Chapter 1 – Shattered Bloodlines
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The Kane Estate was too quiet.
Beneath the chandeliers and marble columns, something unspoken stretched thin. Not fear—something colder. Finality.
Mason stood with his siblings before the man they had once called Father.
Richard Kane gazed down at them from the obsidian dais, flanked by empty shadows. His voice, when it came, was low—like a verdict already passed.
"This world is a decaying beast," he said. "Too stubborn to die, too weak to change. We will do what the cowards in power never could. We will end it—and begin again."
He stepped down the stairs, every motion precise. Controlled. Inevitable.
"You want to burn the world because it's flawed?" Mason said, voice steady. "That doesn't make you a leader. It makes you scared."
Arc's fingers twitched, faint sparks dancing across his skin.
Crystal stood calm, but her bow was already half-raised.
"You were bred for power," Richard said. "But power means nothing without vision. And I won't let my own children throw away destiny."
He moved.
Faster than they could think.
His hand grazed Mason's shoulder.
Pain bloomed in Mason's mind like a scream with no sound. Memories twisted. Sight fractured. For a breath, he was drowning in visions—alternate versions of himself dying, burning, vanishing.
He hit the ground, clutching his head, breath stolen.
Arc was already airborne, lightning surging down both arms. He struck from above with brutal speed.
Richard deflected him with a single open palm. Arc's body jolted midair, limbs locking up as his nervous system overloaded. He crumpled against the wall.
Crystal vanished in a blink, reappearing behind their father. Her arrow was already drawn.
She fired at point-blank.
He spun, catching it with two fingers.
She blinked again, teleporting sideways and launching two more arrows. He dodged one, deflected the other—and lunged.
She was just fast enough.
He missed her shoulder by a whisper. The floor where she'd stood cracked apart.
Mason forced himself up, slamming a fist into the marble. A burst of stone erupted beneath Richard's feet. For a second, it looked like the advantage turned.
Arc returned, shooting across the field in a zig-zag, rejoining Crystal mid-air. She teleported him again—this time above Richard's head—and he launched a thunder-kick while falling.
Mason followed from below, surrounding Richard with rising pillars of earth.
The combination struck.
Stone caged him. Arc's bolt detonated overhead.
For a moment, everything stopped.
The smoke cleared.
Richard stood untouched. The pillars had shattered.
"You're talented," he said. "But not ready."
He touched the floor. Mason felt the energy a second too late.
The room folded. His mind fractured again.
But this time—he fought it.
He grit his teeth, raised a wall to block the incoming psychic wave, and yelled, "Now!"
Arc shot in with speed only Crystal's teleportation could match. She reappeared behind Richard and grabbed his shoulder—not to hurt, but to pull Arc through with her.
They both blinked out, pulling Mason just as Richard's next pulse rippled out.
They reappeared in the lower wing—an old storage hall, empty since the civil drills.
Mason staggered.
"He's too fast," he said, panting.
"No," Crystal said. "He's predictable. But he's impossible to tag."
"He's hunting with precision," Arc added, wiping blood from his chin. "He's not trying to kill. He wants us broken."
Boots thundered down the stairwell.
Guards.
They didn't come with hesitation. They opened fire the moment they saw them.
So Richard had made it clear—they were now the enemy.
Arc moved through them like lightning, striking with enough voltage to paralyze but not kill. Crystal teleported between the squads, launching arrows into knee joints and visors. Mason split the ground beneath the guards' feet and raised a barrier behind them.
They kept moving, room by room, toward the edge of the estate. Always a second behind schedule. Always nearly caught.
Until the doors to the courtyard burst open.
He was waiting.
Not Richard.
Someone worse.
A man in jet-black armor, built like a war machine, stood beneath the scorched estate gates. His helmet retracted, revealing a face half-covered in jagged cybernetic implants. A red sigil glowed at the center of his chestplate.
"I am Omega," he said. "Richard sends his regrets."
Mason stepped forward, fire curling up his arms. "Let me guess. You break bones, not minds?"
"I break everything."
Omega moved with terrifying momentum.
His first strike nearly cracked Mason's ribcage. He was forced to harden the ground beneath his feet to absorb the blow. Arc flanked from the side, hitting Omega's shoulder with a high-speed combo.
It barely staggered him.
Omega caught Arc's final strike mid-air and hurled him through a tree.
Crystal's arrow struck Omega's knee joint, disrupting his movement for half a second. She blinked behind him and loosed three more in rapid succession. He twisted, armor absorbing most of the impact, but a weak spot near his neck sparked.
Arc reappeared beside Mason. "We need a coordinated break."
Mason nodded. "Crystal. Pin his feet. Arc—go for his sensors. I'll give us cover."
Crystal teleported just ahead of Omega's charge, her arrow piercing the soil in front of him. A surge of pulsing energy exploded from it, locking his legs in a containment ring made of light.
Arc zipped in, drawing all the voltage he had left and slamming a burst into Omega's faceplate.
Mason lifted a wall—no, an entire half-circle of earth behind Omega—and collapsed it forward like a wave.
It struck.
Dust rose.
Omega emerged, armor dented. Bleeding from his jaw. But still standing.
Crystal was gasping now. Arc's hands were trembling. Mason could feel his strength draining.
"This isn't sustainable," Crystal said, voice low.
Mason stared at the nearest access hatch.
"The old tunnel to the outer woods. We'll make a break for it. Crystal—get Arc out. I'll draw his attention."
"No," Arc snapped. "We're not splitting."
"We don't have a choice."
Mason charged ahead, summoning a trail of rising stone spikes to block Omega's path. As Omega charged, Mason ignited a wall of flame behind him.
Crystal grabbed Arc and teleported them both into the side tunnel. Mason followed seconds later, just before Omega broke through.
The tunnel sealed behind them with a final, deafening slam.
Silence followed.
Omega stood in the ruined courtyard, watching smoke rise from the breach.
"They won't last long."
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To Be Continued