POV: Aria
I ran until my lungs burned.
Through back streets. Over walls. Down into the repair tunnels that most people didn't know existed. The kind of exit routes you learned when you grew up with nothing.
Finally, three miles from the arcade, I fell behind a dumpster and let myself breathe.
Dominic had found me. Actually found me.
How? The arcade was hidden. Illegal. You needed links just to know it existed.
Unless someone told him.
My chest tightened. Had Lyric deceived me? No. She'd risked everything letting me install that terminal. She wouldn't—
My tablet buzzed. Encrypted word from Lyric.
You okay?
I typed back with shaking fingers. Barely. What happened after I left?
War Commander played your game. Came out looking like he'd seen a ghost. Then did something weird.
My heart skipped. Weird how?
Shut down three computers. But left two running. Mine and one other. Told his Guards to "monitor but not interfere." Why would he do that?
I stared at the message. Why would Dominic shut down most of the games but leave some running? That made no sense.
Unless it was a trick. Leave bait and wait for me to come back.
Don't trust him, I typed. It's probably— Another message interrupted. Different sender. Unknown number. The same one from three nights ago.
Dominic left those terminals going because he's protecting you. Again. Still. Always. Even while dying.
My blood went cold.
Who is this?
Someone who's been watching this tragedy unfold for five years. Tell me, Aria—why do you think the War Commander, who kills first and asks never, took two hours to play your game? He could have shut it down in minutes. But he didn't. Want to know what he saw?
I shouldn't answer. Every instinct screamed this was manipulation.
But I needed to know.
What did he see?
Your mother. The night she died. The real truth about the Spirit Contract he made. The orders she gave him. Want to know what happens to you if your waking goes wrong?
My hands were shaking so hard I almost dropped the tablet.
Stop playing games. Tell me.
Not games. Truth. Dominic was told to kill you if you awakened as a monster. That's the real deal. Protect you until the seal breaks. Then, if the Nightmare King takes over, kill you before you destroy the city. He's been your killer from the beginning. Why do you think he pushed you away? Easier to kill someone when you don't love them. Except he failed at that part.
The world turned. No. No, that couldn't be true.
You're wrong.
Am I? Ask yourself—why did the perfect War Commander suddenly dump a nobody D-rank? Why did he publicly shame you? Why did he help your sister destroy your reputation? He was preparing himself to kill you. Making himself hate you. Except even after everything, he still can't do it. Pathetic, really.
Tears burned my eyes. I refused to let them fall.
It made horrible sense. Everything Dominic had done. Every harsh word. Every cold look.
Not safety. Preparation.
He'd been my killer all along.
If you're so nice, who are you?
The only person telling you truth instead of cozy lies. Check your left pocket.
I hadn't put anything in my left pocket. But when I reached in— A small data crystal. Jet black. Pulsing with energy.
When had someone put this on me?
Play it. See what your mother really asked Dominic to do. Then decide if the man hunting you deserves your mercy or your wrath.
The message thread went dead. No matter how many times I tried replying, nothing sent.
I stared at the crystal in my hand. Every instinct said not to play it. This was trickery. Someone trying to turn me against Dominic.
But what if it was true?
What if the man I'd loved, who'd broken my heart, had been planning to murder me the entire time?
My tablet buzzed again. Lyric.
Aria, something else weird. Dominic just told his Guards to pull back from the Rust District entirely. He said, and I quote, "Let her breathe. She'll come to me when she's ready." What does that mean?
I didn't know. Nothing made sense anymore.
Was Dominic protecting me or hunting me? Was the unknown messenger helping or manipulating me? Was anything I remembered about my past even real?
The data crystal felt heavy in my hand. Dangerous. Like opening it would change everything.
But I'd spent my whole life being weak. Being scared. Being the person everyone else wanted me to be.
That version of Aria died when they stripped my license. When Celeste tried to kill me. When I remembered who I really was.
I put the crystal into my tablet.
A movie file loaded. Shaky video from what looked like a body camera. Date stamp: Five years ago.
The picture showed a hospital room. And in the bed— Mom.
She looked so small. So sick. The cancer had eaten through her in months. By the end, she was barely there anymore.
But her eyes were sharp when Dominic entered the room.
"You came," Mom breathed.
"You said it was urgent, ma'am." Dominic looked younger. Less cold. He couldn't have been more than twenty-three.
"I'm dying. My daughter—Aria—she's special. Different. There's something inside her that most people can't see. Something that could save this city or destroy it."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to. You just need to promise you'll protect her. No matter what. No matter who threatens her. Even if—" Mom's voice broke. "Even if she becomes dangerous. Even if the thing inside her wakes up wrong."
Dominic hesitated. "Ma'am, what exactly are you asking me to do?"
Mom grabbed his hand. Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone dying.
"Make a Spirit Contract with me. Protect Aria from all harm until she wakes. Guide her. Watch over her. And if she wakes as the monster—if the Nightmare King takes control completely—"
She pulled him closer. Whispered something the camera didn't catch.
Dominic's face went pale. "You're asking me to—"
"I'm asking you to save thousands of lives. Maybe millions. I'm asking you to love her enough to let her live. And if necessary, love her enough to give her mercy."
"I don't even know her."
"You will. She'll be at the Academy next year. You'll meet. You'll fall in love because that's what happens—the Nightmare King's vessel always draws strong protectors. It's part of the plan. Your love will be real. That's what makes this so evil."
Mom started coughing. Blood on her lips.
"Promise me," she gasped. "Promise you'll do what needs to be done. Save her. Or stop her. But don't let her become the monster that destroys everything."
Dominic was quiet for a long moment. Then he knelt beside the bed.
"I promise."
Light flared between their joined hands. The Spirit Contract making. Binding. Unbreakable.
The video finished.
I sat there, looking at the black screen, feeling something inside me crack.
Mom had known. She'd known about the Nightmare King. About what I was. About what I might become.
And she'd hired Dominic to kill me if necessary.
Everything—the relationship, the proposal, the love in his eyes—all of it was just him taking orders from a dead woman.
I wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream.
Instead, I did something else.
I pulled up my game design files and started coding something new. Something darker than Silent Apartment 404. Something specifically meant to hurt the person playing it.
If Dominic wanted to hunt me, fine.
But when he found me, I'd have a treat waiting.
A game created just for him. One that would reveal every truth he'd been hiding. Every lie he'd told. Every moment he'd been preparing to murder the girl he claimed to love.
My fingers flew across the keys. Hours passed. The sun set. Rose again.
I didn't sleep. Didn't eat. Just coded with single-minded attention.
Finally, at dawn, it was done.
The Executioner's Mercy.
A game that would trap Dominic in an experience where he had to make the choice over and over: save Aria or kill her. Love her or destroy her. Be her defender or her murderer.
And every choice would hurt.
I was uploading it to a secret server when my door exploded inward.
Not Guards. Not Dominic.
Celeste stood in the hallway. But her face was wrong. Skin moving. Eyes too bright. Smile too wide.
"Hello, sister," she said in a voice that piled over itself. "We've played hide and seek long enough. Time to come home. Time to let me finish what I started seventeen years ago."
Her hand shot forward. Not human anymore. Claws where fingers should be.
And wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet— Mom's wedding ring.
The one she'd been buried with.
"How—" I started.
Celeste's grin widened impossibly. "I was there when she died, sweet sister. I heard every word she said to her precious War Commander. I know exactly what Dominic was told to do. Want to know the best part?"
She leaned closer. Her breath smelled like rot.
"Your mother didn't just ask him to kill you if you awakened wrong. She asked him to kill you even if you awakened right. Because either way, the Nightmare King had to die. The only question was whether you'd die as a monster or as yourself."
My heart stopped.
"Dominic's been trying to save you this whole time. How adorable. How useless. Because the deal your mother made doesn't have a loophole. You arise, you die. Those are the rules. And judged by those memories flooding back, by those games you're creating—"
She grabbed my throat. Lifted me off the ground with impossible strength.
"You've already woken. Which means Dominic's contract just started. Right now, as we speak, he's being compelled to come here and finish his mission."
She threw me against the wall. I hit hard. Tasted blood.
"So here's what's going to happen," Celeste continued. "I'm going to take what's left of your power. Then, when dear Dominic arrives to meet his contract and finds your corpse, I'll comfort him. Console him. And finally, I'll consume him too. Two boats for the price of one. Isn't that efficient?"
The door burst open again.
Dominic stood there. Blood pouring from his nose. His eyes were wild. Desperate.
And his hand was raised, Spirit energy sparking around his fingers in a killing strike.
"Aria," he gasped. "I'm sorry. I can't—the contract—I can't stop—"
He lunged forward.
Not at Celeste.
At me.