Territory didn't feel like ownership.
It felt like standing in the open with a torch strapped to your chest, daring the dark to come closer.
Arjun understood that less than an hour after the system declared the intersection temporarily secured.
The barricades held, but only barely. The overturned buses and welded scrap looked sturdy at first glance, yet every shadow beyond them seemed to lean inward, listening. Fires burned in pockets across the city, casting long, twitching silhouettes over cracked asphalt and broken storefronts. The air carried the metallic tang of blood and ozone, mixed with smoke and something older—something that didn't belong to Earth.
Arjun stood near the center of the intersection, arms crossed, eyes scanning constantly.
The phone vibrated again.
TERRITORY EFFECTS: ACTIVECONTROL RADIUS: LIMITEDRESOURCE DRAIN: CONTINUOUSTHREAT ATTRACTION: HIGH
He exhaled slowly. "So it's official. The system really wants someone to come kill me."
Nyxara sat atop the hood of a burned-out police car nearby, one leg crossed over the other, wings folded tight. She looked relaxed—too relaxed—watching the survivors scramble to reinforce barricades and set up firing positions.
"Power is a beacon," she said. "You didn't claim empty ground. You claimed relevance."
"That wasn't the goal."
"No," she replied smoothly. "It was the consequence."
That word again.
Arjun watched Marcus—the shotgun man—argue with two others over ammunition distribution. Voices were low, tense. Fear had settled in deeper now that the adrenaline rush of survival had faded.
"They're going to break," Arjun said.
Nyxara tilted her head. "Not yet. But soon. Humans fracture under prolonged uncertainty."
He frowned. "You sound like you've tested that theory."
"I've lived it," she said without humor.
The phone buzzed again—this time sharper, more urgent.
ANOMALOUS MOVEMENT DETECTEDDIRECTION: EASTESTIMATED TIME TO CONTACT: 12 MINUTES
Arjun straightened. "That was fast."
Nyxara's expression shifted instantly from idle amusement to cold focus. She slid off the car hood, boots hitting the ground without a sound.
"Because you made noise," she said. "And because you're new."
"New to what?"
She looked at him. "Being worth killing."
The ground trembled faintly—not enough to panic anyone yet, but enough that Arjun felt it through his boots. Not the heavy, singular impact of a thrall. Lighter. Repetitive. Many bodies moving together.
Marcus jogged over, face pale. "We've got movement on the east end. Our spotters say it's not human."
Arjun nodded. "How many?"
"Too many."
Nyxara smiled thinly. "That confirms it."
"Confirms what?" Arjun asked.
"That you're being tested."
The system didn't wait for clarification.
HOSTILE FORMATION DETECTEDENTITY TYPE: SCAVENGER PACK (ADAPTED)SUPPORT ENTITY: PRESENT
Arjun's stomach tightened. "Support entity?"
Nyxara's wings flexed slightly. "A coordinator. A pack herder. Something smart enough to know this territory matters."
A screech echoed down the street—high, sharp, almost mocking.
Shapes emerged through the smoke.
Dozens of them.
The scavengers moved differently now. Not the feral, chaotic lunges Arjun had seen before. These spread out, flanking, using cover. Some carried crude weapons—pipes, blades, even a few scavenged firearms held clumsily but with intent.
And behind them came something taller.
It walked upright, draped in stitched flesh and bone like a ceremonial cloak. Its elongated skull was crowned with branching horns etched in glowing symbols. In one clawed hand, it carried a staff made of fused vertebrae.
The phone lit up violently.
ELITE ENTITY IDENTIFIEDDESIGNATION: PACK HERDERRANK: ELITEPRIMARY FUNCTION: TERRITORY ACQUISITION
Marcus swore. "We can't fight that thing."
Arjun didn't answer immediately. His pulse was steady—too steady. The bond hummed, aware, attentive.
"Yes," he said finally. "We can."
Nyxara turned to him, eyes sharp. "Careful."
"No," Arjun replied quietly. "Clear."
He stepped forward, out past the barricade.
A murmur rippled through the survivors behind him.
"Hey—what are you doing?" someone hissed.
Arjun ignored them.
He raised his hand, palm outward—not in surrender, but declaration.
The Abyssal Mark ignited.
Not fully. Not violently.
Just enough.
Violet sigils traced along his forearm and across his chest, faint but unmistakable. The air pressure shifted subtly, like the city itself had inhaled.
Every scavenger froze.
The pack herder stopped walking.
Nyxara felt the change immediately and smiled.
Yes, she thought. That's how you announce yourself.
"This territory is claimed," Arjun said, his voice carrying unnaturally far. "Turn back."
The pack herder tilted its head, studying him with alien intelligence.
Then it laughed.
A wet, gurgling sound that scraped against Arjun's nerves.
It slammed its staff into the ground.
The scavengers surged forward.
"Fire!" Marcus shouted.
Gunshots erupted. Scavengers fell—but others climbed over the bodies, moving faster, adapting mid-charge.
Arjun slammed his hand into the asphalt.
The Mark flared, branding the ground itself.
Abyssal energy tore upward, splitting the street into jagged ridges of corrupted stone that erupted between the pack and the barricade, impaling several scavengers instantly.
The survivors stared in shock.
The pack herder screeched and raised its staff. Symbols flared, and the corrupted stone began to rot, crumbling unnaturally fast.
Nyxara cursed softly. "It's countering you."
Arjun felt the strain immediately—his chest burning, vision narrowing.
"Then help," he snapped.
Nyxara didn't hesitate.
She poured power through the bond.
Not gently.
Agony tore through Arjun as the Abyssal Mark expanded mid-combat, lines branching and layering over each other like a living circuit. Blood ran from his nose and ears as his nervous system screamed in protest.
ABILITY MUTATION DETECTEDABYSSAL MARK → DOMINION BRAND (INCOMPLETE)WARNING: SEVERE STRAIN
The pack herder staggered.
The Dominion Brand latched onto it—not physically, but conceptually—ripping authority away piece by piece. The scavengers faltered, movements desynchronizing as confusion rippled through the pack.
"NOW!" Arjun roared.
Molotovs arced through the air.
Fire engulfed the street.
Scavengers burned, shrieked, fled.
The pack herder tried to retreat—but Arjun was already moving.
He grabbed a fallen rifle, ignoring the scream in his shoulder as he closed the distance. The herder swung its staff wildly, clipping him hard enough to crack a rib, but Arjun pushed through the pain.
He shoved the rifle barrel into the creature's throat and pulled the trigger.
Once.
Twice.
The herder collapsed, twitching violently before going still.
The remaining scavengers broke.
Silence fell—heavy, disbelieving.
Arjun dropped to one knee, gasping as the Dominion Brand collapsed back into the Abyssal Mark, leaving his body shaking and weak.
The phone chimed softly.
ELITE KILL CONFIRMEDTERRITORY STABILITY: IMPROVEDBOND SYNCHRONIZATION: 9%
Nyxara was at his side instantly, gripping his shoulder.
"That was reckless," she said sharply.
"It worked," he rasped.
She smiled despite herself. "It did."
The survivors stared at him now with something new layered over fear.
Awe.
Marcus approached slowly. "What… what are you?"
Arjun wiped blood from his mouth and forced himself to stand. "The reason you're still breathing."
Night settled over the city.
Far beyond the skyline, something vast shifted, ancient attention turning toward the flare of power that had just burned into the world.
Nyxara felt it.
And for the first time since the apocalypse began—
She laughed.