When Shadows Speak

Location: Tavara – Victorion Estate Underground Command Bunker

The hum of monitors and the low chatter of encrypted comms filled the air in the underground command bunker hidden beneath the Victorion Estate. This was the heart of Damien's operations—where war was strategized in silence and executed with surgical precision.

A giant display screen flickered to life as Nora fed the latest data from surveillance drones into the system. The cloaked figure sighted earlier now had a face—blurred, but unmistakably hers. Althea.

"She's not hiding anymore," Nora muttered. "She wanted to be seen."

Damien stood with arms crossed, his jaw tight. "It's a message. She's daring me to act."

Xavier, Damien's top tactician and former field operative, entered the room. "Her arrival has stirred old allies. The Order of the Obsidian Fang has sent a coded request for parley."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "Parley? Since when do shadow killers talk first?"

"Since they fear what she'll do," Damien replied. "They trained her. They know her capability better than most. And if they're reaching out, it means they believe Althea is no longer aligned with the Dominion or any council."

Nora paced the room. "So what is she now? Rogue weapon? Avenging saint?"

Damien's voice was calm, but his gaze burned. "She's unfinished business. She's what the Council made me to become—and what I refused."

Silence followed. Everyone in the room felt the weight of those words. Damien rarely referenced the days of his training, the parts of his past soaked in blood and secrets.

Xavier finally spoke. "Do we answer the Fang's request?"

Damien nodded. "Yes. But on our terms. And with eyes everywhere."

He stepped closer to the map interface and zoomed in on a mountainous region east of Tavara's border—a forgotten ruin known as Ghalem's Reach.

"She'll go there," Damien said. "It was our final training ground. The last place she bled for her freedom."

Nora stepped beside him. "And what happens if she's not the same Althea?"

Damien's lips curved, but there was no humor in it. "Then I remind her who survived—and why."

Thunder rolled in the distance again, shaking the foundation of the estate. The storm was far from over.