But tonight, she was sprinting through frozen Brooklyn alleys with three agency scouts on her heels and a half-shattered glyph crest pulsing beneath her collar.
The storm inside her wasn’t stable.
Every breath cracked the air. Every step risked another glyph flare. She needed to hide. Recharge. Vanish.
Then she turned the corner—and almost ran straight into a wall of ice.
No. Not a wall.
A man.
Tall. Cloaked. Cold.
His eyes shimmered blue like the world had wronged him and never been forgiven.
“You’re bleeding glyph,” he said flatly. “Storm variant. Unstabilized.”
Velira’s hand surged with windlight, reflexive.
“Back off. I don’t know you.”
“You don’t have to.”
The scouts came around the bend, flash-glyphs aimed and loaded.
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“Target acquired—Velethorne crest confirmed!”
Velira cursed and spun, launching a volatile gust spell. The alley filled with static and snow.
That’s when the man moved.
Fast. Heavy. Controlled.
Circle 2 Cast: Frostlash Surge.
Ice exploded from the pavement—knocking one scout flat, freezing another mid-stride. The third tried to escape but caught a cryo burst to the leg and fell screaming.
Velira blinked.
“You’re a Tank?”
“Was.”
“You’re not with them?”
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?”
She didn’t answer.
Neither did he.
Later, they stood beneath an overhang near the abandoned tramline. Steam curled from her arms as her glyphs cooled.
He hadn’t asked her name. She hadn’t offered.
“You gonna turn me in?” she asked.
“Why would I? You’ve already been sentenced.”
“They think I went rogue.”
“Did you?”
She met his eyes.
“No. I just stopped letting them tell me who I was.”
Something in him twitched—almost a nod. Almost not.
“You’ve got a glyph crest. Legacy-blooded. That makes you hunted.”
“And you?”
He looked away, the air frosting slightly around him.
“I used to be a shield.”
“Let me guess. Now you’re the sword?”
He didn’t laugh.
A low rumble echoed from the alley they left. Drones, scouts, or worse.
Jahil turned toward the sound. Velira followed his gaze.
“They’re sweeping this sector,” she said. “Where do we go?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“Down. I know a place. Off-grid.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You got a name, mystery frost man?”
“Jahil.”
“Velira.”
They didn’t shake hands.
They ran.
Next Chapter: Shelter and Sparks]
And a stranger who doesn't flinch at storms or silence.
But the moment they ran together, the system flagged it.
Next chapter: Shelter, secrets... and the trap that was waiting for her blood.