2749’s eyes drifted open. His right eye, once a soft green, had darkened to an endless bck. His violet left eye quivered, as if stirred by a hidden breath.

  A chilled chain rested heavy on his chest, pinning him within the fractured Rune-Gss Vault. He shifted his arm, testing its weight.

  Crack.

  The chain gave way, links tumbling against the broken gss with a faint, mournful chime. He was unbound.

  His breath came slow, a whisper of dust in his lungs. His fingers curled into a fist, a dark aura weaving around it like threads of forgotten shadow. His bck eye shimmered, a quiet ripple crossing its depths. Then he pressed his hand forward.

  BOOM!

  The vault’s gss shattered outward, a low tremor rolling through the ruins. Fragments of stone and metal scattered, settling like fallen leaves.

  CRACK!

  ---

  Three shapes lingered near the sealed entrance, their low voices weaving through guesses about escape and the ruin’s fall.

  A sudden BOOM! rumbled beneath their feet, the air shivering as something nearby broke apart. Dust lifted from the wreckage, gss tapping stone like a distant rain.

  They froze, eyes sharpening, and turned toward the sound’s echo, peering through the ntern’s unsteady glow.

  A boy, barely fifteen, but built like a young knight, broad-shouldered and strong from training stumbled back a step. His face bore a jagged scar, and his right arm shimmered with green scales, ending in wicked, glinting cws. Muscle rippled under his skin, nearly fully grown, though a hint of youth lingered in his frame. His torn blue robe, streaked with grime, hung loose. His bald head caught the ntern’s dim glow, shining faintly.

  Beside him stood a small girl, maybe thirteen, thin but scrappy, with a wild spark in her big, pink eyes. Her shaved head and impish grin gave her a cute, boyish charm, like a scruffy street urchin ready for a brawl. Her stained bck robe was too big, sleeves rolled up past her elbows, showing off skinny arms smudged with dirt. She shifted her weight, quick and restless, always on edge.

  A taller girl stood behind them, her sharp blue eyes narrowing as she scanned the ruins. At sixteen, she carried herself steady, her loose bck robe hanging over a lean, wiry frame. Her bald scalp caught the flickering ntern light, and her quiet calm masked a readiness to move fast.

  Then, a sound broke the quiet—a slow, rough scrape under the rubble, like rocks rubbing together. The debris shook a little, a strange wiggle that felt wrong. Dust fell in thin lines, like something hidden was moving down there, big and secret. Was it alive? Hiding? The air got heavy, and the ntern’s dim light blinked as shadows grew long. Something was stirring or escaping.

  A boy of age of 15 rose up from the wreckage, bare and scarred. Broken chains hung from his wrists.

  Their eyes darted to 2749’s strange eyes, one bck as a voice, the other violet and restless, a twisting shadow, like something alive cwing beneath his skull, its light sharp and eerie. His bald head, smooth and bare, showed he was one of them—another shaped by cold steel and cruel hands.

  The tall woman stepped closer, her blue eyes fixed on him. She raised a hand to stop the others.

  “Who are you?” she asked calmly. “I’m Anya. What’s your name?”

  2749 looked at them—their torn robes, the wrecked b, how they stood ready to fight. The two in bck wore Valerius’s robes. The one with the scaled arm had Elias’s blue robe, his green cws shining.

  “My name is 2749,” he said, his voice ft and hollow.

  Anya, Borin, and Era frowned. 2749’s number was low—he’d been here way before them. Their own numbers were 5000 to 6000, and they knew lots of kids didn’t survive the colpse. They felt sorry for him, guessing he’d suffered more. His short answers didn’t bother them—they didn’t know he was just empty inside.

  Anya kept going. “Your real name—the one your parents gave you, from before this.” She waved at the ruins.

  2749 didn’t move. “Parents,” he mumbled.

  The word hit him strangely. Fshes flickered in his mind—sunlight, warmth, two people standing with smiles—but their faces were blurry, lost to him. No names came.

  “I don’t remember,” he said, a faint ache threading through his hollow voice.

  Anya, Borin, and Era felt more sympathy for him. He probably wasn’t rude before, those experiments had hollowed him out, left him bnk. But they didn’t have time to dwell—they shifted their attention quick to escaping.

  Borin flexed his cwed hand. His arm was big, covered in blue scales. He grunted. “Whatever. I’m Borin. That’s Era.” He pointed to the pink-eyed woman.

  Era gave a quiet nod, a flicker of annoyance crossing her—she’d wanted to name herself, not have someone else speak for her.

  Borin sighed, his breath rough. “You know what happened here? Or how to get out?” He pointed at a ntern flickering weakly on the ground. “This light’s dying, and we’re out of food.”

  2749 said, his voice cold and empty, “No.”

  Era picked up the ntern and moved toward 2749—or rather, the spot he’d emerged from. Reaching it, she tilted the light at the pit he’d climbed out of, revealing the broken vault, its gss split and shadowed.

  She swung the ntern toward him, the dim light hitting his face—his weird eyes, one bck, one violet, made her stomach twist, uneasy. She asked, “What did they do to you?” Her voice was low. “This looks bad, seeing that vault.”

  2749 said, his voice ft and dead, “I don’t know.”

  Era huffed, her pink eyes narrowing. “Great, another ‘no’—this guy’s useless. I swear, whatever they did to him scrambled his head. Looks like we’re on our own, guys.”

  Borin and Anya, already wary of 2749, tensed up more, worried he might lunge at Era. They sighed, exchanging gnces, and started muttering about other ways out.

  Meanwhile, Era kept eyeing 2749. Her gaze flicked from his scarred face to his bare, muscled body—naked and tough, despite the marks. She asked, “How’d you break out of that vault and make that shockwave?”

  “I punched it,” 2749 said, voice cold and empty.

  Era blinked, then studied the wrecked vault. She turned to the blocked entrance—huge stones and bent metal—and pointed. “Can you punch that?” Her pink eyes gleamed with a spark of hope.

  2749 gnced at it. “Yes,” he said.

  Era tilted her head, her voice turning cute and pleading. “Then can you punch that like you did here and make a hole or something so we can escape?”

  2749 said, his voice ft and dead, “I will try my best.” Her cuteness meant nothing to him—he just obeyed, like always.

  As he walked toward the blocked entrance, Borin’s rough voice cut in. “Hey, hold up, man. Stop.”

  2749 paused, turning slightly.

  Borin flexed his green-scaled arm, muscles bulging under the shimmering ptes. “I already tried. Look at this—if you don’t break it in one hit, you’ll mess up the structure worse. This whole pce could cave in.”

  Anya nodded, her blue eyes steady. “He’s right. It’s too risky. We should look for another way out.”

  Era, trailing with the ntern, scoffed. “Oh, come on! Let him try! What’s the pn—sit here and starve? We’re dead either way if we stay.” She jabbed a finger at 2749. “Go punch that wall—full strength!”

  Borin frowned. “Era, if he messes up, we’re buried. I’d rather keep looking than risk it all now.”

  Era rolled her pink eyes, voice sharp. “And I’d rather not rot in this hellhole waiting for nothing! He’s our shot—stop whining. We either bust out now or die slow. Pick one.”

  Anya sighed, rubbing her temple. “Both of you, quit it. Borin’s got a point—it could colpse. But Era’s not wrong—we’re running out of time.” She gnced at the dimming ntern, then at 2749. “If he can do it clean, we’re free. If not…” She shrugged. “We’re no worse off.”

  Borin grunted, crossing his scaled arms. “Fine. Let him try. Worst case, we’re buried fast instead of starving slow.” He nodded grudgingly at 2749. Anya and Era stepped back, wary of falling debris, their eyes flicking between hope and doubt.

  2749 turned, unbothered by their words, and walked to the blocked entrance again. The others retreated a few paces, bracing for whatever came next.

  He raised his arm, fingers curling into a fist. A dark aura flickered around his hand, shadows twisting faintly. His scarred muscles tightened, and the air buzzed with hidden power.

  Everyone stared as the dark aura around 2749’s body fred to life. It glowed, but not like normal light—it was a strange, shadowy shine, bright yet heavy, as if he was pulling the ntern’s glow into himself. The darkness around him seemed to deepen, and he stood out like a bck fme flickering in the gloom, both radiant and void at once.

  Then, he struck.

  BOOM!