Chapter 13 – After the Storm
Morning crept into the Academy like a guilty secret.
Grey light bled through the shattered windows of the Rift lab, washing the scorched floor in a pale, sterile glow.
Technicians in silver Authority uniforms moved like ghosts, scanning the wreckage with silent efficiency.
The smell of burnt ozone lingered, heavy and metallic, a reminder that the night's chaos had been real—no matter how quickly the world now tried to pretend otherwise.
Liora stood at the edge of the destruction, every muscle aching from the strain of the tether.
The mark beneath her collarbone pulsed faintly, an aftershock of the power she'd forced into submission.
It felt almost… resentful.
As if the Rift itself disapproved of being denied.
Aron appeared at her side, tablet in hand, eyes gleaming with restless energy.
"They're calling it a containment failure," he murmured, nodding toward the Authority agents.
"No mention of a Rift signature. No mention of the thing we saw."
Liora's lips tightened. "Of course not. Panic is bad for public order."
"Panic is bad for control," Aron corrected with a sly grin.
"Big difference."
He angled the tablet toward her, revealing a cascade of encrypted data streams.
"I skimmed their internal feed before the blackout. Whatever we faced last night isn't listed in any known anomaly database.
It wasn't just a breach, Kane. It was… something new."
The mark throbbed in quiet agreement, as if to say: Yes. And it's yours to carry.
---
A sharp voice broke through the low hum of activity.
"Cadet Kane."
Liora turned to see Commander Seryn striding toward her, black Authority coat snapping with each measured step.
The woman's silver eyes—cold and polished as a scalpel—pinned Liora in place.
"You were first on the scene," Seryn said without preamble.
"Report."
Liora forced her features into careful neutrality.
"Standard containment breach. Energy surge destabilized the core. My team initiated emergency dampening."
Commander Seryn's gaze narrowed slightly.
"And the source of the surge?"
"Unknown," Liora said evenly.
"The lab was already compromised when we arrived."
A long silence followed, heavy enough to choke.
Then Seryn nodded once.
"Efficient work. Your actions prevented mass casualties."
Her tone softened by a fraction, though her eyes never warmed.
"However, your proximity to multiple anomalies is… statistically curious.
The Authority will be monitoring your activities more closely from this point forward."
The warning was as precise as a blade slipped between ribs.
"Yes, Commander," Liora replied.
Seryn studied her a moment longer, then turned sharply on her heel, disappearing into the swirl of technicians.
Aron exhaled a low whistle. "Well. That's comforting."
"Comforting isn't her job," Liora muttered.
But a cold knot formed in her stomach.
The Authority's attention was dangerous enough in her first life.
Now, with the mark and the tether burning brighter each day, their scrutiny could become lethal.
---
Outside the lab, Kai waited against the corridor wall.
His combat jacket was zipped to the throat, hiding the bruises from last night's chaos, but nothing could hide the storm in his eyes.
"You almost died," he said quietly.
Liora stopped, the weight of his voice anchoring her.
"I had to go in."
"You didn't have to," Kai shot back.
"You chose to. And you didn't tell me why."
His frustration cut deeper than any Authority threat.
In another life, she would have folded beneath that gaze, confessed everything—
the rebirth, the mark, the countdown to the world's end.
But that life had cost her everything.
This time, secrets were survival.
"I can't explain," she said softly.
"Not yet."
Kai's jaw tightened. "You keep saying that. But one day, not yet is going to get you killed."
He stepped closer, the scent of rain and steel clinging to him.
"You don't have to carry this alone, Liora. Whatever it is… let me help you."
The words brushed against the guarded walls of her heart.
Dangerous. Tempting. Almost enough to make her forget why she'd built those walls in the first place.
But the mark flared hot, an urgent reminder of every betrayal that had burned her in the life before.
"I can't," she whispered.
The silence that followed was sharp enough to bleed.
Kai finally nodded, though the hurt in his eyes cut deeper than his voice.
"Then at least let me fight beside you."
Before she could answer, an Authority drone buzzed down the corridor, shattering the fragile moment with its metallic whine.
Kai stepped back, his expression shuttering like a door.
"Stay alive, Kane," he said, and walked away.
---
That night, the Academy was restless.
Classes were suspended.
Security doubled.
Rumors spread like wildfire—some said terrorists had attacked the labs, others whispered of a Rift beast trapped beneath the city.
Liora sat alone in her quarters, the containment capsule resting on her desk.
Its glow had dimmed to a faint, almost sorrowful flicker.
She traced the cracks across its surface with a gloved finger, remembering the way the anomaly had reached for her…
not in violence, but in recognition.
The tether inside her burned softly, a slow, seductive rhythm.
It wanted her to return.
Her comm-link chirped.
A single encrypted message blinked across the screen.
No sender ID. Only three words.
> The Spiral waits.
The Black Spiral.
The faceless group that had first warned her of the timeline's collapse.
Liora's pulse quickened.
If they were reaching out again, it meant the game was shifting faster than even her rebirth had prepared her for.
She stared at the message until the letters seemed to burn against her eyes.
The Spiral waited.
But for what?
For her?
For the Rift?
For the moment she would finally stop fighting the call?
The mark answered with a single, deliberate pulse—
a quiet promise of power and ruin.
Liora exhaled, the sound half a vow, half a warning.
"Not yet," she whispered to the waiting dark.
"Not on your terms."
---
Far beneath the Academy, unseen by Authority eyes,
something ancient stirred in the Rift's depths.
The fragment Liora had contained was not merely a breach.
It was a key.
And now, the door had begun to open.