{location: Unknown}
The room was dim, lit only by the soft hum of red warning lights flashing through the cracks of a shattered base wall. A foul stench lingered in the air, half-decayed flesh and rusted metal. Broken machinery buzzed and sparked in the background. This base, long abandoned by the Federation, had become something else entirely.
A tall man stood at the centre of a ritual circle. Symbols drawn in dried blood glowed faintly beneath his bare feet. His skin, though pale like Elias's, shimmered oddly in the dark, as though veined with shadow. His hair was long and midnight black slicked back over sharp, defined features. His eyes, unlike Elias's, burned silver.
His name was Kael Draven. And he wasn't just Elias's brother, he was one of the four sons of the Draven bloodline who had crossed into Earth-IX with one goal: to find their wayward brother, Vark.
Kael moved around the pit, his long coat dragging across the dusty floor. He stared into the hole at the centre of the room, a pit that pulsed with the same dark energy found in the ritual chamber where Elias had once been nearly sacrificed.
Behind him, the undead groaned. They were kneeling, trembling even as if they knew something far more terrifying stood among them. Kael raised a hand.
"You know what to do," he said calmly, his voice like oil on water. "Find him. Bring him to me. No... I'm sure he won't just come with you,"
The pit glowed brighter, a blast of shadowed light shooting upward. More undead climbed from the depths, summoned by Kael's rituals. He wasn't just calling them he was feeding them fragments of Vark's energy. Luring them, programming them to search.
One of the huge creatures let out a scream as it fell to its knees, burning with a mark on its neck.
Kael grinned. "You'll know him by those demonic eyes of his,"
He turned away, walking toward a rusted control panel nearby. The screens flickered to life as he tapped through frequencies. Of course, there was no way Kael would be alone in this crazy mission. Another soft ring echoed through the ruined base, an alert.
He pressed the screen, and two more faces appeared. Both were pale like him, one with short, spiked silver hair and the other with gold eyes and a permanent scowl.
The three Draven brothers, together.
The one with silver hair leaned forward, bored.
"Any luck sniffing him out, Kael?"
Kael smirked. "Of course, I'm about to trap him."
The other, gold-eyed and impatient, scoffed.
"We've wasted years on this. Vark's a coward. If he had any pride left, he'd have faced us already."
Kael's grin widened, showing sharp teeth.
"He's not running. He's hiding. I've summoned dozens of marked undead. Each one carries a piece of his scent. All it takes is for one to get close, find his location and I know that we'll meet one day,"
He glanced back at the pit.
"Besides... the portal's still open. Vark left it behind like a broken toy. That mistake caused this apocalypse. Earth fell because of him. It's poetic, really."
Silver-hair chuckled.
"I still remember Father's face when Vark ran. The chosen heir... gone without a word. If he thinks he can live out his days in this ruined world, he's wrong."
Kael nodded.
"We're going to drag him back. And then we take what's ours."
"His heart," gold-eyes said. "It still beats."
Kael's smile faded.
"The last beating heart among us. Do you know what that means? Once we claim it... we become complete. One of us will rise as the true heir."
Yeah... Just one of them.
The screen crackled. Kael looked down. Another alert.
Coordinates.
His eyes narrowed.
"Someone just triggered the signature."
He walked toward a nearby table, where a round black device sat. It pulsed blue.
Kael picked it up slowly. It was one of the stolen devices from the old world, one he had taken during his descent into Earth. A scanner—meant to detect dimensional energies.
And it had just gone off.
He tapped the screen.
A map appeared.
Coordinates locked. Movement detected.
His silver eyes glinted. "Found you."
The brothers leaned closer to their respective screens. The mood changed instantly.
Kael licked his lips.
"He's not nearby. He's outside the barrier."
Silver-hair growled.
"Then move. You should be able to reach him first,"
"Don't rip out that heart till we've all gathered," the other one said.
Kael secretly gnashed his teeth. He didn't need a second command. He grabbed a long, jagged blade hanging on the wall and sheathed it behind his back. The undead in the chamber had gone silent, now all staring at him with blank, lifeless eyes. He raised his hand again, issuing a final command:
"Find the heartbeat. Do not return without him."
One by one, they crawled from the pit and disappeared into the darkness of the abandoned base, some climbing the walls, others breaking through the crumbling doors. Their glowing symbols flickered on their necks like dying stars in the distance.
Kael turned, pulling his hood over his head. Before stepping out into the dead city, he said one last thing to his brothers:
"Once I cut out that heart, it'll beat for me. Just. Me"
The others went silent, ending the call.
Kael stood at the broken gate, watching the grey wind blow through the ruins. His boots crunched over dead bones and ash. He sniffed the air.
And then, he smiled.
"Just wait for me, brother. We'll reunite very soon,"
He vanished into the storm.
---
Meanwhile, in Paradise City where Elias remained with Ivy and Riven, the air suddenly shifted.
Something had just changed and Elias felt it in his rotten bones.
He suddenly turned his head, looking around. Ivy saw him looking uncomfortable.
"Is there something on your mind?"
"No. It's nothing," he smiled, turning back to them.
And none of them knew... that death was already on its way.
[END OF CHAPTER TWO]