Kael and Rion didn't stop running
until their lungs burned and the
sounds of the Dominion patrols
had faded into the distance. The
city ruins stretched endlessly
ahead, a maze of crumbling
structures and jagged rubble. The
faint glow of Kael's shard dimmed
as they slowed, but its warmth
against his chest was a constant
reminder of its presence—and its
power.
Kael finally pulled Rion into a
sheltered alcove beneath what
had once been a bridge. The
remnants of steel beams overhead
creaked faintly in the wind, but it
was the safest spot they could
find for now. Kael crouched,
placing a hand on his brother's
shoulder to steady him.
"You okay?" he asked, scanning
Rion's face.
Rion nodded, though his breaths
were still ragged. "What was
that… thing?"
Kael didn't answer right away. He
glanced back toward the way they
had come, half-expecting to see
the shimmering figure looming in
the distance. It hadn't followedthem, but the image of its shifting,
iridescent form was burned into
his mind.
"I don't know," Kael admitted
finally. "But it wasn't natural.
Nothing like that should exist."
Rion hugged his knees to his
chest, his small frame trembling.
"It felt… wrong. Like it wasn't
supposed to be here."
Kael nodded grimly. "That's
because it wasn't. And neither is
this." He reached into his jacket
and pulled out the shard, its faint
glow casting eerie patterns on the
walls around them. The energy it
had emitted earlier was gone now,
but Kael could still feel the subtle
pulse of power, like a heartbeat.
Rion's eyes widened as he stared
at the shard. "Kael, where did you
even get that?"
Kael hesitated. The shard was a
relic of the past, something he had
was given by his late mother.Back
then, he hadn't understood what it
was—only that it was different.
Special. But the way it had reacted
today, the way it had drawn that…
thing… to them, made him wonder
if keeping it had been a mistake.
"It doesn't matter," Kael said,
tucking the shard back into hisjacket. "All that matters is we keep
moving. The Dominion will tear
this place apart looking for
scavengers, and I'm not planning
to stick around to see how that
ends."
"But… what if they're looking for
the shard?" Rion asked, his voice
small.
Kael's jaw tightened. He had
thought about that possibility
before, but now it felt almost
certain. The Dominion's obsession
with relics from the past was no
secret. If they knew he had
something this powerful, they
wouldn't stop until they had it.
"We don't know that," Kael said
firmly, though the doubt in his
voice was hard to miss. "For now,
we just focus on staying alive.
That's all that matters."
Rion didn't look convinced, but he
nodded anyway. "Okay… but
where do we go?"
Kael glanced at the horizon. The
sun was setting, casting long
shadows over the ruins. Traveling
at night was dangerous, but
staying here was worse. He
thought of the towering figure
they had seen, of the Dominion
patrols scouring the area, and of
the strange pull of the shard."There's an outpost a few miles
east," Kael said finally. "It's not
much, but it's safer than here.
We'll head there, rest, and figure
out our next move."
Rion stood, his legs still shaky, but
his determination clear. "Okay.
Let's go."
Kael nodded, leading the way out
of their temporary shelter and
back into the open. The ruins were
quieter now, the faint hum of
Dominion engines replaced by the
low howl of the wind. But Kael
couldn't shake the feeling that
they were being watched.
As they made their way east,
Kael's mind raced. The shard's
reaction, the creature, the
Dominion—it all felt connected
somehow, like pieces of a puzzle
he couldn't quite put together. But
one thing was clear: the shard was
more than just a relic. It was a key
to something bigger.
And whatever that "something"
was, Kael wasn't sure he wanted
to find out.But it wasn't long
enough as the monster had found
them.