The city of Zenithar never really slept.

It just... lied to itself.

Far above the chaos, on top of a cracked skyscraper, Raiga laid on his back, eyes half-closed, arms behind his head.

The neon-lit hell below hummed like a dying machine.

He watched the skyline.

Metal towers stabbed the clouds.

Toxic fog crawled through broken windows.

Propaganda drones buzzed like flies.

Somewhere, a woman screamed.

Somewhere else—gunfire.

Raiga sighed.

Muttered to himself.

Raiga: "Late again..."

He let his eyes close. Just for a minute.

⸻

The Dream Came Fast.

Everything was burning.

The sky tore open.

Flames swallowed the trees.

Snow turned to blood.

He heard screaming.

Saw shadows moving in the fire.

Someone was calling his name—

??? (whisper): "You shouldn't be here yet..."

Raiga looked around.

Darkness. Cracks in the sky. A red moon.

Raiga: "Who are you?"

No answer.

Only a shape...

...a woman, standing in the flames.

???: "You are not ready. But the time is near. You must remember."

Raiga: "What? What are you—"

???: "Find the others. Find him. Stop the cycle."

Raiga: "What are you talking about? What cycle?!"

Everything exploded in light—

Then—

"...RAIGA!"

⸻

He gasped—eyes snapping open.

Liara's voice blasted through his ears like a slap to the brain. She was standing next to him, arms resting on her hips.

Liara: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! Are you seriously sleeping again?!"

Raiga: "Good morning to you..."

BONK!

Something smashed against Raiga's skull.

Raiga: "OW—!"

He groaned, rolled to the side, and saw Liara standing over him, holding a bent metal pipe with zero remorse.

Liara: "It's almost midnight, idiot! Patrol drones sweep that sector every thirty minutes!"

Raiga: "What the hell did you hit me with?!"

Liara: "I told you we were meeting up here! I even pinged your chip!"

Raiga: "You threw a pipe at my head."

Liara: "A small pipe. You've taken worse. Now move your lazy ass, Garret's waiting."

Raiga: "This is abuse..."

Liara: "Keep whining, I'll throw you off the roof."

Zenithar was hell, but at least they faced it together.

They crossed the rooftop together.

On the far side, leaning against a rusty air vent, stood a tall man with a metal arm and a scar across one eye.

Garret: "Ah, Sleeping Beauty arrives."

Raiga: "Fuck off, old man."

Garret (grinning): "You brat..."

Liara rolled her eyes and handed both boys a data-chip.

Liara: "Enough! We're hitting a Dominion relay tower tonight, FOCUS! Floor 23 has a classified drive. Garret sets the route, I guide the extraction. Raiga's the muscle."

Raiga: "Like always."

Liara: "Don't blow up the tower this time."

Raiga: "No promises."

The mission started at 01:23 AM.

The van was quiet.

Except for the hum of screens and the soft beeping of data feeds.

Liara sat in the center of it all—her command seat, surrounded by monitors, wires, and half-assembled tech.

A pair of small drones hovered near the roof, blinking with silent blue lights.

She tapped a few keys, slid a sleek black visor over her eyes, and exhaled.

Liara: "Drone link active. Video clean. You're good to go."

Across the city, Garret adjusted the long scope on his sniper rifle.

He lay prone on a rusted balcony, three buildings away from the target.

Wind howled through the broken streets, but he didn't move.

Garret: "I've got you, kid. Sector's quiet. One patrol up top, two inside."

Raiga moved like smoke.

His boots didn't make a sound on the steel.

His black cloak shifted with the wind, blending into the dark.

He crouched by a maintenance ladder on the side of the building.

Liara: "North wall's clear. Entry point 2C. There's a blind spot near the service duct. Use it."

Raiga: "Copy."

He climbed fast. Controlled.

At the top, he paused—eyes scanning.

A guard walked nearby, checking his pad.

Garret: "Hold. Wait..."

The guard stopped. Lit a smoke.

Then turned away.

Garret: "Go."

Raiga moved.

One step.

Another.

The guard never saw it coming.

Raiga pressed two fingers to the man's throat.

A soft click—a shock dart. Instant blackout.

The body slumped silently. Raiga dragged it behind a vent.

Inside the tower, it was colder.

Lights buzzed weakly from the ceiling.

The hallways were empty—just metal and silence.

Liara: "Right corridor. Room 231. Locked, but I'm in their system. Wait..."

She typed rapidly.

A soft green light flashed above the door.

Liara: "Open. Move."

Raiga slipped inside.

The room was sterile.

White walls, two terminals, a sealed case in the center of a reinforced table.

Liara: "That's it. Class-D Mapping Core. Take it and get out."

Raiga lifted the case.

Light-blue lines flickered across the metal.

Garret: "You've got one guard coming up the west stairwell. Slow. Probably just routine."

Raiga didn't respond.

He stepped to the side of the doorway.

Waited.

The door opened.

A man walked in, yawning, holding a coffee.

He blinked. Didn't even register Raiga's presence.

Raiga hit him once—quick jab to the side of the neck.

The man collapsed, coffee spilling across the floor.

Liara: "Smooth."

Back outside, the wind picked up.

Garret scanned the streets below, then zoomed in on the escape path.

Garret: "Alley's clean. Truck's still parked. No tags."

Liara: "Raiga, exit via shaft 4B. Leads right to the van."

Raiga: "Copy."

Moments later, the van's side door opened.

Raiga stepped in without a word, carrying the case.

He set it on the table.

Liara slid the visor up and gave him a sideways look.

Liara: "Not even a scratch. You're no fun."

Garret's voice crackled in.

Garret: "Mission clean. Zero alerts. Zero kills."

Raiga: "...Mostly."

Liara frowned. "Wait—'mostly'?"

Raiga leaned back in his seat, arms crossed.

Raiga: "He spilled his coffee."

Liara stared.

Then sighed.

Liara: "You're such a bastard sometimes."

Raiga: "You love it."

Liara: "I really don't."

Garret chuckled from the comm.

Garret: "Next time I get the cool part. You two can sit in the van and argue."

Raiga was about to speak—when his comm buzzed again.

Not Liara this time.

A different voice.

Metallic. Dry.

Like rust whispering through a blade.

Barren: "We have a Problem."

Raiga's eyes narrowed.

Barren: "The boys at Hollow Fang dropped the shipment. Got hit. Bad."

Raiga: "...Where?"

Barren: "Sector 9. Warehouse lot 3. Clean it up."

The line went dead.

Raiga clenched his jaw.

Liara: "What was that?"

Raiga: "Nothing."

Liara: "That didn't sound like nothing."

Raiga started walking.

Liara: "Raiga—"

Raiga: "Drop it!"

She flinched, but said nothing. She wasn't expecting that.

Garret: "Hey—"

Raiga: "What?"

Garret: "Don't take it too far..."

Raiga stood up, stretching his arms, stepped toward the edge of the rooftop and vanished into the night.

⸻

The dive bar known as The Hollow Fang was a front. Everyone in Zenithar knew it.

Officially a place for cheap drinks and dirty deals.

Unofficially, it was a weapons drop point for the Night Covenant.

Tonight, it burned.

Blaster fire ripped through the air. Smoke rolled out into the streets.

A battered cargo truck roared away from the scene, tires screeching. Inside, four men laughed like hyenas, high on adrenaline and the scent of blood.

Krush: "Ha! Did you see that fat bastard run? Dropped his gun and pissed himself!"

Rott: "Forget him! You seen what we got? Category Next-Tech, boys! That's worth a fortune!"

Ven: "And the fragments, man. Two clean shards. I held one—felt like my damn soul was vibrating!"

Krush barked out a rough laugh, pounding his fist against the dashboard.

Krush: "With this haul, we'll carve up our own corner of Zenithar! The army ain't got nothing on us now!"

Driver: "Let's lay low till sunrise. Then we sell the gear, buy our tickets outta this gutter."

Ven leaned back, lighting a battered smoke.

Ven: "Ain't nobody stoppin' us now."

Then—

CRASH!!!

The roof of the truck caved in.

The vehicle flipped violently, steel groaning under the impact. The world spun. Glass shattered. Metal screamed against the pavement.

Silence.

Then coughing. Groans.

Krush dragged himself out through the twisted door, blood streaming from his forehead.

Krush: "What the... the hell just—"

A shadow fell over him.

Krush looked up—and saw death.

Raiga stood there, his coat fluttering in the cold wind, eyes cold and empty.

Before Krush could speak, Raiga's boot came down hard.

CRACK!

The sound was sickening. Skull. Neck. Gone.

Rott and Ven stumbled out, screaming.

Ven: "IT'S HIM! IT'S THE SHADOW!"

Rott: "Shoot him! SHOOT—"

Too late.

Raiga drew his katana in a single, fluid motion.

The blade sang.

One step forward—Rott's head hit the ground before his body realized it was dead.

Ven turned to run, sobbing.

Raiga moved like a phantom. Three precise cuts—Ven collapsed in pieces, eyes still wide in horror.

The driver tried crawling away. Raiga grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed his face into the pavement with a brutal CRACK.

Silence returned.

Raiga cleaned the blade with a slow, practiced motion.

He recovered the stolen bags, slinging them over his shoulder, and plucked the two glowing fragments from Ven's twitching fingers.

As his figure dissolved into the shadows, a faint green light pulsed high above—steady, silent, unseen.

From the van's control rig, Liara watched the scene through the drone's visor.

Her fingers tightened on the controls. Her eyes didn't blink.

She told herself she shouldn't feel this way.

Not about him.

Not about Raiga.

But her heart beat faster, her throat tightened, and in that moment—watching the merciless way he moved, the brutal calm after the storm... She was afraid. Afraid of him.

And that... That hurt more than anything else.

She reached out and killed the feed with a sharp breath.

Darkness filled the screen.