The air outside Solaris Reach crackled with tension.
Aidan and Evan moved swiftly, Sera close behind, cutting across rooftops and abandoned streets under the cold light of the moons.
In the distance, pillars of black smoke rose — marking the breach point where Gravemind's forces were clawing into the forgotten vault.
Evan's senses sharpened. His telekinesis flared subtly around them, shielding their presence from enemy eyes, masking their movements behind bends of light and warps of sound. A living ghost, the Psychic Reaper walked the battlefield again.
But this time, not to conquer.
This time, to end what the Academy started.
---
> "The vault lies beyond Sector 9," Sera said, her voice tight in Evan's ear. "We sealed it years ago. Whatever's inside... it's not meant to see the light of day."
> "Gravemind doesn't care about 'meant to,'" Evan muttered. "He was built to rewrite 'destiny.'"
Aidan kept pace beside them, fists clenched at his sides. His power hummed low — a steady burn just beneath the surface, like a star barely caged.
He had come far since they first met.
But Evan worried if even Aidan's strength would be enough for what waited.
---
As they neared the breach, Evan extended his mind outward.
The battlefield unfolded before him in invisible detail:
Twisted bio-weapons stitched from Academy mistakes.
Fractured clones barely resembling humans.
And in the center — a tear in reality itself.
A wound.
Gravemind was changing the world around the vault, warping it into something alien.
Something hungry.
---
> "We go in fast," Evan said, glancing at Sera and Aidan. "We take down the anchors. Cut Gravemind's influence before it solidifies."
Sera checked her weapon. Aidan simply nodded, steeling himself.
> "Ready," Aidan said.
For a moment, Evan allowed himself to believe it.
That maybe they could still win.
---
They struck like lightning.
Evan hit first, ripping twisted monstrosities apart with invisible force. His movements were clean, brutal — no wasted energy, no mercy.
Sera's rifle barked precise shots, each one dropping a target before it could react.
Aidan blazed through the field like a living missile, his strength folding steel and bone alike.
Together, they carved a path through the nightmare.
---
At the heart of it, the vault door stood open — a yawning abyss leaking whispers and rot.
And there, standing at the threshold, was a figure.
Human in shape.
Cloaked in shadows.
Eyes like molten gold.
---
Gravemind had chosen a host.
---
> "Welcome, Reaper," the figure said, its voice layered with a thousand broken echoes. "Welcome back to where it all began."
Evan didn't slow.
He hurled a blast of kinetic force strong enough to flatten a skyscraper — but the figure raised a hand and stopped it.
Not dodged.
Not blocked.
Stopped it.
The world shook from the pressure.
---
Aidan surged forward, unwilling to leave Evan alone — but Evan threw up a psychic barrier, halting him.
> "No," Evan said sharply. "This one's mine."
Gravemind laughed — a sound like splintering glass.
> "You still think you're in control?" Gravemind taunted. "You never left me, Evan. You only delayed the inevitable."
The golden eyes burned hotter.
> "You are not the Reaper. You are the harbinger. My harbinger."
---
Evan didn't flinch.
Didn't yield.
He called all of his power to him, his mind a storm of razor precision.
And for the first time in years, he let it fully unfurl.
The ground cratered beneath him.
The sky wept sparks.
Reality screamed around his presence.
Because Evan was not just the Reaper.
He was the last blade against the end.
---
> "You're wrong," Evan said, his voice low and cutting through the chaos. "I was your weapon. Now... I'm your executioner."
---
The clash was inevitable.
Two titanic forces colliding in a storm of psychic devastation.
Around them, the remnants of the old world burned.
And at the heart of it all, a decision waited:
Would Evan become the monster the Academy forged?
Or would he finally break the chain — and forge his own destiny?
---
End of Chapter 13