Mando woke before sunrise.
His body ached not the clean soreness of training, but the deep, trembling kind that came from real danger. When he closed his eyes, he saw the creature again: the way its body resisted his bullets, the sound it made when it screamed.
He sat up slowly, rubbing his hands.
They were steady.
That scared him.
The warehouse felt different that morning.
Kael didn't speak at first. He watched Mando move, watched how he summoned his weapon faster now, smoother, but with something tight beneath the surface.
KAEL You hesitated yesterday.
Mando looked up.
MANDO I froze.
Kael shook his head.
KAEL No. You questioned yourself.Freezing is fear.Hesitation is doubt.
Mando swallowed.
MANDO What's the difference?
Kael stepped closer.
KAEL Fear keeps you alive.Doubt gets you killed.
Training that day was brutal.
No targets.No drills.
Kael forced Mando to move blindfolded through the warehouse while summoned constructs attacked at random intervals. Mando stumbled, misfired, and nearly lost control of his weapon twice.
On the third hit, he crashed to the floor.
MANDO I can't see!
KAEL Then please stop using your eyes.
The gun changed.
Not in shape but in presence.
Mando felt vibrations through the floor, air displacement, and intent.
He fired once.
A construct shattered.
Kael exhaled slowly.
KAEL (quiet)…Good.
They rested near the open doors as the city woke in the distance.
Mando wiped sweat from his brow.
MANDO That monster yesterday…You said it shouldn't exist.
Kael stared out at the skyline.
KAEL Before the weapon system, the world was quieter.Not safer. Just… honest.
Mando frowned.
MANDO Before guns?
Kael nodded.
KAEL Before summoning.Before classes.Before rounds determined your worth.
He paused.
KAEL Back then, monsters stayed asleep.
Mando felt a chill.
MANDO What woke them?
Kael didn't answer.
That evening, Aysh didn't come home.
Mando checked the time. Then again. Then again.
Her communicator went straight to silence.
By midnight, his worry twisted into dread.
Aysh knelt in a dark chamber beneath the city.
Torches burned blue along stone walls etched with symbols older than the districts above. Other assassins stood in silence, faces hidden.
A woman stepped forward, tall, sharp-eyed, dominant-class aura heavy in the air.
WOMAN You are late, Aysh.
AYSH I came.
The woman studied her.
WOMAN Your target is close to awakening.That makes him dangerous.
Aysh clenched her fists.
AYSH He's not a threat.
The woman smiled thinly.
WOMAN They all say that.
She leaned closer.
WOMAN Your sister's condition has worsened.
Aysh's breath caught.
WOMAN Complete your role… or lose her.
Back at the apartment, Mando sat alone in the dark.
His weapon flickered unconsciously beside him, uneasy.
MANDO (thought) Why does it feel like everything is slipping…?
Outside, far beyond the city lights, something ancient opened an eye.
And far above, Kael stood on a rooftop, coat whipping in the wind.
KAEL (thought) The world is moving faster now.
He clenched his scarred hand.
KAEL…Just like before.
End of Chapter 8