Chapter 11 – Sparks in the Dark
Rain slicked the streets outside the Academy, silver streaks against the night.
From the rooftop observatory, the city looked like a breathing circuit board—
lights flickering, power grids humming, Rift sensors glowing faint blue in the mist.
Liora tightened her jacket against the damp wind and exhaled slowly.
Every breath felt heavier these days.
The numbers in Aron's stolen data replayed in her mind like a countdown:
anomaly spikes, energy surges, breach probabilities.
All pointing toward one conclusion—
the first major Rift outbreak would strike sooner than anyone dared predict.
The mark beneath her collarbone pulsed in steady rhythm, like an impatient metronome.
It wasn't just warning her anymore.
It was calling.
---
"Thought I'd find you here."
Kai's voice broke through the wind.
Liora turned to find him stepping out of the stairwell, rainwater dripping from his dark hair.
The glow of the city lit his profile in silver and shadow, a sight that made something tight twist in her chest.
"You're avoiding me," he said simply.
"I'm not," she replied, though the words felt thin.
Kai stepped closer, the distance between them shrinking until she could feel the quiet warmth of his presence.
"You're stronger, faster, smarter than before. The instructors are whispering.
And when I ask, you give me nothing but half-truths."
His eyes searched hers, steady and unflinching.
"Liora, I don't care what it is. I just… want you to let me in."
For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to the sound of his voice and the rain.
Once, in the life she'd left behind, she had trusted Kai with everything.
Once, that trust had ended in betrayal and blood.
But this wasn't that Kai—not yet.
This was a boy who still smiled at her, still reached for her hand when the dark closed in.
The ache of wanting to believe him was almost unbearable.
"I can't," she whispered.
Kai's jaw tightened. "Can't, or won't?"
The mark beneath her shirt flared hot, a painful reminder of every choice she had already made.
"Both," she said finally.
Silence stretched between them, heavy and sharp.
Then Kai exhaled, stepping back.
"Alright," he said quietly.
"But when whatever you're carrying finally breaks—don't try to carry it alone."
He turned and disappeared into the stairwell, leaving Liora with the taste of rain and regret on her tongue.
---
Hours later, she found Aron waiting in the forgotten maintenance tunnel beneath the east wing.
A soft glow from his wrist-holo cast long, restless shadows across the pipes.
"You look like hell," he said, his grin quick but not unkind.
"Long night," she muttered.
"Good," he replied. "Because things just got worse."
He swiped the holo, and a new set of data projections burst into the air.
Energy spikes flared across the map in jagged red clusters.
Two of them pulsed dangerously close to the Academy.
"These are fresh," Aron said, his voice low.
"Twenty-four hours old. The Authority's blacking out the reports, but I tapped into their private grid.
Something big is brewing."
Liora studied the map, her stomach twisting.
The spikes weren't random.
They formed a rough arc—
one that curved inward, as though circling a single point.
"The Academy," she said under her breath.
Aron nodded grimly.
"If the pattern holds, we're sitting on ground zero."
The mark beneath her collarbone throbbed in agreement, a bright, insistent pain.
"When?" she asked.
"Soon," Aron said. "Days. Maybe hours."
Her mind raced.
If the first major breach happened here, the Academy's defenses would fail.
Students would die.
Kai would—
Not again.
She clenched her fists until her nails bit into her palms.
"We need to prepare," she said.
"We can't wait for the Authority. They'll only lock us down and hide the truth."
Aron tilted his head, a faint smile playing at the edge of his mouth.
"Funny. I thought you'd say that."
He tapped his wrist-holo again, bringing up a different screen—schematics of hidden tunnels, energy dampeners, emergency weapons caches.
"All stolen from the Authority's archives," he added with a wink.
"You and me, Kane. We're going to beat them to their own plan."
Liora stared at the map.
In her past life, she had run when the first breach came.
Now, reborn, she would fight.
But to fight, she would need more than Aron's stolen data.
She would need Kai.
---
Later, alone in her room, Liora traced the faint glow of the mark beneath her skin.
It burned softly, not in warning this time, but in recognition.
The world was shifting faster than before.
Her choices were no longer just rewrites of a doomed future—
they were creating something new, something unpredictable.
A knock startled her.
Before she could answer, the door slid open.
Mina slipped inside, eyes wide and anxious.
"Liora," she whispered,
"the sensors on the west wall just spiked. Security's on lockdown."
The mark blazed like fire.
The first breach was here.
---
The alarm klaxons wailed across the Academy, a rising, bone-deep scream.
Students shouted in confusion, doors slammed, boots pounded against metal floors.
Liora grabbed her combat jacket and the containment capsule in one motion.
Her heart hammered in perfect time with the mark's furious rhythm.
This was it.
The night she had been reborn to change.
The night the world began to end—again.
But this time, she wasn't running.