The coastline burned.
Not all at once, not in a single dramatic sweep, but in patches—fires blooming wherever chaos lingered long enough to ignite. Arjun followed Nyxara inland, moving through shattered streets and abandoned vehicles, every step reminding him that the world he knew had already slipped into the past tense.
His body felt wrong.
Stronger, yes—but also heavier, like gravity had negotiated new terms with him. His heartbeat carried weight now. Each breath pulled something darker into his lungs, something that didn't belong to Earth.
Nyxara noticed.
"You're fighting it," she said casually, walking ahead of him with unhurried confidence. "The bond, I mean."
Arjun stepped over a corpse without looking down. "Should I not?"
"You can," she replied. "For a while. Humans are good at denial. It's practically a racial trait."
That earned a short, humorless exhale from him. "Helpful."
She glanced back, eyes gleaming faintly. "I'm being honest. That is helpful."
They reached a residential district—rows of apartment blocks, some intact, others torn open as if clawed apart by something curious and bored. Sirens wailed in the distance, overlapping with screams and inhuman cries that echoed far too close for comfort.
The phone buzzed in Arjun's hand.
SAFE ZONE PROBABILITY: LOWRECOMMENDED ACTION: RELOCATION OR DOMINANCE
"Dominance," Arjun muttered. "That's a new suggestion."
Nyxara slowed, turning to face him fully now. "The system is adaptive. It responds to behavior patterns. You killed. You survived. It's recalibrating expectations."
She stepped closer, studying his face with unsettling intensity. "Tell me—when you stabbed the thrall… did you hesitate?"
Arjun didn't answer immediately.
He remembered the moment vividly: the clarity, the certainty, the absence of doubt. The way the rebar had gone in far too easily.
"No," he admitted. "I didn't."
Nyxara smiled—not wide, not cruel. Satisfied.
"Good," she said. "Hesitation is expensive."
The ground trembled again, closer this time. A different vibration—lighter, faster.
Nyxara's head tilted. "We're being hunted."
"Hunted by what?"
"By something smarter than the last one."
As if summoned by her words, a shrill sound sliced through the air—sharp, almost metallic. Arjun ducked instinctively as something small and fast streaked overhead, embedding itself in a wall behind them.
It looked like a spear made of bone and sinew.
The phone reacted instantly.
ENTITY DETECTED: SCAVENGER PACKCOUNT: UNKNOWNTHREAT LEVEL: MODERATE (IN NUMBERS)
Nyxara sighed. "I hate scavengers. No discipline. No patience."
"Any suggestions?" Arjun asked, pulse quickening.
"Yes," she said. "You're going to learn something."
Before he could protest, she pressed two fingers against his temple.
The world lurched.
Information poured into him—not words, not images, but instinct. Patterns. Threat vectors. Lines of movement. His vision sharpened again, but this time it didn't fade.
Three shapes darted between ruined cars—lean, hunched creatures with elongated limbs and skin stretched tight over bone. Their eyes glowed sickly green. Their mouths were too wide.
They were circling.
"You see them now," Nyxara said softly. "Not with your eyes. With mine."
Arjun swallowed. "I don't like this."
"You will," she replied. "Or you'll die."
The first scavenger lunged.
Arjun moved.
Not faster than humanly possible—but decisively. He sidestepped, grabbed the creature's arm as it passed, and slammed it headfirst into the hood of a car. Metal crumpled. Bone cracked.
The second one screeched and leapt for his back.
Nyxara's voice snapped inside his mind. Down.
He dropped instantly. Claws passed inches over his head. He rolled, came up with a broken pipe in his hands, and swung.
The impact was ugly. Wet. Final.
The third scavenger hesitated.
That was its mistake.
Arjun felt the bond pull—not a command, not a force, but an invitation. He accepted it.
The Abyssal Mark flared again, weaker than before but present. The symbol burned onto the creature's chest. It shrieked, trying to flee.
"No," Arjun said quietly, surprising himself.
He advanced.
The kill was quick.
Silence followed, broken only by his breathing and the distant collapse of something large and structural.
The phone chimed.
MULTIPLE KILLS CONFIRMEDSOUL ENERGY ABSORBED (MINOR)BOND SYNCHRONIZATION: 6%
Arjun leaned against a wall, chest heaving. His hands were steady.
That scared him more than the monsters.
Nyxara approached, studying him like a craftsman evaluating fresh work. "You're learning faster than I expected."
"I'm changing," he said flatly.
"Yes," she agreed. "That's the point."
She reached out, fingers brushing his wrist. The contact sent a shiver through him—not purely physical, not purely emotional. Something deeper responded, coiling and tightening.
"You're still you," she continued. "Just… less fragile."
Arjun pulled his hand back. "And what about you? You get stronger every time I kill something."
Her smile sharpened. "Perceptive."
"So I'm a battery."
"You're a partner," Nyxara corrected. "Batteries are replaceable."
That didn't reassure him as much as she probably intended.
They moved again, deeper into the city. Night settled fully now, and with it came a strange, oppressive quiet—broken only by distant chaos. Fires painted the sky orange. Shadows stretched too long, too deep.
They found shelter in an underground parking structure—reinforced concrete, limited entrances. Nyxara inspected it briefly before nodding approval.
"This will do," she said. "For now."
Arjun sat heavily against a pillar, exhaustion crashing into him all at once. "What happens if I sleep?"
"You dream," she replied. "And the bond… settles."
"And if I don't?"
She shrugged. "You burn out. Die. Or go mad. Choose."
He closed his eyes.
Almost immediately, darkness swallowed him.
But it wasn't empty.
He stood in a vast, endless space—no ground, no sky. Just a deep violet void pulsing with distant light. Nyxara stood before him, no wings, no smile. Just her.
"You're inside the bond," she said quietly. "This is where truth lives."
Arjun looked around. "Is this your realm?"
"No," she replied. "This is ours."
He met her gaze. "You said I'd stop belonging to myself."
She didn't deny it. "Yes."
"And you?" he asked. "Do you belong to anyone?"
For the first time, something like hesitation crossed her face.
"Not anymore," she said.
The void pulsed, responding to something unspoken.
Outside, the world continued to fall apart.
Inside the bond, something dangerous and irreversible took its first stable shape.
And Arjun slept—not as prey,but not yet as king.