The journey back from the Veilborn valley was quiet. Too quiet.
Despite the promise of alliance and the quiet hope blooming in Alex's heart, there was an unsettling stillness in the forest, as if the trees themselves held their breath.
By the time the group reached the final ridge overlooking the enclave, the sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving only the fading glow of twilight across the treetops.
Then they saw it—smoke.
Thick, black smoke.
Alex's blood ran cold.
"No," he whispered.
Lena cursed under her breath, drawing her blade with one fluid motion. "They found it."
Without waiting for orders, the group broke into a run.
The closer they got, the worse the devastation became. Trees were scorched, the scent of burning earth and flesh lingering in the air. A scorched crater marked the place where the main gate had once stood. The once-bustling enclave was now a ruin of rubble and ash.
Maya dropped to her knees near a fallen pillar, tears streaming down her face. "They didn't stand a chance…"
Alex stood frozen, staring at the broken bodies of those who had trained him, sheltered him, believed in him. His fists clenched, the Dragon Core inside his chest roaring in silent agony.
Suddenly, a noise—a cough.
He turned sharply. Amid the wreckage, someone was alive.
They rushed to the sound, clearing debris to uncover a wounded man—Tarin, a communications specialist. His body was burnt and broken, but his eyes were lucid.
"Trap…" he rasped, gripping Alex's arm. "It was a trap… someone… inside…"
Alex leaned in, heart racing. "Who? Who betrayed us?"
Tarin's breathing was shallow. "One of the scouts… gave them our location… the mafia hit us first… then the government cleaned up… they took… Kaela."
And then he went still.
For a moment, no one moved. The flames of the ruined enclave crackled, casting shadows over shattered walls and lifeless bodies.
Lena's face was unreadable, her jaw clenched tight. "They have Kaela."
Alex turned his gaze to the sky, eyes burning—not with tears, but with fire.
Someone had betrayed them.
And the mafia now had one of the most powerful Resonant mutants alive.
---
They buried the fallen that night, silently and with reverence. The Veilborn helped, honoring the warriors of the enclave even though they had only just become allies. The air was thick with smoke, sorrow, and the gnawing sense of failure.
Later, as the group huddled around a small fire in the shelter of a ravine, Lena looked to Alex.
"You're not just a trainee anymore. You're the last heir of the Dragon Core. Kaela's gone. You're the only one they fear enough to chase this hard."
Alex stared into the fire. "I'm going to get her back."
"You don't even know where they took her."
"I don't care. I'll burn every last one of them down if I have to."
Silence followed. Then Sira spoke.
"There is… one who might know. A defector from the government's experimental program. A mutant who turned their back on the regime years ago. They call him Specter. No one knows where he is, but if anyone has knowledge of government transport routes and prison vaults, it's him."
Maya looked up sharply. "But Specter's a myth."
Lena shook her head. "No. He's real. I've seen him once—barely survived the encounter. But if Alex is serious about getting Kaela back, he'll have to find him."
Alex stood slowly, the journal still tucked in his coat. "Then I'll find Specter."
---
The next morning, they departed again—this time toward the ruins of an abandoned military research complex deep in the mountains, rumored to be one of Specter's last known hideouts. The Veilborn sent trackers to scout ahead, while Lena and Maya accompanied Alex, knowing full well this could be a trap or a dead end.
As they climbed higher into the mountain range, the air grew colder, the trees sparser. Strange, twisted metal fragments littered the ground—remnants of old experiments, long abandoned.
At the summit, they found it.
A tower of black stone and rusted steel, rising like a monolith out of the snow-covered earth. Its gates were sealed, the walls covered in strange markings—some Core-born, others scientific equations etched into the steel by hands long gone.
Alex approached the door and pressed his hand against a circular indentation at its center. The Dragon Core inside him pulsed—and the door shuddered, then hissed open.
Inside was darkness.
Then, a voice echoed from within, disembodied and cold.
"Dragonborn… I've been expecting you."
Alex froze. The voice was neither robotic nor fully human. It vibrated with Resonance.
A shape stepped from the shadows. Clad in a torn black cloak, his face hidden behind a mask that shimmered like liquid glass, the figure radiated an overwhelming aura of power—cold, controlled, but coiled like a predator.
"Specter," Lena whispered.
The man nodded. "You've come for answers. I have them. But nothing is free."
Alex stepped forward. "They've taken Kaela. I need to know where."
Specter tilted his head. "Then you need to see what she's been taken to. What you were almost taken for."
He turned and walked deeper into the complex. Alex followed, heart thundering.
What he saw next chilled him more than anything before.
Rows of containment tubes lined the inner chamber, each filled with murky green fluid. Inside were mutants—some still alive, barely—others long gone. Attached to wires and monitors, their bodies twitched unnaturally. Some had wings. Others had claws, or fused elements from multiple animals—unnatural combinations.
Specter's voice was low, almost bitter. "This is the true face of the government's plan. They no longer want to control Resonance. They want to manufacture it. To create weapons—not people."
Alex stared in horror. "This… this is what Kaela's being taken to?"
"Yes," Specter said. "And if you don't act fast, she won't survive the procedure. No one does."
Alex's flames flickered faintly around his fingers. "Then help us."
Specter turned slowly, his mask reflecting the flickering light.
"Very well, Dragonborn. I will help you. But make no mistake—this path you walk now leads to war."
Alex's jaw tightened. "Then let it come."