Chapter 5 – Drift
The night exploded.
Tracer rounds lit the rain like falling stars as the second convoy roared into Sector 9. Armored wheels splashed neon water, engines screaming, weapons locking onto Kai and Crow's position.
"Too hot!" Eve's voice snapped across comms, sharp with strain. "They're cutting through my firewalls like paper. These aren't rent-a-cops—they brought hunters."
Kai stood his ground. Shadows writhed at his feet like living things, feeding off his neural rig's hum. For too long, he'd kept his true hand hidden, a phantom working in whispers. But now—the city would see what happened when the Sovereign chose to stand in the open.
"Cover your eyes," Kai murmured.
Crow dropped her scope, Eve cursed through the line, and then the street drowned in darkness.
Not natural darkness. Not the absence of light.
This was his darkness—shadows crawling like liquid fire across the neon walls, swallowing headlights, drowning surveillance drones, reaching inside soldier helmets and flooding their optics. Screams erupted as mercs fired wildly at illusions that weren't there. Their bullets ricocheted off phantom walls, their nerves shredded by whispers in voices they recognized—family, friends, ghosts.
Kai stepped through it untouched, cloak swirling, eyes glowing faintly like twin embers in the abyss. He was a myth given flesh, a monster dressed as a man.
By the time the shadows receded, a dozen mercs were already down. The rest fled into the storm.
But it wasn't enough.
The armored serpent-logo truck plowed through the wreckage, gun turret spinning, targeting systems already recalibrated. Eve's fingers flew over her virtual keyboard, face lit by cascading code.
"I can jam them for maybe twenty seconds. After that, they'll burn through me."
Kai grit his teeth. "Twenty's enough."
That's when the roar of an engine cut through the chaos. A blur of chrome and neon screeched around the corner—a low-slung cybercar, wheels sparking against wet asphalt. It drifted clean around a burning drone husk, came to a halt inches from Kai, and the gullwing door hissed open.
"Need a lift?"
The driver was young, hood half down, neon tattoos glowing faint under their skin. Augmented gloves flickered as they gripped the wheel, and a wild grin split their face.
Crow swore into comms. "Who the hell—?"
Kai slid the data core onto his belt and climbed in without hesitation. "Our ride."
Eve followed, practically diving into the backseat with her holo-screens still active around her. "You better not scratch this core or I'll fry your implants!"
The driver laughed, slammed the accelerator, and the car shot forward like a bullet. Tires screamed, rain exploded into mist, and gunfire shredded the air behind them.
"Name's Drift," the driver shouted over the roar of engines. "Best damn getaway in Erevos. Buckle up."
The serpent convoy gave chase, armored wheels thundering, turrets firing neon tracers that lit up the night.
Drift smirked, eyes glowing as they synced with the car's neural HUD. "Let's dance."
The city became a blur of tunnels, alleys, and glowing billboards. Drift threaded the car through impossible gaps, spinning into neon-drenched turns with precision so sharp it felt unreal. Drones swarmed from above—Crow leaned out, rifle barking, taking them down one by one.
Eve cursed in the back, fighting digital ghosts clawing into her firewall. "They've got trackers in the grid! If I lose this fight, they'll know where we breathe!"
Kai placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then don't lose. You're Shadow Net."
She met his eyes, steadying, and her hands blurred faster than ever.
Drift's laughter echoed through the car as it spun through another impossible corner, sparks trailing. "Shadow Net, huh? Sounds like my kind of crew."
The serpent convoy stayed on their tail, but for the first time in Erevos, Kai felt something shift—not just survival.
Momentum.