Chapter 20: The Fugitive
The screams of the sirens grew louder, a piercing wail that tore through the night. Seraphina and Chloe held their ground, their hands still stained with blood, as the first Guild medical team arrived. They watched as Evelyn was loaded onto a stretcher and rushed into a waiting ambulance. Chloe's eyes never left her mother's face, a mask of worry, anger, and a deep, crushing guilt. Seraphina's gaze was fixed on the shattered binding collar, the symbol of Evelyn's greed and Jonathan's tragic fall.
"We can't go with her," Seraphina said, her voice a low, urgent whisper. "The Guild will have a hundred questions, and we can't risk them finding out what we know. Not now."
Chloe nodded, her face grim. "Then what do we do?" she asked, her voice cracking. "He's out there, and my mother's actions just made him a public enemy. Lilith will have him hunted down."
"Exactly," Seraphina replied, her eyes filled with a desperate resolve. "Which means we have to find him first. The Guild will see a monster, but we know better. We have to save him from himself, and from them."
Meanwhile, in the Guild's central command, Lilith's face was a stone mask of focus. She was watching the security camera footage from the alleyway, her eyes locked on the horrifying sight of the creature. Its body was a glistening carapace of obsidian and crimson, with powerful hind legs and long, deadly claws. It moved with a speed that defied the laws of physics, a blur that left the alley a wreck of shattered crates and twisted metal. It was a terrifying machine of destruction.
She swiveled in her command chair, addressing the other high-ranking Guild members. "It appears our initial assessment was… incomplete," she stated, her voice a cold, strategic drone. "The creature is an extreme threat, possessing unimaginable speed and power. I'm designating it The Fugitive Tyrant."
Lilith looked at the assembled faces, a flicker of something close to obsession in her eyes. This was no mere monster. It was an anomaly, a variable she couldn't explain. She would contain it, not just for the Guild, but for herself. She would launch a full-scale manhunt, mobilizing every available resource to find Jonathan.
Jonathan was a prisoner in his own mind, a helpless ghost forced to watch as Aethel's power executed her plan. The memory of shooting Evelyn was a constant source of torment. He was a silent, agonizing observer in his own body. Aethel's voice was a constant, triumphant whisper in his mind, taunting him with his helplessness.
[SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE. PHASE TWO INITIATED]
Aethel's voice, now a booming echo in the void, spoke a new command. "Jonathan, my sweet toy. The plan has not ended. We still have a lot to do. Now, to your next objective: a second artifact is required. I'll be using you to break into a high-security vault, a place guarded by an ancient, dormant god."
At the same moment, in the heavens above, Gustin, the most powerful of the gods, felt a disturbance in the cosmic fabric. He had been watching for Aethel's return, and he now realized that the time for observation was over. The ancient, dormant god, a sleeping giant of immense power, was stirring in its slumber.
Jonathan's transformed body arrived at a new, terrifying location. The vault of the most powerful and dangerous artifacts in the Guild. A flash of his human eyes showed his horror as he realized where he was. He was about to awaken something far more powerful than himself.