The world shattered in fire.

  The missile struck with a scream of tearing air—

  and then everything became light.

  The explosion tore through Brock’s house like it had been made of paper, walls splitting, beams buckling, and fire clawing into the sky.

  KRA-KOOM!!!

  Lior froze where he stood. His body wouldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.

  His eyes reflected only fire.

  “BROOOOOCK!!”

  Arms hit him from both sides. Cael and Ayasha tried to pull him back, their voices breaking against the roar.

  “Lior, no! It’s too dangerous!”

  “Lior, we have to go!”

  But his feet seemed bolted to the ground, his throat raw with the scream trying to tear itself out.

  Memories bled through the flames.

  Seven years old, blowing out candles on a baseball cake. Brock, Carter, and Anya clapping behind him.

  Maybe they weren’t blood…

  A little league game. Oversized helmet slipping over his eyes, Kalu’s voice booming from the stands.

  …maybe they weren’t my real parents…

  The golden glow of a sunset—Brock crouched in the sand, helping him finish a lopsided castle. Snow falling on a mountain—Rei steadying his skis as he stumbled down.

  …but they were my family.

  The thoughts of warmth and laughter faded into smoke, the flames reclaiming the present.

  Lior’s body shook, tears streaking through ash on his face. He fought against his friends’ grip like an animal in a trap. “I won’t leave them!”

  He wrenched free and sprinted back toward the house. His body jumped through a shattered window, glass cutting against his arms, heat washing over him.

  Inside was hell.

  The hallway was nothing but fire and collapse, the ceiling groaning as it burned.

  Through the haze — a shape.

  A body.

  Crushed beneath a beam of charred wood. His lungs stuttered.

  “…Anya!”

  He dropped beside her, hands shaking as he brushed soot from her cheek.

  Her eyes still open… but empty. “No… no…”

  He shook her shoulder gently.

  Nothing.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice breaking. “I’m sorry for what I said… I didn’t mean it…”

  He pressed his forehead against her chest.

  A broken sound escaped him.

  His fist struck the floor.

  “NO!”

  The fire roared louder, swallowing the word.

  Boots pounded through the debris behind him.

  “Lior!”

  Carter’s voice.

  His hand gripped Lior’s shoulder.

  Lior didn’t look up.

  “She’s gone,” he choked.

  Carter’s voice lowered, steady even as the ceiling groaned above them. “I know. But we don’t have time to grieve right now.”

  Lior’s breath hitched.

  His fingers tightened in Anya’s sleeve, refusing to release.

  Carter leaned closer.

  Carter’s voice broke harder. “She’s gone. We can’t help her now.”

  Lior’s shoulders shook.

  He looked Lior in the eyes.

  This was the first time Lioe had seen a serious face on Carter.

  “But maybe we can still save Brock, Lior.”

  The words cut through the fog.

  Another crash shook the hallway.

  Lior closed Anya’s eyes with trembling fingers.

  His hand lingered.

  Then he nodded once. “…Okay.”

  He rose on unsteady legs.

  Kalu’s strained voice came through the smoke. “Help! He’s still breathing!”

  They pushed deeper into the house..

  Smoke rolled low. Heat blistered the walls. The ceiling spat embers.

  Lior's breath caught when he made it to Kalu.

  Brock lay trapped beneath two collapsed support beams, debris pinning his legs and chest. Blood streaked through soot across his shirt.

  His eyes fluttered.

  “…Lior…”

  Lior dropped to his knees beside him. “I’m here. It’s gonna be okay. We’re getting this off you.”

  Kalu braced against one beam. Carter took the other.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “On three,” Carter rasped.

  “One… two… three!”

  They lifted.

  Wood shrieked. Sparks cascaded. The beam shifted just enough.

  “AGAIN,” Kalu shouted.

  Muscles screamed. The debris slid free.

  Lior dragged Brock clear.

  He sagged against the floor, breath rattling.

  Lior crouched beside him. “Come on, Brock. Let’s get you up.”

  “I think…” Brock winced, voice thin, “…I’m done, kid.”

  Lior gave a strained laugh. “Yeah right. I’ve seen you get up from worse.”

  He slid an arm under Brock’s shoulders and began to lift him.

  Brock grunted — a sharp, broken sound — and collapsed back.

  “You’re good,” Lior insisted. “You’re gonna be fine.”

  He pressed a hand to Brock’s abdomen to help steady him.

  Warmth soaked his palm.

  His hand slid.

  Something hard stopped it.

  Lior frowned.

  The object shifted beneath his fingers.

  His breath hitched.

  Slowly, he looked down.

  A thick jagged piece of timber jutted from Brock’s abdomen, dark with blood, buried deep beneath torn fabric.

  The world closed in on Lior.

  “…no…”

  His hand trembled.

  “No… no, no…”

  Brock watched him, eyes soft despite the pain. A faint cough shook his chest — a trace of blood touched his lips.

  “It’s alright… kid…”

  Lior shook his head violently.

  “No! We can fix this — we just need pressure — we need—”

  Brock’s fingers tightened weakly around his sleeve.

  “Listen to me.”

  Smoke curled between them.

  “This was never a job… I loved you like my own… same way I loved your father.”

  Lior’s face collapsed. “Don’t say that.”

  Brock’s breath rattled.

  “You… are the light… the darkness fears. You are the l-light”

  His hand loosened.

  The sound of Brock’s arm hitting the floor sounded louder than the explosion.

  THOOM!

  Silence lasted one impossible heartbeat.

  Lior couldn’t grasp what just happened. “That’s enough playing Brock. Get up. We gotta go.”

  He shook his shoulder. “Come on Brock.”

  A support beam cracked overhead.

  “Lior!” Ayasha’s voice cut through the smoke. “We have to move!”

  Flames surged along the ceiling.

  Debris rained down.

  Cael grabbed Lior’s shoulder. “We don’t have time!”

  Lior turned, his eyes seeming to be looking right through Cael.

  A steady hand settled on his cheek.

  Rei's face was smeared with ash and blood, her eyes soft even in this moment. “He was like a father to me too,” she said quietly. “So we have to live for what he protected.”

  Another crash shook the floor.

  Fire swallowed the hallway behind them.

  Cael pulled Lior upright. Ayasha grabbed his other arm.

  They moved.

  ?

  They ran toward the window they’d entered through.

  A flaming beam collapsed across it.

  Blocked.

  “Back!” Cael shouted.

  Smoke thickened. Heat surged.

  The hallway behind them collapsed in a shower of sparks.

  They coughed, shielding their faces.

  “This way!” Kalu kicked open a side door leading toward the kitchen.

  Flames crawled along the ceiling. Cabinets burned. The back wall groaned.

  The rear exit was engulfed.

  “Up!” Carter shouted, pointing.

  A section of ceiling had collapsed near the dining area, exposing open sky beyond the debris.

  They climbed over shattered furniture, choking on smoke.

  The floor shuddered.

  Another beam fell behind them.

  They scrambled over the wreckage and burst through the collapse—

  Cool air slammed into their lungs.

  They stumbled onto the lawn as the house roared behind them.

  Moments later, the roof caved inward.

  Fire consumed everything.

  ?

  The street split apart with screeching tires.

  Black SUVs fishtailed to a halt, doors slamming open. Soldiers in dark combat gear spilled into formation, rifles snapping up with military precision.

  Overhead, drones scattered like a swarm of mechanical vultures, red lights blinking in the night.

  Kalu didn’t hesitate. He raised his rifle.

  TAT-TAT-TAT!

  Three drones spiraled down in sparks.

  Thunk. Thud. Crack.

  “We’re spotted!” Carter roared, already turning to return fire.

  Kalu spun and hurled a pistol toward Lior.

  “I know you hate these. But protect them. Protect yourself. At all costs.”

  The weight of the weapon hit his palm — but the words hit deeper.

  Before Lior could respond, the three veterans moved as one.

  Carter sprinted left.

  Kalu vaulted a car to the right.

  Rei dropped low and vanished into the shadows.

  Three directions. Three streams of chaos. Drawing the enemy away.

  Lior’s breath caught as he stared at their backs disappearing into gunfire and flame.

  It’s just like the dream.

  “Lior!” Cael shouted. “We have to go! Now!”

  The words barely reached him. His thoughts churned too loud.

  Why are they leaving me?

  What is happening?

  Brock… where are you…

  Ayasha seized his face, forcing his eyes onto hers. The pistol slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the pavement.

  Her voice cut through the chaos — steady, unshaking.

  “We have to go, Lior. We can’t stay.”

  For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to her eyes.

  He nodded.

  She grabbed his hand.

  ?

  They ran—through alleys that twisted like veins, past trash bins and shuttered storefronts.

  Flashlights sliced across brick walls. Drones buzzed overhead, their beams combing the dark in rigid search patterns.

  The three of them dove through a gap in a chain-link fence and crashed into a thin strip of woods at the edge of the district.

  Branches clawed at their clothes, scratching skin, leaving thin lines of blood across their faces and arms. Adrenaline buried the pain.

  They burst back onto asphalt. Their lungs burning, legs threatening to give out and sprinted into the open street.

  CRACK!

  A drone above them dropped like a stone, sparks trailing behind it.

  Thunk.

  Another spiraled down in a shower of metal and light.

  Their heads snapped up.

  Kalu stood on the rooftop above them, rifle steady, smoke curling from the barrel. Potestas agents chased across the roofline behind him — dark shapes vaulting vents and clearing gaps in long, predatory strides.

  Lior slowed, staring upward.

  How did he get up there so fast—

  Cael grabbed his shirt and yanked him forward.

  “No time!”

  ?

  Across the city, in the back seat of a black car, a Potestas agent lounged in shadow. The glow of a display pad lit the hard line of his jaw. A cigarette burned between his lips, smoke drifting slow in the sealed cabin.

  Stamped into the leather headrest beside him:

  [RANK THREE — U.S. DIVISION]

  He scrolled through the live drone feed. Streetlights streaked past the lens.

  Three figures ran through the dark — clothes torn, faces smeared with soot and blood.

  The frame tightened.

  Lior stumbled into focus.

  The agent’s smirk deepened around the cigarette.

  Smoke curled from his nostrils.

  He leaned back, tipping ash into the tray, eyes never leaving the screen. “Well I’ll be… there’s the Golden Boy.”

  He exhaled smoke toward the ceiling. “I love it when they run… makes the hunt more interesting.”

  ?

  Lior, Ayasha, and Cael paused. There was silence.

  Only their panicked breathing cut through the night.

  It felt like they’d escaped.

  But—

  Something worse than gunfire was hunting them now.

  A shadow that didn’t chase—

  A shadow that ended things.

  It had found them.

  And Lior’s world, everything he believed—

  was about to burn again.

  End of Chapter 3