The ruins gave them no peace, but that night they found shelter inside a collapsed cathedral. Half the roof was gone, the other half patched by hanging sheets of neon and OLED tarp, fluttering with the wind. Shattered stained glass painted the floor in fractured colors whenever lightning flared outside. Where once hymns had risen, now the hum of old circuitry filled the air — fragments of servers wired into the cracked altar, glowing faintly like plasma offerings to a broken god.
They built their fire at the center. The relic lay nearby, its shape rippling when they looked at it too long: sometimes a spear, sometimes a gauntlet, sometimes only a caged core of atomic light. It pulsed like a heartbeat.
No one spoke at first.
Jun broke the silence, tossing a chunk of bread from his ration pack into his mouth."Well," he said, chewing loudly, "on the bright side, we didn't die. Again."
Ramon grunted. Andoy smirked faintly, but the glow of the relic washed the humor thin.
Mateo sat apart, staring at the shifting object, thoughts buried. Liwayway's eyes followed him — calm but sharp, reading what he wouldn't say aloud.
Nico didn't sit at all. He stood against a broken pillar, fists clenched, eyes fixed on nothing. His knuckles sparked faint light each time his grip tightened.
Later, when the others dozed or pretended to, Nico slipped outside into the courtyard. The ground was cracked stone, weeds pushing through, glowing faintly from residual atomic energy that leaked into the soil.
He struck the wall once. The stone cracked.
Again. Harder. His fist blazed with gold fire — fragments of divine wrath made manifest. His breath came ragged.
He saw his parents again — faces lit by fire not of their making, prayers unanswered as the world around them collapsed. He had begged, once, for an angel, for salvation, for anyone to intervene. None came. Only silence. Only the cruel mockery of heaven's distance.
His fists struck again, and the wall shattered into pieces.
Jun's voice cut through the night. "Hey… uh, training or self-destruction? Hard to tell with you sometimes."
Nico spun. His eyes blazed, fists burning brighter. For a heartbeat, the fire leapt, uncontrolled — a surge of rage ready to consume. Jun staggered back, raising his hands."Whoa, whoa, I was kidding—"
The blast flared, but Ramon's arm caught Nico's wrist, stopping it cold. The fire seared against Ramon's sleeve, but he didn't let go.
"Enough," Ramon growled. His eyes locked onto Nico's, unflinching. "Your anger will burn more than enemies."
"Let me go!" Nico snarled, struggling. "You don't understand! None of you understands!"
Andoy appeared then, stepping into the courtyard. His own fists glowed faint red."Maybe I do."
Nico froze, chest heaving. The fire dimmed slightly, but his eyes still trembled with fury.
Ramon released him slowly. "Control yourself, or one day it won't be monsters you kill."
Nico turned away, trembling. "Maybe that's the point."
No one answered.
Inside the cathedral, LEDs flickered like ghost candles across the broken pews. Liwayway's gaze followed Mateo. He hadn't moved since they set camp, eyes fixed on the relic as though waiting for it to speak. Finally, she crossed to him, staff tapping softly on the stone.
"You watch it like a priest before an altar," she said.
Mateo didn't look at her. "Because it is dangerous."
"It is divine," Liwayway corrected. Her voice was calm, but firm. "You see circuits and alloy. I see faith woven into matter. This relic is no accident of science. It is a gift — a mercy left when time ruptured. It should be guarded with reverence."
Mateo finally turned, his eyes dark. "Reverence won't stop a blade at your throat. Reverence won't keep it from falling into the hands of those who'd burn cities for it. I don't worship tools, Liwayway. I use them. That's how we survive."
She shook her head, hair shifting like a shadow. "To use what is holy as if it were only steel… that is how men fall. That is how hubris becomes ruin. You of all people should know this."
Mateo's jaw tightened. "And you of all people should know blind faith killed just as many. Science, magic, faith — none of them saved this world when it cracked. Why should I pretend one will save it now?"
The relic pulsed between them, its glow intensifying. For a moment, the cathedral filled with fusion-white light, as if it too listened to their argument.
Neither yielded.
Liwayway's voice softened but did not break. "Then perhaps that is why it waits. Because none of us are ready."
Mateo said nothing.
By dawn, the tension spread like smoke.
Andoy sat near Nico, their silence heavy. When the younger's fists trembled, Andoy clasped his own fiery hand over them, grounding the blaze without words. Ramon sharpened his blade on a fragment of scrap, eyes scanning but not intervening. Jun toyed with broken wires, trying to joke once or twice, but his words fell into the air too thick to lift.
They were together, but not united.
The relic pulsed again, faint but insistent. Its light reflected in their eyes, fractured differently in each one. To some, it was salvation. To others, temptation. To Mateo, a burden. To Nico, a test.
They did not speak of what had happened in the courtyard. They did not return to Liwayway's argument. Each fracture remained in the dark, buried but not gone.
That night, as the others slept, Mateo sat awake, the relic humming faintly beside him. He whispered into the silence, though none were there to hear.
"We won battles," he said. "But inside… we are breaking."
The relic pulsed once, like a heartbeat. Waiting.