air, wiping blood from his lips with a crazed grin.
Kael stood by the wall, pressing a cloth to a cut on his side, eyes narrowed at the pedestal. "That box…" he rasped. "It's humming louder. Anyone else hear it?"
"I don't want to be anywhere near that thing," Zane muttered. Shadows curled around his ankles like wary cats. "It feels… wrong. Like it's watching."
Rix stepped forward despite himself. The box pulsed with a dim heartbeat, so faint it might've been his own ears ringing. But he felt it — deep under his skin, in the marrow of his bones. It was like it recognized him.
He reached out, fingers trembling.
---
Before he could touch it, the wall exploded.
Shards of stone and metal hurled across the room. Kross threw himself over Mira as splinters rained down. Renn staggered back, shielding his eyes. Kael ducked, knives already back in his hands.
Through the choking dust stepped a figure draped in black. A half-mask of wrought iron covered his face, its filigree etched with tiny spirals. Behind him came more Hollowed, these leaner and faster, with elongated limbs that bent the wrong way.
"Well, well," the masked man drawled. His voice was calm, almost amused. "Looks like Veros left a mess for me to clean up."
Kael's eyes sharpened. "Who the hell are you?"
The stranger gave a shallow bow. "Call me Ruel. I'm one of the Crown's Keepers. And by decree of the Sovereign, all infected anomalies — that means your delightful little group — are to be harvested. Preferably alive."
---
Rix's blood went cold. "Harvested?"
"Of course." Ruel spread his arms, mock-affable. "Your kind are far too valuable to simply kill. There's so much we can learn. And so many weapons to forge from your remains."
Mira whimpered. Kross tightened his hold on her, baring his teeth. "Over my dead body."
"That can be arranged."
With a flick of his hand, the Hollowed surged forward. This time they were smarter, moving in eerie coordination. One leapt for Zane, who barely twisted aside, shadows lashing out to catch it by the throat. Another crashed into Renn, claws scraping sparks from the floor as lightning erupted in a frenzied storm.
Kael was a blur, dancing between two attackers. His blades opened throats, severed spines, but there were more — always more. Blood smeared across his chest and face, none of it his yet.
---
Rix found himself backed against the pedestal. The box hummed louder, almost frantic now. Without thinking, he slammed his palm onto it.
The world inverted.
For a breathless instant he was nowhere — suspended in a void of red strands that vibrated with unknowable songs. Images flared: monstrous shapes chained in abyssal pits, cities burning under a shattered moon, rivers running black. He felt something vast and hungry turn its gaze on him.
Then it was gone. He was back in the lab, his body crackling with searing energy. His eyes snapped open, burning like coals.
A Hollowed lunged at him. Rix punched — and the creature erupted in a blossom of red light, disintegrating into ash.
Kael shouted something, but it was lost under the roar in Rix's ears. Power flooded his limbs, raw and wild. He grabbed another Hollowed by the face and squeezed. It shrieked, body imploding in on itself.
---
Ruel tilted his head, studying Rix with cold fascination. "Now that is interesting. Perhaps we'll skip dissection and take you straight to the throne."
Rix didn't wait for him to move. He launched forward, feet skidding on blood-slick stone. His fist connected with the Keeper's chest in a thunderclap of force, sending Ruel hurtling through two walls in a shower of rubble.
"MOVE!" Kael barked, grabbing Mira's arm. The group fled, crashing through the far door into a twisting corridor of rusted pipes and flickering lights. Behind them, rubble shifted. A distant, mocking laugh echoed.
They didn't stop. Not until they burst into the damp night air, lungs heaving. Rain sluiced the blood from their skin. Somewhere high above, lightning crawled across a bruised sky.
Kael turned to Rix, eyes wide, almost fearful. "What the hell did you just unleash?"
Rix swallowed, tasting iron and something older. "I… don't know."
Mira clutched Kross's arm, voice small. "Is it over?"
A shadow passed over Rix's face. "No. It's only just starting."