VOL. 1: CHAPTER 4: LATVIER BURNS QUIET
The alley behind Auntie's house smelled like rust, old rain, and things that had learned how to survive without permission.
Trash bags slumped against brick walls like exhausted bodies. A flickering security light buzzed overhead, struggling to stay relevant in a city that had decided illumination was optional now. Somewhere far off, something metallic screamed as it was torn apart. Not a crash. Not an explosion.
A protest.
Blitz moved first, decisive, bat tucked close to her leg so it wouldn't catch the light. Ultimo followed, shoulders hunched, breath uneven. Sionu brought up the rear, hands clenched tight, electricity smoldering under his skin like a temper that didn't know how to apologize.
Auntie led them with purpose, her steps sure, knife hidden but present, like a promise.
"Ebony Church ain't far," she whispered. "But distance don't matter no more. Noise does."
Sionu nodded, though his ears were ringing.
Every sound felt magnified now. Footsteps echoed too loud. Breathing felt like a confession. Even the hum of electricity in his bones sounded like it might rat him out.
They reached the end of the alley and paused.
Auntie lifted two fingers.
Freeze.
The street ahead was wider, lined with shuttered storefronts and burned-out streetlights. A military drone hovered at the far intersection, spotlight sweeping back and forth like a bored god scanning ants.
Blitz muttered, "They really posted up."
Ultimo whispered, "That thing got cameras?"
Auntie nodded. "Thermal too."
Sionu swallowed. His electricity stirred in response, reacting to the drone like it recognized a rival predator.
Auntie shot him a look. "No glowing. Not now."
Sionu forced his hands into his hoodie sleeves, pressing his fists against his ribs like he could smother the sparks by sheer will.
They waited.
The drone drifted away, spotlight sliding off the street and onto another block.
Auntie waved them forward.
They crossed low and fast, shadows hugging them like accomplices.
As they moved, Sionu noticed something wrong.
Not infected wrong.
Empty wrong.
Windows were dark, but not abandoned. Curtains twitched. Blinds shifted. Eyes hid behind glass, watching, weighing whether the four of them were danger or opportunity.
Fear had turned everyone into judges.
Ultimo muttered, "I feel like prey."
Blitz shot back, "Everybody prey now."
They passed a wrecked bus half-mounted on a curb, its windshield spiderwebbed, its interior painted with dried blood and handprints. Someone had written HELP US on the side in something dark that wasn't paint.
Sionu's chest tightened.
Blitz didn't slow.
"Don't look," she said softly. "You'll trip."
Sionu obeyed, eyes forward, jaw clenched.
A scream erupted two blocks away.
High. Panicked. Then abruptly cut off.
No one reacted.
That's when Sionu understood the city had already learned its new etiquette.
Mind your business.
Survive your block.
Pray you not next.
They turned down a narrow street where the buildings leaned inward like gossiping elders. At the far end, something loomed.
Black brick.
Tall.
Unapologetic.
The Ebony Church of Latvier.
It didn't look abandoned.
It looked awake.
1) THE CHURCH THAT LISTENS
The church rose out of the street like a thought nobody wanted to finish.
Its walls were painted matte black, absorbing the weak streetlight instead of reflecting it. No stained glass. No bright crosses. Just sharp angles, tall windows like watchful slits, and a heavy double door reinforced with iron bands.
Above the doors, etched into stone, were symbols Sionu didn't recognize but somehow felt.
They buzzed faintly in his chest, resonating with the electricity in his bones.
Ultimo whispered, "This place giving me chills."
Auntie nodded. "That mean it working."
Blitz eyed the building. "I don't see nobody."
"That's the point," Auntie replied.
They approached the doors.
As they got closer, Sionu felt the pressure change.
The hum inside him didn't spike.
It settled.
Like the electricity had walked into a room where it was expected.
He exhaled, surprised.
Blitz noticed. "You okay?"
Sionu nodded slowly. "This place… it feels different."
Auntie glanced at him. "Cause Latvier don't worship power. It manages it."
She knocked.
Not frantic.
Measured.
Three slow knocks.
A pause.
Two more.
Nothing happened.
Ultimo shifted. "Auntie…"
"Patience," she murmured.
The air grew heavier.
Not like Ultimo's gravity.
More like a pressure that pressed inward instead of down.
Then the doors creaked open just enough for a sliver of darkness to look out at them.
A man's voice emerged from the gap. Calm. Deep. Unafraid.
"State your SOL."
Sionu froze.
Blitz's eyes widened. "Our what?"
Auntie stepped forward. "Unbroken. But wounded."
A pause.
The voice replied, "Name the bearer."
Auntie gestured to Sionu. "Him."
The gap widened slightly.
Sionu felt it then.
Something brushed against him.
Not a hand.
Not a thought.
A scan.
The electricity in his body flared instinctively, then softened, like it was being introduced to an old authority.
The voice hummed thoughtfully.
"Dragon-threaded," it said. "Human-willed. Recently awakened. Untrained."
Sionu swallowed. "You talking about me?"
The voice ignored him.
"And the others?" it continued.
Auntie answered, "One carries gravity but don't know it yet. One carries mist in her blood. And one carries the weight of memory."
The door opened fully.
A tall man stood there, dressed in dark robes stitched with subtle patterns that shifted when you didn't look straight at them. His skin was deep brown, his head shaved, his eyes sharp and old without being cruel.
He looked at Sionu like a scientist looks at a miracle.
Or a weapon.
"Enter," he said. "Before the city notices you breathing."
They didn't hesitate.
The doors closed behind them with a heavy finality that sounded like a verdict.
2) INSIDE LATVIER
Inside, the church was nothing like Sionu expected.
No pews.
No altar.
The main hall was open, circular, its floor etched with massive concentric sigils filled with faintly glowing lines. Candles burned without wax dripping. The air smelled clean, like rain that had been filtered through prayer.
People stood around the room.
Not crowds.
Clusters.
Some wore street clothes. Hoodies. Boots. Jackets. Others wore robes. Some sat against walls, breathing hard. Some whispered. Some stared into space like they were listening to something no one else could hear.
All of them carried the same tension.
Awakening.
Fear.
Power trying to decide what kind of person it lived in.
Blitz whispered, "So we not the only ones."
Auntie nodded. "Never are."
The robed man turned. "I am Father Kael."
He looked at Blitz, then Ultimo, then Sionu.
"This place is sanctuary," he said. "But sanctuary has rules."
Blitz crossed her arms. "Everybody keep saying that."
Kael didn't smile. "Because rules keep you human."
Ultimo cleared his throat. "So… what now?"
Kael's gaze lingered on Ultimo. "Now, we find out who among you is becoming what."
He gestured toward the sigils on the floor. "Stand."
Ultimo hesitated, then stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the etched circle, the air shifted.
The candles flickered.
Dust lifted.
Ultimo gasped as his knees bent slightly, like gravity had dialed itself up a notch.
Kael nodded. "Gravitational affinity confirmed."
Ultimo stared at his hands. "Affinity?"
Kael replied calmly, "Power doesn't announce itself as power. It announces itself as discomfort."
Blitz snorted. "That checks out."
Kael turned to her. "You next."
Blitz stepped in without hesitation.
The moment she entered the circle, the temperature changed.
The air grew thick, humid.
A faint mist coiled around her ankles, barely visible, like breath on cold glass.
Blitz's eyes widened. "What the hell…"
Kael's voice softened. "Phase-shifted vapor. Steam. Pressure. Concealment."
Blitz laughed once, sharp. "So I'm a damn fog machine now?"
Kael shrugged. "You are what your spirit already was."
Then he turned to Sionu.
The room seemed to lean toward him.
Every awakened soul present felt it.
A hum spread through the hall.
Sionu's heart pounded as he stepped into the circle.
The sigils flared.
Blue-white light crawled along the floor, racing outward like veins.
The candles guttered violently.
Sionu cried out, dropping to one knee as electricity surged through him, not painful, but overwhelming.
Images slammed into his mind.
The Event Horizon.
The unseen seam.
Lightning wrapped around bones.
A dragon's eye opening in darkness.
Kael's voice cut through the chaos.
"Focus."
Sionu clenched his fists, breathing hard. "I don't know how!"
Kael stepped closer, unafraid. "Then listen."
Sionu forced his eyes up.
Kael met his gaze, voice steady.
"Power answers intention. Not fear."
Sionu swallowed and breathed.
The electricity steadied, pulling back under his skin like a disciplined tide.
The sigils dimmed.
The room exhaled.
Kael nodded, satisfied.
"Confirmed," he said. "Starborne."
The word rippled through the room.
Some people whispered it with awe.
Others with resentment.
Blitz looked at Sionu, eyes fierce. "You hear that? That's just a name."
Sionu nodded, breath shaky. "Yeah."
Kael continued, "The government will hunt you for that name. The infected will hunt you for your SOL. And others like you will look to you as either hope or threat."
Ultimo swallowed. "That's a lot."
Kael nodded. "Welcome to visibility."
3) THE COST OF SANCTUARY
Kael gestured toward the far wall where heavy curtains concealed smaller rooms. "You may rest here. Eat. Breathe. Heal."
Blitz asked, "And then?"
Kael's eyes hardened. "Then you choose."
"Choose what?" Sionu asked.
Kael met his gaze. "Whether you become a shield… or a storm."
Sionu's chest tightened.
Before he could answer, a deep vibration rolled through the church.
Not an explosion.
A signal.
Kael stiffened.
A younger acolyte rushed in, breathless. "Father, the perimeter wards just flared."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Infected?"
The acolyte shook his head. "No. Military."
Blitz cursed under her breath. "They followed us?"
Kael shook his head slowly. "No."
He looked at Sionu.
"They followed you."
Outside, through the thick walls of Latvier, engines growled.
Spotlights swept the street.
A loudspeaker boomed, amplified and cold:
"This is a federal operation. All occupants of the Ebony Church are ordered to surrender immediately."
Sionu's stomach dropped.
Ultimo whispered, "They not even hiding it."
Blitz tightened her grip on the bat. "So much for sanctuary."
Kael's expression didn't change.
He turned to the gathered awakened.
"Sanctuary does not mean untouchable," he said calmly. "It means prepared."
The lights in the church dimmed.
The sigils on the floor began to glow again.
Kael looked at Sionu one last time.
"Starborne," he said, "the city has decided you are a problem."
Sionu's hands sparked.
His fear sharpened into resolve.
"Then," he said quietly, "the city about to learn."
Outside, boots hit pavement.
Weapons clicked.
The siege of Latvier had begun.
to be continued...