The night in Sector Eleven never truly slept. It just dimmed—like an old machine that couldn't bear to stop.
But tonight felt different. The hum of the power lines had faded. The smog had cleared just enough for Aren Vale to see the faint shimmer of the Verdant Abyss far beyond the fence—an ocean of green mist that pulsed like a living thing.
He should've been asleep.
Instead, he sat by the cracked window, watching the fog twist in the distance.
His body hadn't been the same since the Starcore.
His veins still glowed faintly when he pressed his hand to his chest. Sometimes, the light pulsed with his heartbeat—soft gold with a whisper of violet. His mother said it was the light from the emergency generator leaking through the window. He didn't argue.
But he knew better.
There was something alive inside him now. Something that breathed when he breathed. Something that listened when the world went quiet.
The sound came again—a low, rhythmic pulse, faint but steady.
thud… thud… thud…
Like the heartbeat of the earth itself.
Aren stood, grabbed his scavenger jacket, and slipped out before the curfew drones made their rounds. The rain was light, cold, and heavy with the scent of rust.
He moved through the alleys of the Ruinfold, past hollow factories and broken machines—remnants of an age when humans ruled without fear. The pulse grew stronger with every step.
By the time he reached the edge of the fence, the mist had thickened. The ground vibrated faintly beneath his boots. Beyond the steel barrier, the forest glowed faintly green, breathing in slow, steady rhythm.
He pressed his hand against the fence. The metal was warm.
And then, faintly, he heard it—like a whisper carried on the rain.
> "You hear us, don't you, child of light?"
Aren's breath caught. The pulse in his chest synchronized with the heartbeat of the forest. For a moment, he couldn't tell which belonged to him.
He stumbled back, gasping. His reflection on a puddle flickered—not with white hair and amethyst eyes, but with faint traces of golden flame dancing in them.
The forest exhaled.
The lights across the Ruinfold flickered out.
And in that breathless dark, Aren realized—
Novara itself was awake.
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