City-73 had forgotten what silence felt like.
Machines hummed beneath the cracked streets, the smog-choked sky flickered with the lights of distant refineries, and every passerby walked with the same lowered gaze—trained, over years, to avoid drawing attention from the wrong eyes.
Avalon had made sure of that.
Inside a cramped apartment on the industrial side of the city, Rey Deskan, twelve years old and slight as a shadow, knelt beside a small clay pot. A fragile sapling pushed through the soil, its leaves trembling under the faint glow of the morning light.
It was the only green thing in the entire building.
"Grow," Rey whispered gently, brushing the leaf with a fingertip. "Please… grow strong."
Behind him, the door burst open.
"Kid," Zen muttered, stepping inside. His boots were stained with dust and blood—not an unusual sight. "Don't be late today. Mom's working double shifts. I'll take you to school."
Rey looked up and smiled. "You came back early."
Zen didn't answer. Nineteen years old, feared in the alleys, respected by criminals, and whispered about across the underground:Zen Deskan — The Devil.
Cold to the world, gentle only at home.
"I'm fine," Zen said, noticing Rey's stare. "Just a job."
Rey didn't ask. He never asked.
Zen grabbed a black backpack from the table. Something inside it clicked softly, like glass touching metal. Rey tilted his head.
"What's that?"
"Nothing you need to know."But Zen's voice wavered—only slightly.
Rey touched the sapling again. "Brother… don't do dangerous things."
Zen looked at him for a long moment, the hardness in his eyes softening.
"For you and Mom," he said quietly, "I'll survive anything."
He stepped out, closing the door behind him.
The Alley — 27 Minutes Later
Zen moved quietly through the backstreets, the stolen fossil pressing against his spine inside the bag. He'd taken it from another mafia group—idiots who treated it like cursed treasure.Rumors called fossils dangerous.Alive.Bad luck.
Zen didn't believe in any of that.
Avalon, however… Avalon wanted them badly.
As he reached a dead-end alley to hide the item, a faint vibration ran through the bag.
Zen froze.
"…What the hell?"
The fossil pulsed once—soft, violet light leaking through the fabric.
Then—
A sound tore through the air.Not a roar.Not a scream.A scraping hunger.
A beast burst through a tear in space—featureless face, enormous jaws splitting its head, two skeletal wings unfolding with a wet crackle. It slammed onto the pavement, crushing metal under its claws.
Zen's breath vanished. His instincts kicked in.
He dodged the first strike by inches, rolled across the ground, and grabbed the nearest metal pipe.
"What—WHAT IS THIS?!"
The monster shrieked, the sound drilling into his skull. Zen fought back—fast, precise, merciless—but the creature didn't bleed. Didn't slow. Didn't care.
It wanted him.
More specifically—…it wanted the fossil.
The beast lunged.
Zen raised the pipe in a desperate block—
And time bent.
Not slowed.Not paused.Bent.
A tall figure appeared behind the creature as if it had always been there. No footsteps. No arrival. A presence so wrong the air twisted around it.
Zen couldn't breathe.
No face.No sound.Only a shifting silhouette of something humanoid… and ancient.
One gesture.One stroke of unseen force.
The monster evaporated into gray dust.
Zen collapsed to his knees, shaking.
The faceless being tilted its head at him, scanning him with a flickering, glitch-like hum that made Zen's vision blur.
Zen whispered, trembling:
"…Am I hallucinating…?"
The figure bent closer—Zen felt his heart stop—then—
It vanished.Completely.As if reality swallowed it whole.
The alley went silent again.
Zen stared at the fossil glowing faintly in his bag.
He dropped it instantly, staggering backward in terror.
"I… I'm never touching that thing again."
Avalon Headquarters — Same Hour
Behind reinforced glass, in a room of white walls and red holographic screens, Avalon officials watched global readings spike.
A trembling voice from an operator:
"Director… we detected an anomaly in City-73. A fossil signature."
A tall woman in a black uniform crossed her arms.
"After all these years… we finally found them."
Another agent smirked.
"You think the missing Deskan boys will save us from Eclipse?The older one's nothing but a street devil, and the younger—"
He scoffed.
"—The younger is useless. The ring didn't work for trained soldiers. And you expect a child to activate it?"
The director's eyes narrowed.
"Aydren isn't here to interfere anymore.And Avalon… no longer has time for failures."
She paused.
"Bring them in."