Page 40

H.A.Z.E

D arkness gathers, and the streets grow quiet as Seth and I leave Old Smithy's little store. A familiar smell reaches my nose, and I smile. "You know, this is the first time we've been alone since I entered your head… Two weeks ago, was it?"

Seth gives me a disapproving side eye. "If you pull anything…"

"Yes, yes, the Saviour will know and unleash hell, blah, blah, fucking blah ," I grumble, slipping my hands into the pockets of my jumpsuit. "He's risked all of your lives, and for what?"

"You shouldn't underestimate him," Seth begins, glancing around the street, unnerved by the silence, "he's a lot more powerful than you think."

"You know, I don't remember much about my transition into becoming a Nightwalker." Seth stiffens but chooses to stay quiet. "I simply have these instincts that were drilled into me, a voice that comes and goes so I don't forget the rules Ricci taught us."

"Rules?" I can see I've piqued his interest. So very little is known about my kind, and it's not because we like to keep our ugly secrets to ourselves; it's simply because nobody ever cared to ask. "Do you have rules?"

"Of course. We were created to survive after all… Originally, anyway, " I muse, twisting my body until I'm walking backwards down the street and facing Seth. "The first rule was simple: no matter how strong you think you are, never underestimate your opponent."

"I've met Damien," Seth scoffs, "the man thinks he's a God."

"Damien is different. You'll have to put Damien on his knees to witness the God become a man." I tilt my head at Seth, questioning, "Have you ever seen Damien on his knees?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Shame. I have." I giggle, as Seth's footsteps slow down and stop entirely. "I see why you fell for his lies; he plays the good solider well. Too well. That is… if you can get him on. His. Knees."

My head shifts, standing face-to-face with the Saviour's general in the middle of the road, surrounded by half-broken buildings and flickering lights of a world once whole. His breath slow, his body tense, his eyes wide.

Seth opens his mouth, but a loud sound shatters through the silent night and cuts him off. He swirls towards the noise as a large explosion of fire engulfs the night sky. Seth runs to the source, and I follow calmly along the empty road.

“I don't like this,” Essy whispers, quiet and defeated.

“Since when has what you feel mattered to me?”

“Haze…” Essy, my other half—my better half—pleads, “ I'm almost done breaking the mark, and then we can leave. You don't have to do this.”

“I want to, Essy, I really fucking want to,” I grit, right as I reach the bottom of the street, where Reece had traded elixirs and a ring for a lie. “ Now sleep; if I have to speak to you again tonight, you won't like what I'll do.”

"Reece! Stop!" a loud voice shrieks, followed by familiar laughter. I glance up in time to see Alissa and Reece fighting over a matchstick as the smell of gasoline completely taints the air.

The clerk's shop is up in flames, but from the look of things, Reece won’t be satisfied until it’s ashes at her feet. Seth reaches her right as she drops the matchstick. He dives to reach it, both him and Alissa, as I step beside Reece.

The two fail to catch the matchstick, and I watch as it hits a puddle. The puddle becomes a bright blue flame that races across the road as if it had a life of its own and joins the red and black flames engulfing the store.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Seth yells, his face drenched in pure panic as we all turn our eyes to the absolute destruction taking place before our eyes.

"Look what I got!" Reece beams, holding her ring out to Seth and Alissa almost proudly.

"You burnt down the store... for a fucking ring?!"

"Not just any ring," Reece huffs at Seth, "my sister's ring."

Loud coughing, hacking, and spluttering echoes over the crackling of the fire. We all turn our attention to the clerk stumbling out of his store covered in soot. Reece frowns. "Aww, he wasn't supposed to come out."

I laugh and run a hand through my hair. I admit, I certainly hadn't expected this.

"Reece!" Seth yells, completely in disbelief, as if he's staring at a complete stranger. Reece only responds with anger and glares at him.

"What?" Reece snaps. "He was being difficult, so I punished him. Fuck off and leave me alone."

Seth jumps to his feet, his brows pinched together as he reaches for her but stops when his feet crunch against something hard.

Everyone looks down to find the supposedly all-powerful amulet of the Gods crushed beneath his boot.

But Reece doesn't look nearly as distraught by it as she was to find the clerk still alive.

I grab the back of Reece's neck as Seth's gaze slowly lifts to mine. I see the realisation slowly cross his face, and before he can call the Saviour, I speak. "I'll rip her head from her shoulders before you can finish the thought."

Seth stiffens, and I glance at Alissa, who's staring wide-eyed between the three of us. "Whatever you think you're doing here... it won't work—"

Seth cuts himself off as his head snaps towards the shadows.

They move first, slithering unnaturally as though they are alive.

At first, it seems like a trick of the light, the dark pooling thicker in places where it shouldn't.

Then they emerge. One by one, hulking forms step into the dim light of the broken city, their grotesque shapes pulling free from the darkness like nightmares come to life.

Alissa gasps sharply, her breath hitching in a way that breaks the fragile stillness as Seth pulls her behind himself protectively. His head twists in every direction as the Defects move closer.

"I never underestimated the Saviour, Seth," I admit, my gaze lifting to his, "and despite my warnings, you underestimated me when it was the very first thing I told you not to do."

Seth turns to me. "Let them go…"

My punch lands with a sickening, thunderous crack. Seth's body jolts violently, his head snapping back, and for a moment, he hangs weightless, suspended in the split second before physics takes over.

His feet leave the ground as if he'd been ripped free from gravity, his body hurtling across the street in a blur.

His body collides with a lone wooden stall filled with empty baskets mid-flight, splintering it into shards that scatter like shrapnel.

The momentum carries him further, sending him tumbling in a chaotic roll across the road.

"Kill him." I turn to the Defects with a simple, cold command. "Scatter his limbs across the road for the Saviour to find."

I turn to where I left Alissa, but… she’s gone.

No, not gone. Invisible.

I narrow my gaze, watching the Aether swirl through a pocket of space I know Alissa occupies. This isn’t like the time Mia disappeared. The Aether still touched her. Mia still existed. It was her lingering scent. Her divine energy that thrummed in the air. Her anger.

Even if I couldn’t see Aether, I would still sense Mia. Feel her intentions.

But Alissa… she’s absent. No scent. No presence. No trace of emotion. Like a Nightwalker. Only, even we don’t vanish like this. Not completely from sight.

Nightwalkers can stand directly in a creature’s view, but they’ll never acknowledge us. We’re just there, a blur in the crowd, a distant thought in the back of their minds. It’s only when we allow ourselves to be seen, that creatures see us.

But Alissa… She's gone. If I couldn’t see the Aether, I wouldn’t even know she’s here.

The Aether doesn’t touch her, the same way it doesn’t touch Nightwalkers. And in the empty pocket of space, I know she’s there. I know she’s afraid.

I perch low, where I think her face is, and tilt my head. “Come out, Little Fox. I know you’re there.”

Nothing. Not even a disturbance in the Aether.

I chuckle, low, unhurried. “We can always do this the hard way, Alissa. Riot will come to me, it’s inevitable; it’s up to you whether his death will be a painless one.”

I could reach in, drag her back to reality. But I don’t. Not yet. I want to see what she chooses; if she’ll choose survival over him.

Then it happens. The Aether begins to shift.

Tiny balls of light stir, gathering like dust in sunlight. They fill the space around her, wrapping gently around her form. One of its tails glows a soft pink as the fox steps forward, slowly stepping back into existence.

The Aether clings to her fur as she stands before me. Her snout mere inches from my face, her green eyes connecting with mine. But it isn’t her beauty that strikes me; it’s her eyes.

A Shifter usually mirrors their human counterpart. But this fox… She feels older. Wiser. Like she’s protecting Alissa, not the other way around.

My eyes darken, and I voice a command wrapped in steel. “Shift.”

The fox stiffens. Just for a second.

I raise a brow, and that’s all it takes.

The sound of bones snapping follows. Fur recedes. And suddenly, Alissa sits before me—trembling, tear-filled eyes staring up from the floor.

"It's too bad I lost my patience." My eyes glow gold as her body practically trembles. "I could have made you a great Queen."

With that, I knock her out, too.