The Xyros Corp medical facility was buried beneath thirty floors of concrete, steel, and secrets. Sterile white hallways led to labs full of machines that hummed with quiet menace. Deep within, a single operating room flickered under harsh lights.
Subject-09 lay sedated on the surgical table—twisted, half-human, half-monster. Its skin shimmered with a metallic sheen. Veins pulsed with a black fluid that hissed when exposed to air. Its breathing was slow, methodical, as if it dreamed of murder.
Dr. Hadrian Kessler stood over it, hands gloved, mind racing.
"It's stabilizing," he said, voice low.
Edward Xyros stood beside him, arms crossed, gaze locked on the creature. "How long before it can be deployed?"
Kessler didn't look up. "If you rush it—days. Maybe hours. But if you want it to think… to hunt—you'll need at least a week."
Edward's expression didn't change. "We don't have a week."
Kessler swallowed. "Then it'll kill everything. Not just the target."
"That's the point."
Kessler finally looked up, eyes sharp. "You don't understand what you're playing with. This thing isn't just Echo-fused—it's responsive. Adaptive. If it locks onto the wrong target, we might not be able to shut it down."
Edward's voice was calm, but deadly. "That's why I'm sending it after something worse."
Kessler hesitated. "You mean… the Abyssborn?"
Edward nodded. "He's already begun feeding on Echoes. If he evolves past Initiate level without guidance, we lose any chance of control."
Kessler's brow furrowed. "Then guide him. Bring him in."
Edward turned away. "He won't come willingly. Not yet."
"And your daughter?" Kessler asked carefully. "She's close to him. If she finds out what he is—what we are—"
"She won't," Edward said, voice like ice. "And if she does… she'll have to choose."
Blackridge High – Counselor's Office
Jerry sat stiffly in a too-small chair. The room smelled like peppermint and pressure.
"Mr. Tenyson," said the school counselor, Miss Ravine, tapping a pen against her notepad. "This is your third time being pulled from class. You've been distracted, irritable… absent."
Jerry didn't meet her eyes. His hoodie was pulled low, sunglasses still on despite the indoor lights.
"Just tired."
"You've lost weight. Your heart rate is… irregular."
Jerry said nothing.
Miss Ravine sighed and set down her notepad. "I'm not here to punish you, Jerry. But I am concerned. About your health. About your emotional state."
His fingers twitched. The pulse in her neck was loud. Too loud.
He looked away.
She leaned forward. "Have you considered seeing a specialist? There are doctors who work with trauma, grief—especially after what happened to your father—"
Jerry stood abruptly. "I need to go."
She blinked. "Jerry—"
"I'm not safe here."
And then he was gone, slipping out of the office before she could call security. He didn't stop until he hit the edge of campus and vanished into the woods behind the sports field.
Later That Night – Somewhere Underground
In a black chamber lit by pulsing crystal, four figures gathered around a slowly growing rift in the air.
Each of them bore the mark of the Void—tattoos that moved on their skin like ink in water.
"It's thinning," said the shortest of the four, cloaked in bone-white cloth.
A second figure—tall, armored, missing his left eye—reached toward the rift. "The Abyssborn child is accelerating. He's drawing the gate open."
A third figure growled, low and metallic. "Then the Hunt must begin."
The final figure, silent until now, opened a book bound in living skin.
"Shepherd the Hounds," they whispered. "The Seer has spoken. The first fracture begins at dawn."
The air above them split for a moment, revealing a hundred flickering eyes.
And then it closed.
Emily's Bedroom – That Same Night
Emily stared at the photo on her desk—her and Jerry, taken just a week ago during a group project. She was smiling. He wasn't. Not really.
Something was wrong with him. Something deeper than grief.
She grabbed her phone and hovered over her father's number.
But she didn't call.
Instead, she typed a message to Jerry.
"You okay? You don't have to talk, but… I'm here."
No reply came.
But far across the city, inside a bedroom lit only by the flicker of a dying lamp, Jerry saw the message.
He couldn't answer. Not yet.
The monster inside him was stirring.
And tomorrow… it would be hungry.
(To be continued...)