The rain had stopped, but the streets still glistened with reflections of neon signs and broken windows. Lucian and Jace kept moving through the city's skeletal underbelly, past slumped buildings and hollow alleys. Their breath puffed in the cold air as they headed toward Northbridge, a forgotten stretch of road where the city thinned out into silence.
Lucian's boots splashed through shallow puddles, his senses razor-sharp. Something in him stirred with every step, guiding him, sharpening his vision. He felt lighter, no, faster. His heartbeat wasn't just steady. It was controlled, aware. As they neared a rusted overpass, Lucian surged forward.
"Lucian, wait up!" Jace's voice echoed behind him.
Lucian had already shot ahead like a blur. His limbs obeyed some deep-rooted instinct, almost floating. He dashed over cracked pavement, dodging debris without effort. The broken shell of a car shattered as he brushed past it, the glass windows exploding outward as if pushed by an invisible force.
Jace finally caught up, gasping. "Dude… are you even human?"
Lucian turned, startled to realize how far he'd left his friend behind. "I don't know," he said, almost too calmly.
He turned back toward the street. Northbridge stretched out ahead desolate, draped in silence, empty save for shadows and the occasional scurry of rats.
Lucian walked forward, staring at his hand.
The mark.
It glowed again this time blue. Soft, steady, and alive.
He could feel the air move differently. As if everything around him breathed in sync with the light under his skin. A whisper pressed into his mind. Not in words, but in presence. Ancient. Confident.
"You are beginning to wake."
Lucian winced. The voice echoed again deep and vast, like it came from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Do not fear your strength. Fear those who want to bury it."
He reached out instinctively and touched a steel pole beside the bridge. It bent slightly. His fingers weren't even trembling.
"I don't know how I'm doing this," Lucian muttered.
Jace stared, jaw tense. "I don't either. But I'm starting to think this mark thing is more than some magic tattoo."
Lucian laughed weakly. "Yeah? Took you this long?"
Jace didn't respond. His gaze lingered on Lucian's hand. Fear crept into his eyes uncertain, hesitant.
Lucian noticed.
And then, oddly, he knew what Jace was thinking.
He's scared of me.
Lucian blinked. "I don't blame you."
Jace flinched. "What?"
"You don't have to say it. I can feel it," Lucian said quietly.
A shard of glass nearby lifted from the ground, hovering for a moment before dropping with a faint clink. The air had shifted. It was heavier, alive with static.
Jace stepped back slightly but didn't leave. "We still need answers. And fast. If they find us again whoever they are next time, we won't get a head start."
Lucian nodded slowly, eyes scanning the bridge's far end. There was no sign of Marinette, but he knew they weren't free yet. Others could be out there more assassins. And the voice in his head wasn't getting quieter.
As they pressed forward, Lucian tried to recall memories that felt like dreams. Faint flashes. A face he didn't know. A tower. Screams. Fire.
"You ran before your time," the voice said again, more clearly now. "But the world does not wait."
Lucian staggered slightly.
"Are you okay?" Jace asked.
"Yeah," Lucian said. "I just…"
"You were born to hold this power. You cannot run from it."
Lucian clenched his fists. "Shut up," he whispered.
"What?" Jace said.
"Nothing."
They continued walking until they found an old transit station long abandoned. Rust coated the turnstiles, and the lights inside flickered in eerie blue. It looked like no one had been there in years.
Lucian pushed the door open. The handle broke clean off.
Jace raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you're officially too strong."
They entered carefully. It wasn't much, but it was dry, and more importantly it was hidden.
Jace set up his datapad on an old bench, fingers flying as he started pulling up city records, surveillance leaks, and encrypted networks.
Lucian sat nearby, staring at his hand. The glow faded, but the energy remained. That voice in his head, always at the edge of his thoughts.
He wondered was it really just a voice?
Was something inside him?
Jace broke the silence. "I found something."
Lucian looked over. "What?"
"There've been reports. Unmarked agents. People disappearing in the lower districts. Surveillance blackouts every time. Like someone's erasing trails before anyone asks questions."
Lucian frowned. "They're covering their tracks."
"And whatever's going on," Jace said, "you're at the center of it. That mark, your powers someone wanted it buried. And now it's waking up."
Lucian swallowed hard.
****
Far away, in another part of the city, someone else was searching for Lucian.
Kia.
He stood on the rooftop of his apartment, the same place Lucian had come to, briefly when the chaos first began. Lucian had shown up soaked in rain, out of breath, and clearly terrified. Kia had let him in without hesitation. No questions. No conditions. He could tell just from one look that Lucian was running from something serious.
But Lucian hadn't stayed long.
Barely two hours later, the silence was shattered. Someone had found them.
A woman tall, fast, and terrifyingly precise. Her red hair stood out like blood against the night. She didn't knock. She didn't threaten. She simply came through the shadows, through the back window, blades gleaming in her hands.
Lucian had grabbed his bag and vanished before Kia even fully processed what was happening. Just like that, he was gone again leaving behind the warm cup of tea Kia had made him and a broken chair from their frantic escape.
Kia had tried to follow, but Lucian had disappeared into the winding alleys like a ghost.
Now, days later, Kia remained restless. He hadn't stopped searching since. His footsteps had worn the edge of the rooftop thin. His eyes scanned every street, every shadow, hoping for a glimpse of the boy who ran too often and trusted too little.
He clutched a thin metal chain in his palm its Lucian's. It had come loose in the scramble, and Kia had kept it close ever since.
"I should have gone with you," Kia muttered to the wind. "You didn't have to do this alone."
The city stretched out before him, cold, wet, and loud. Somewhere in it, Lucian was still running.
"But I'm not giving up on you," he whispered.
Back at the station, Lucian leaned back against the cold wall, exhaustion catching up to him again.
"I need answers," he said.
"You'll get them," Jace replied.
But neither of them knew that things were just beginning and the city wouldn't stay quiet for long.