I woke up with the jolt of the van hitting a crater in the asphalt of the Anchieta Highway. [1]I opened my eyes, but the vision in my left eye was still a bit blurry from exhaustion. The smell inside the vehicle was an honest mix of sweat, fast food, and that metallic odor of ozone that always lingered after too much magic was spent.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Mel's voice came from the driver's seat. She looked exhausted, her makeup smeared, but she drove with a crooked smile on her face. "We're almost home."
I looked at my lap. My right arm was "turned off," invisible under the sleeve of the borrowed jacket, but I felt a deep residual heat in my bones. It wasn't pain. It was the sensation of a muscle that had been trained to failure and rebuilt stronger.
"Did anyone follow us?" I asked, my throat dry.
"Lucas erased our digital trail and Jão made sure the fog of the Serra do Mar [2]covered the visuals," Mel replied. "We vanished like smoke. Except, unlike Vitor's smoke, we aren't toxic."
I rested my head against the cold glass. The city of São Paulo was starting to appear on the horizon, gray and immense. Before, that view scared me. It looked like a concrete monster ready to swallow me whole. Today, after staring an Avatar of Umbra in the eyes and healing it into non-existence, the city looked just like... a city. Big, messy, but salvageable.
We arrived at The Hive. The iron gate opened, and the van pulled into the dark warehouse.
When we got out, we were greeted not as fugitives, but as war heroes. The other residents of the occupation—hackers, artists, outcasts—were awake, waiting. Someone had improvised a communal breakfast on top of wooden cable spools. Grilled bread[3], black coffee, and fruit that was probably "rescued" from the end-of-market scraps.
"They're back!" a boy shouted.
Faísca, my stray of light, jumped out of the van before me, barking and running in circles, scattering golden dust on anyone who tried to pet him. He was bigger. The energy we absorbed at the port seemed to have given him more density.
I stepped out of the van, limping a little. Jão offered his shoulder, but I gently refused. I needed to walk on my own two feet.
Lucas came to meet us with his tablet, eyes shining behind his thick glasses.
"You have no idea what you did," he said, without even saying "hello." "Look at this."
He turned the screen to us. It was a spiritual heat map of Greater São Paulo. There were red and black spots scattered around (pockets of entropy and fear), but the Port region and part of the East Zone were... clean. There was a soft golden spot pulsing there.
"The Purification you performed on the Avatar didn't just dissipate the monster," Lucas explained, his voice rushing. "It created a shockwave of Order. Alencar's mystical surveillance network in that region is down. The lesser spirits of Umbra fled. You created a temporary 'Safe Zone' kilometers wide."
I felt a tightness in my chest. The Fervor.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on a crate.
"That's good, Lucas. But it's also bad."
"Why?" Mel asked, biting into an apple. "We kicked their asses."
"Because now they know I'm not just a barrier," I replied, looking at my right hand, which began to glow softly, responding to my emotions. "Before, I was a defensive obstacle. Yesterday, I was an offensive weapon that nullified their power source. Vitor won't send henchmen anymore. He's going to come with everything."
Silence fell over the group. The euphoria of victory gave way to the reality of war.
"Let them come," Mel broke the silence, tapping her baseball bat (now turned off) on the ground. "Before, we hid here trembling with fear. But I saw what we can do. I saw Dayanne force darkness into light. If we organize..."
"...we don't just have to survive," I finished, looking at each of them. "We can protect this city."
I stood up. The pain in my body was still there, but my soul felt light. Aureus's Code of Conduct demands protection, preservation, and maintenance of order. But no one said "maintenance of order" couldn't involve taking down tyrants who profit from chaos.
"Lucas," I called. "Alencar's money. The freezing of my accounts. The purchase of this building."
"Yes?"
"You said the information war had started. I want you to find everything. Not just the magical rituals. I want to know where the money comes from, who the politicians in their pockets are, which construction projects are overpriced. If they want to use the mundane system against me, let's use the mundane truth against them."
Lucas smiled, a predatory smile of someone who finally had permission to release the viruses.
"Consider it done, cowgirl."
I walked to the back of the warehouse, where a small space had been cleared for me. I rolled out my sleeping mat.
I took off my boots, muddy from the port. My phone, which I had left charging, had a voicemail. It was from the college stables. A classmate.
"Hi, Dayanne. Look, I don't know what you did or who you talked to... but Goiás's eviction order was cancelled. They said it was an 'administrative error.' They even left some Premium feed here."
I smiled, feeling hot tears come to my eyes. Vitor had backed off. At least for now. He knew that touching my horse now would be declaring a nuclear war he wasn't ready to fight.
I stroked Faísca's luminous head as he nestled beside me.
I had lost my home, my scholarship, and my "normal" life. But I had gained a purpose. I wasn't just a scared student anymore. I was a Chosen of the Second Circle, walking toward the Third.
I closed my eyes, visualizing the golden light pulsing in my arm, ready for the next round.
"You can rest now, Aureus," I whispered to the silent deity. "We're taking the morning shift."
[1] A major highway connecting the coast (Santos) to São Paulo city.
[2] It's the mountain range one must cross to get from the coast to the plateau where São Paulo sits.
[3] a staple of São Paulo breakfasts—French bread with butter grilled on a flat top