The ship shook violently, not from the engines but from the world itself breaking open. Mae's skin lit with violet chains beneath the surface, sparking and pulsing against her will. Her breath caught. The vision that had haunted her, the one where she stood on a battlefield of fire and glass, tearing the world apart, felt like it was crawling out of her head and into reality.
Outside, the horizon split. The earth bled light, jagged wounds opening as towering shadows clawed their way free. The Forgotten were waking.
"Shields up, now!" Sethis shouted, his voice shaking in a way Mae had never heard. Lucien's chains burned white-hot along his arms as he stared out the viewport. Ashar's knuckles whitened around his blade. Even Riven, usually unshakable, had his wings half-flared, feathers twitching with unease.
Then the ship lurched, hard, as something slammed into the ramp. A body rolled inside, limp and bleeding, leaving a smear of red across the metal. Mae's heart stopped. "Kaine!" she yelled.
He was nearly unrecognizable. Chains shredded, skin split and gray, his eyes half-closed. His chest rose shallowly, blood bubbling with each faint breath. Lucien and Ashar crouched, lifting him. It took everything he had to get the words out, barely a whisper against the howl outside.
"They're here." That was all he managed before his body went slack in their arms.
Mae's stomach turned. Her vision flared, the same flashes as before, fire and chains, universes falling, her own hands glowing with a light that burned and destroyed. Only now it wasn't a distant nightmare. The roar outside told her it had begun.
The ship's alarms screamed. Violet lightning split the sky, revealing the silhouettes of the Forgotten swarming across the surface like a living storm. Their cries were a sound older than language, shaking the air, rattling the hull. The ground trembled beneath them, and the air tasted of iron and ash.
Lucien's voice was low, steady, and grim as he set Kaine down carefully. His glowing chains tightened like a weapon ready to strike. "This is it." Mae's pulse hammered. Outside, something massive slammed against the ship again, hard enough to bend metal. The ramp hissed as if the Forgotten were peeling it open from the outside. And the first of them stepped through.
The air split open with a scream that wasn't human. The thing that stepped onto the ramp looked wrong in every way, its body a jagged blend of flesh and metal, bound by chains that pulsed with stolen light. Its head jerked at an unnatural angle, no eyes, only a hollow void that seemed to devour the glow of the room.
The moment it crossed the threshold, the others followed. Dozens poured in behind it, crawling and slamming against the hull, clawed hands ripping at steel like it was paper. The Forgotten were awake, and they were starving.
Lucien moved first. His chains lashed out, white-hot energy snapping through the nearest creature and tearing it apart. "Hold the line!" he roared, and his voice was not just a command but an invocation, something old and terrible rising in him.
Ashar drew his blade in a blur of movement, flames erupting along the steel as he cut down two more. Riven's wings snapped open, his feathers igniting with shards of light as he launched into the air, slicing through the swarm with aerial strikes. Sethis' hands glowed with dark, ancient sigils, every flick of his fingers ripping shadows into physical blades.
Mae stumbled back against the wall, Kaine still crumpled at her feet. The chains under her skin burned hotter, responding to the chaos, to her terror. Her vision flashed again, the world aflame, her hands glowing, everyone she loved screaming. She clamped her hands over her ears as if she could drown it out.
But then one of the Forgotten lunged for her, and instinct moved faster than thought. Mae's power exploded outward. Violet chains ripped free from her arms, wrapping the creature midair. It screamed, a hollow sound, as the chains pulled tight, crushing it until it burst into nothing but light and ash.
She had no time to process it. More of the Forgotten surged forward, climbing over the dead. The ship rocked again, metal groaning under the assault. Outside, the horizon boiled with more shadows; this was only the first wave.
"Mae! Focus!" Lucien's voice cut through the roar, his chains meeting hers in midair. "With me. You feel it, use it!"
Her body moved on instinct. The bond between them flared, the connection they had forged burning bright. Her chains tangled with his, the combined energy creating a whip of light so strong it sheared through three Forgotten at once.
Ashar moved to cover them, flames carving a path as Sethis sealed the ramp with a wall of shadow. But the Forgotten kept coming, slamming against the barrier, their hollow cries shaking the ship.
Riven landed hard beside her, feathers scorched, a gash down his arm. "This isn't all of them," he shouted. "They're swarming the entire valley!" Her voice shook as she screamed above the chaos. "We can't hold them all!"
Lucien's response was calm, terrifyingly calm. "We don't have to. We only need to survive the first wave." As if to prove him wrong, the wall Sethis had built cracked. Something larger, heavier, began forcing its way through. The entire ship trembled as its claws scraped along the floor.
Mae froze. The vision sharpened. She saw it. The same towering silhouette from her nightmares. The one that stood at the center of the battlefield when the world burned. It was here.
The thing forcing its way through the cracked barrier let out a shriek that rattled Mae's bones. Its form was bigger than any of the others, its limbs spindled and twitching, claws dragging sparks across the floor. The smaller Forgotten scattered from its path, making room for their champion.
Lucien's chains lashed toward it, but the creature batted them aside with a whip-like limb, sparks showering where their powers clashed. Ashar dove in with his blade, flame and steel meeting void and shadow, yet it barely slowed the creature.
Mae stumbled backward, heart pounding. The chains under her skin burned hot, reacting to the proximity of the nightmare. Her vision blurred, the world tilting. Somewhere behind her, Kaine groaned faintly, and she almost turned to him, but a hiss made her freeze.
One of the smaller Forgotten had slipped through the chaos, creeping low, its hollow face aimed right at her. It moved fast, a streak of claws and black sinew, and Mae's body locked in terror. She raised her hands, but her power sputtered, a weak spark of violet flickering between her fingers.
It leapt.
A raw cry tore the air. Kaine, broken and bloodied, pushed himself upright. His body swayed, every movement jagged with pain, yet his eyes locked on Mae with fierce clarity. He threw himself between her and the creature, his hands erupting with a blast of golden energy she had never seen before.
The force slammed into the Forgotten midair, tearing it apart in a shower of light and shadow. The others reeled back at the flare, screeching. "Kaine!" Mae screamed, scrambling toward him. He turned his head toward her, his face pale, eyes dimming. Then his body collapsed, lifeless, onto the blood-slick floor.
Mae's scream cracked the air, but it was swallowed by the roar of the monstrous champion as it stepped fully through the barrier. Its void-filled gaze fixed on her, unblinking. And the war truly began.