Chapter 143
-Uncle-
The name of the weapon, Heart of Iron, echoed in my mind.
This feeling I never felt in all my life—a pulse like something alive in it. It was as though it was waiting for me.
Not for a moment.
Nor for my life.
But before I was formed.
Its serrated edges shimmered with an olive-and-yellow aura that crawled up my arm, reading me as if it already knew every chapter of my life. I wasn't prepared for the feeling. I doubt anyone could be.
I had only just learned about her adventures as a Waymaker. Nevertheless, I still barely knew much.
I'd never felt anything like it—not in my years on this earth, or in the strange stories my grandparents used to tell back in China. I always assumed they were tales meant to teach courage or warn children to behave.
But this wasn't superstition.
This felt… ancient.
Micah stared at me, eyes wide.The others—Evan, Josh, James—watched with the sort of alertness you see in soldiers when the ground shifts under their feet.
Tomo, poor kid, steadied himself on the wall. "S-sir...Are you okay? What is that?"
I tightened my grip around the hilt—the moment I did, a surge of memory—not mine—shot through my spine.White, hot, blinding, piercing my head as I closed my eyes.
"Give me a second—" I reached the wall searching for a floor to sit down, but my legs gave way. The world went dark.
Visions, not fully formed pieces of a puzzle, formed in my head. Images flickered like an old television reel—colors washed out, edges bleeding.
A Native man with long dark hair astride a horse, sun-shaped chakram blazing in his hand.A blonde woman riding beside him, her crescent blade glowing like captured moonlight.
Both armed.Both glowing.Both fighting creatures, no folklore ever prepared me for.
Their weapons looked like mine—alive with color, purpose, and memory.
I saw bits of them fighting and closing a portal-like thing.
It is hard to say, but I felt their memories.
"Cailian, we've got to close this down before it destroys the villages or worse, the world." The woman said...
I saw a portal—no, a wound—splitting open across the air.Children battled rabbit-shaped demons beneath it, fearless in a way only someone chosen can be.
I felt their heartbeat. Their fear. Their resolve.
I felt this connection in our souls. Then the man—Cailian—turned to me.
Or to whoever I was while watching through someone else's life.
"You're called here as well," he said calmly, though chaos raged around him. "One who carries Greed's counterweight, as I carry Envy's. Our homes depend on us to hold back the sins that try to devour our people."
My heartbeat banged in my ears.
He continued, voice calm despite the chaos behind him.
"Do you accept the assignment? To protect your family? Your land? The Waymakers will lead the way, but we stand beside them—hidden, watching, guarding."
"I'm getting older," I heard myself say—my voice but not my voice. "I don't know how much help I can be."
"You will know what to do when the moment comes.
Trust your heart of iron—both body and blade—guide you."
The words struck something profound. Something I didn't want to admit I'd avoided all my life.
And then—darkness.
When I opened my eyes, I was sitting against the cold cinderblock wall. My throbbing head came to an end, and the Heart of Iron now felt steady in my hand, as if it anchored me.
Micah knelt in front of me."You said… Cailian?" she asked as I tried to steady my breathing.
"Yes," I said. "I saw him. And I felt his memories. As if we were the same person in that moment."
Micah nodded slowly.
"He was the first Key fragment holder. He was given it by his grandma, who passed away. Now he and his childhood friend Matilida hold the weapons and protect their home from Envy, the darkness, and the plagues of their region."
I rubbed my forehead.
"He said I'm meant to fight Greed's influence. That I'm supposed to stand with all of you. But I know nothing about demons. Nothing about… any of this." spiritual warfare."
Josh crouched next to her."None of us did when this started. We just felt a pull in the right direction. Some of us sooner than others."His voice cracked slightly. "It took me some time, I was corrupted. My father and I caused Kaysi's memory loss. I can't undo that."
"Kaysi doesn't look to hold anything in her heart when she looks at you, even if she has no recollection of things."
James quietly added, "Sometimes the weapon chooses because danger is closer than you realize."
A cold prickle crawled up my spine.
Micah helped me stand."Well," I said, steadying myself, "first thing we do is get these people out."
My voice sounded more certain than I expected.Older men learn to bury fear deep.Sometimes that's all bravery really is.
"Then," I said, "we end this madness and release the city from Greed's hold."
I didn't mention that Becky's life support would run out in 40 hours.
They didn't need the weight. More than likely, this thought was at the front of their minds now.
We returned to the holding area. The remaining prisoners looked at us with a mixture of hope and disbelief.
Josh melted the locks with a steady stream of cyan fire.Micah and James picked the rest.
"You all are free to leave; the kids cleared the way. We have other plans needed here."
The last of the prisoners slipped out into the hallway, shaken but free. Some clung to one another, others stumbled, and some whispered prayers under their breath, but all of them moved quickly.
None of us spoke until their footsteps faded.
Other than that, the basement settled into a heavy, eerie quiet—one that didn't belong in a place humans built. The air tasted metallic. The shadows felt thicker than they should. This must be the spiritual pressure the kids experienced most of the time.
Micah exhaled shakily. "Okay... That is, everyone except the guards is now out of the building."
"And us," Evan muttered.
Josh glanced toward the stairwell that descended farther down. "The two guards posted here can't be all there is. They must have left faster than expected. Possessed or not, they knew the second the cuffs broke. They felt it, and they will regroup soon, so we can't sit around."
James tapped his foot against the ground, listening for the echo that came back. "They're not gone. Just repositioning themselves."
I felt it too—the weight in the air, the stench of Greed, like musty bills rotting in heat.
I found myself tightening my grip on the heart of iron. It was instantly warm and vibrated at once, as if acknowledging my fears. As if I had fought many times before. I never served in the army or war. I had to protect myself a few times living in the slums, but this was the first actual time I used a weapon on another human being.
Micah noticed. "Does it... react like that on its own?"
"I couldn't tell you," I admitted. "I've known it for ten minutes."
That got a small smile out of her, but she didn't look any less worried.
"How long have you been doing this?" I asked, "You act so casual about everything."
She recoiled at the question. "Started training when I was only thirteen, four years ago. My guardian angel wasn't actually an angel—she was a fallen angel in disguise. She got me into trouble until she was removed. Then I was possessed for two years. James helped break it."
I stared at James, stopped in my tracks, and bowed to him. "Then I owe you more than you know."
James bowed in return. "Uncle, you have helped us so much; don't sweat it."
"Nothing will add to your saving my niece's life. She and my daughter were close, and I raised her with my sister. She has given me strength in times of my pettiness and weakness. I don't know where I would be if your mother didn't move back to this little city."
We kept walking.Tomo asked quietly, "Where would they regroup?"
Josh answered first. "We think they are in relations with a group and act under the influence of cult loyalists. Following orders and leading this mess."
My stomach tightened.
"So not just demons helping them but humans helping organize all this—Misery?"
Micah pointed ahead."Jennifer said the old city hall basement connected to this place. If the demons kept this structure intact, they may have kept the tunnel too."
James nodded. "Then that hidden passage should still exist."
Evan cracked his knuckles. "And the wannabe cops probably ran straight back to whoever is pulling their strings."
"So we follow, right?" I asked.
Josh gave a look that almost resembled pride. "We follow!"
We made it to the back of the hallway—Micah and James ahead, Evan behind, and Josh walking beside me, keeping one hand ready to summon his flames.
The lights flickered overhead, casting shadows across the wall. The deeper we walked, the more wrong the air felt. Must. Cold. Tainted.
The heart of iron pulses again. Like a warning to pay attention to what was ahead. I may not have been familiar with the spiritual realm, but I was where I lacked my weapons; language spoke to me.
The hallway ended with a metal door with marks across the frame.
Josh and Evan smirked at the burn marks on the metal frame."Explosion must've reached this far."
James brushed faint white-gold residue with his finger."Human-channeled energy. Cult signature."
Josh stepped forward. "Let me—"
The lock melted before he finished the sentence.
The door groaned open.
Beyond it lay a slanted tunnel of cracked stone descending beneath the city. It breathed warm, heavy, and sweet—wrongly sweet like fruit rotting under the summer sun.
Josh grimaced. "Smells like the greed of demons. And it doesn't look much different than the tunnels we found under the church shelter where Thomas was taken. I told you there were other tunnels. I believe this may be one of them."
"I agree with you that," Evan turned his head away. "It's just like the smell at the warehouse."
Tomo gagged, covering his mouth. "How can you tell?"
Evan tapped his nose. "Experience. Also trauma."
Micah elbowed him.
Oof.
I took a slow step inside; my weapon hummed with recognition.
"Everyone, stay close," James warned.
We moved deeper.
Whispers floated through the air—chanting, or echoes, or tricks of the mind. Red veins of energy pulsed across the walls.
Josh's flames flickered on instinct. "This power... It's not natural for humans. It's the Abyss bleeding into our world."
Micah whispered. "Someone has summoned it here."
"And they're still here," James added.
The tunnel opened into a large chamber lit by lanterns and red sigils. A massive shadow shifted behind the far stone wall.
Evan swallowed. "…Guys. I think we found the nest.
Josh exhaled. "Finally."
The massive shapeshifter again, and the runes on the walls brightened as if reacting to our presence—alive and anticipating.
Micah whispered, "We shouldn't have been able to find this so easily."
"We didn't," James muttered, looking up toward the space above us. A vent shaft. Dark silence.
Something that could be humans quietly breathed as we watched.
Whatever it was…
whatever waited in that room…
It already knew we were here.
And it had been waiting.