It was the kind of silence that felt like the world was holding its breath, waiting for something—anything—to break the tension. The storm was coming. I could feel it in my bones, like the air before a lightning strike, heavy with anticipation.
Both families had been preparing for what was inevitable. The Blackthorns, as cold and calculated as ever, were sharpening their blades and their minds, ready for the final confrontation. Empress was still as ruthless as the first day I laid eyes on her, but now, even she was starting to show cracks in her armor. Noctis, on the other hand, had always been the showman, the one who played for the crowd and loved the spotlight. But now? Now he was quiet. Focused. Something had changed in him too. It wasn't just about the power anymore—it was about survival.
And survival meant facing Necro, who was no longer just a shadow in the background. Necro was a storm, and the families? They were the ones caught in the eye of it. Everyone knew it, even if they didn't say it aloud. Necro wasn't just an enemy anymore. They were the only enemy, and we were all going to have to fight together if we had any hope of surviving.
I had never seen Noctis and Empress in the same room before. The tension between them had always been enough to burn down any space they shared, but now? Now there was an unspoken understanding between them. A recognition that, no matter how much they hated each other, the real enemy wasn't on the other side of the table—it was in the shadows, pulling the strings and making them dance like puppets.
"I never thought I'd be sitting here with you," Empress said, her voice sharp but carrying an edge of reluctance. She was always the one to control the conversation, to make others bend to her will, but not today. Today, she was playing by someone else's rules.
Noctis smirked, leaning back in his chair, his fingers drumming against the table. "Same here. But we've got bigger problems. Necro doesn't care about either of us. They want everything."
The words hit harder than I expected. It was true. Necro wasn't just content with dismantling one family. They wanted to burn it all down, take the pieces, and build something from the wreckage. There was no loyalty with Necro—only power. And that power, I had realized, was something neither the Blackthorns nor the Vortexes were equipped to handle alone.
"We don't have a choice," Empress finally said, her cold, calculating eyes locking with Noctis's. "If we don't put aside our differences, we're finished."
Noctis didn't respond right away, but I saw it in his eyes—he understood. He knew. As much as he hated the idea of working with Empress, he hated the idea of Necro winning more.
But the unspoken truth between them? Trust wasn't something either of them could afford to give. The very idea of working together was a calculated risk, and neither family had ever been in a position where they didn't control the game. But we weren't playing anymore. We were surviving.
As the meeting continued, I could feel the weight of the years of deception that had led us to this point. Secrets had been kept for far too long. Lies had been woven into the very fabric of both families, and now, those lies were unraveling, thread by thread.
I could hear the whispers—things I wasn't supposed to know. Empress had been manipulating Noctis's family for years, planting false information, pitting them against each other in subtle, insidious ways. And Noctis? Noctis had been playing his own game, feeding misinformation to the Blackthorns, pushing them into corners they hadn't even known existed. We had all been part of it. Everyone was guilty of the same thing: manipulation. Power. Deception. We had spent so much time fighting for control, we'd forgotten who the real enemy was until it was almost too late.
As if on cue, the room fell into an eerie silence. I could almost hear the whispers in the air, feel the weight of the secrets pressing in on us. The trust that had once held these families together was gone, replaced by suspicion and fear. No one knew who to believe, who to turn to. We were all walking on a tightrope, and one wrong move would send everything crashing down.
"This alliance… it's fragile," Noctis said, his voice low. "We all know that. But it's our only chance."
Empress nodded slowly, though I could see the bitterness on her face. She hated the idea, but even she knew it was the only way. "We deal with Necro first. Once that's done, we can sort out the rest."
There was a moment of shared understanding. For now, we were united by a single goal: survival. But beyond that? Beyond Necro's destruction, I wasn't sure where we would stand. What kind of world would be left when the storm finally passed? Would it be a world where both families could rebuild, or would it be one where only the strongest would survive?
I didn't have the answers. But I knew this: as the storm began to gather around us, each of us was a part of it, caught in the eye of something far more dangerous than any of us had imagined. The battle against Necro wasn't just about winning—it was about keeping our souls intact.
The storm was coming, and we were all standing in its path. And when it hit, there would be no going back.