The tension inside the pizza shop had been thick enough to cut with a knife. Ethan and Mia had untied Mr. Romano, who, thankfully, had only been knocked unconscious. Ethan had half-expected his boss to yell at him for being late again, but the older man was too dazed to say much beyond a gruff “thanks.” Mia, however, had been quick to slip out, leaving Ethan with little more than a cryptic, “We’ll talk later. Go home and think about what I said.”

Now, as Ethan paced the length of his small apartment, her words echoed in his mind.

The streets of Arclight were quieter than usual, yet tension buzzed in the air. His life had always been complicated—balancing his double life as a pizza delivery guy and a vigilante—but now, it was becoming dangerously tangled.

The obsidian shard sat on his desk, its faint glow casting long, eerie shadows across the room. It wasn’t just a relic. It was the source of his powers and the cause of all his problems. He stared at it, the pulsing light matching the rhythm of his thoughts.

A sharp knock on the door jolted him from his trance. His shadows curled instinctively around his fingertips, ready for anything.

Ethan approached cautiously, peering through the peephole. His shoulders tensed. Mia Harper was standing in the hallway, arms crossed, her expression a mix of determination and impatience.

With a sigh, Ethan unlocked the door and swung it open. “What are you doing here?”

Mia stepped inside without waiting for an invitation. “We need to talk.”

Ethan closed the door, leaning against it with crossed arms. “You know, normal people usually text before barging in.”

She ignored the jab and scanned the room, her gaze landing on the shard. Her eyes widened slightly, but she quickly masked her reaction. “So it’s true. You’re the one.”

“The one what?” Ethan asked, his tone sharp.

Mia turned to face him, her green eyes locking onto his. “The one bonded to the artifact. The one the Council has been hunting.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened. He forced himself to keep his tone steady. “And how do you know about the Council?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Mia’s expression didn’t waver. “Because I used to work for them.”

The air between them grew heavy. Ethan’s shadows flickered involuntarily, curling along the walls like restless snakes. “You worked for the people trying to kill me?”

“It’s not what you think,” she said quickly. “I didn’t have a choice. The Council has connections everywhere—governments, corporations, the underworld. Once you’re in, it’s nearly impossible to get out.”

“Convenient,” Ethan muttered, his voice dripping with skepticism.

Mia sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Look, I’m not your enemy. If I were, you’d already be dead. The Council doesn’t send amateurs.”

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“I’m here because I want to help you,” Mia said, her voice steady despite his hostility. “You’re powerful, Ethan, but you’re not invincible. The Council knows more about that shard than you do. If you keep fighting them alone, they’ll find a way to take you down.”

Ethan studied her carefully. Her words made sense, but trust didn’t come easily to him. “Why should I believe you?”

Mia hesitated, then reached into her jacket and pulled out a worn photograph. She handed it to him without a word.

Ethan’s brow furrowed as he studied the image. It showed a younger Mia standing with a group of people in front of a high-tech lab. At the center of the group was a man Ethan recognized from his nightmares—the same man who had whispered riddles to him when the shard first bonded to his body.

“Who is he?” Ethan asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Dr. Elias Harrow,” Mia said, her tone dark. “The man who created the shard—and the man who betrayed us all.”

Ethan’s gaze shifted from the photograph to Mia. “Us?”

“I was part of his research team,” Mia admitted. “We were working on a project to harness the power of ancient relics. The shard was one of our first successes—a prototype capable of enhancing the host’s abilities beyond human limits. But Harrow had other plans. He didn’t just want to study the relics. He wanted to weaponize them.”

“And the Council?” Ethan pressed.

“They funded his research,” Mia said bitterly. “When some of us tried to stop him, he turned us over to them. I barely escaped with my life.”

Ethan felt a knot tighten in his chest as he looked back at the shard. He’d always known it was more than just a piece of ancient technology, but he hadn’t realized just how deep its origins went.

“So now what?” he asked, his voice quieter. “Am I supposed to just keep running?”

“No,” Mia said firmly. “We fight back. Together.”

Ethan snorted. “You think I’m just going to trust you? After everything you just told me?”

Mia met his gaze without flinching. “You don’t have to trust me. But you need me. The Council is already moving. If we don’t act now, they’ll find you—and when they do, they won’t stop at just taking the shard.”

Ethan clenched his fists, his shadows flickering erratically around the room. He hated feeling cornered, but he couldn’t deny that Mia was right. The Council wasn’t going to stop, and he couldn’t take them on alone.

“Fine,” he said reluctantly. “But if you betray me, I’ll make you regret it.”

Mia smirked faintly. “Fair enough.”

She reached into her jacket again, pulling out a sleek, tablet-like device. “I’ve been tracking their movements. There’s a Council facility on the outskirts of the city. They’re storing data on artifact hosts—including you.”

“You want to break in,” Ethan guessed.

Mia nodded. “We need to know what they know. If we can steal their files, we’ll have an edge.”

Ethan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Breaking into a high-security facility? Sounds fun.”

Mia’s smirk widened. “I thought you liked a challenge.”

Despite himself, Ethan felt a faint smile tugging at his lips. For the first time in years, he wasn’t fighting alone.

“Let’s do it,” he said.

Mia’s smirk turned serious as she powered up the tablet. “Then we move at dawn.”

Ethan glanced at the shard on his desk, its glow steady and ominous. Whatever lay ahead, he knew one thing for certain: this was only the beginning.