Page 296 of Interion

“How?”

The heartbeat faded to a faint, struggling pulse. Zion didn’t know what he should do, but he’d been raised for war, just like that entity, and he would use every ounce of his knowledge to handle the situation.

“You will know, son of Darkness.”

The heart beat once more, then again. On the third beat, it faltered, as if unable to complete.

“Now,” Julius ordered.

Serguei launched himself against the barrier. The impact was terrifying—his claws struck with fists clenched, and the golden barrier shattered into millions of particles. Right behind him, a man of shadows entered the consciousness as all the fragments dispersed in the wind.

Zion followed the faint pulse; it was as if a cord existed between their consciousnesses, telling him where Kyller was: at the bottom of the subconscious, the most dangerous place in a mind. He didn’t need to look for an entrance—his form was only a shadow shaped like a body, and the laws of physics didn’t apply there. So he passed through the transparent layer on the floor that marked the boundary and was sucked downward.

The subconscious, which had once been a gentle sky full of clouds, now looked like the eye of a hurricane bathed in gold. He descended through the tornado, plunged like a black anchor amid the immeasurable power, and in the center of the chaos, he found two figures where the light was strongest.

“Who are you?” a deep, feminine voice asked.

Zion saw her golden form, the curvaceous body and immaterial wings spread wide. She stood beside Kyller’s body—made of red matter, lying unconscious on the ground. His partner was trapped by golden tendrils, as if fused to the environment, about to disappear.

“Me?” The general let the hungry shadows emerge and commanded them to surround him, to fill the entire place and cover everything in darkness. “You’re going to find out who I am.”

Then the darkness swept over the light, and Kyller’s glow was swallowed by the blackness of the shadows. Only the golden entity gleamed in the heart of the night, seething with hatred upon realizing she’d lost the girl right before her eyes. The simple truth was: if she couldn’t see them, she had no way to catch them.

And embracing his partner’s inert body, fusing his black essence to camouflage her light, the general promised with all his furious heart that Angel would not find them.

And she did not find them.

Δ

The Sonar watched the rain fall through the window and sipped his tea, his gaze fixed on the horizon. When lightning illuminated the forest, the view became incredible: trees with purple, red, and orange leaves overlapped, forming a breathtaking landscape. If the psychic could see the world in color, he too would have found it beautiful. But colors had abandoned him. His perception of the world was black and white.

“What now?” Serguei asked restlessly, drumming his fingers on the chair’s armrest.

The moment Zion entered Kyller’s subconscious, his body collapsed onto the bed beside hers, limp. The two men listened intently to both hearts racing. Serguei felt consumed by fear and anxiety—he wasn’t used to being out of control. Being adrift unsettled him, left him on edge.

The Sonar turned toward him, eyes closed, but Serguei knew he could see.

“We wait.”

He was someone sculpted with the permanence of earth itself. His gaze, the way he moved, that calm in his voice—they reminded the psychic of vast forests, ancient trees, and wind dancing through the leaves.

“How will we know if it worked?”

“Have patience, Serguei. You need to trust your boy more.” The seer opened his eyes and looked at him. “You’re afraid you haven’t taught him well, but look—” he pointed to the general, lying there holding Kyller’s hand, “—he’s so much like you.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” He laughed humorlessly. There was no reason to hide his concerns from the man in front of him. Not after he’d witnessed the entire scene between the two. “I’m not someone who should be imitated.”

“Don’t be afraid, old friend.” The Sonar smiled. “He’ll be as good as you, but he won’t make the same mistakes.”

“Are you saying that as a friend or as a Sonar?”

“Both.” Julius shrugged, a crooked half-smile on his face. “Young as he is, he’s already a good leader. When he ascends, you’ll be there to see with your own eyes how great your son has become.”

Serguei watched him suspiciously. Being there would be impossible, but the seer was never wrong. So he let the words sink in.

“It’s sad watching them grow up so fast. Pain is a cruel teacher.” The psychic looked at Zion’s hand. Even unconscious, his son still clung to Kyller. “They’re still children, but they already carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but at least they’ll have each other.”