Kapteyn's Star Metaverse, Year 110, October 11
Shawn hit the pavement running. His pulse hammered in his ears.
Every breath burned.
Behind him, heavy footsteps closed in.
The black-suited men were fast. Too fast.
They didn't shout threats. Didn't waste time. Just chased.
Shawn veered right, darting into a narrow alley lined with aged brick walls. The air was thick with the scent of damp stone and old iron.
His mind raced. No cameras. No exits.
A dead end.
His chest tightened.
Trapped.
He spun around. Five men blocked the only way out.
They weren't winded. Their stances were poised, controlled. Professional.
Shawn clenched his fists. His eyes flicked between them, calculating his odds. Bad. Very bad.
The leader stepped forward. Broad shoulders. Sharp features. A scar ran across his left cheek.
"Shawn," the man said, voice low, measured. "Hand over the Spirit Key."
Shawn's fingers curled instinctively around the Central Palace Spirit Key in his pocket.
No.
The man sighed. "You don't understand what you're dealing with."
Shawn said nothing.
The man's eyes darkened. He raised a hand...
And the air around them vibrated.
The Zhen Palace Spirit Key at Shawn's neck flared to life.
A pulse of energy rippled outward, distorting the space around him. The ancient alley shimmered, bricks shifting like liquid.
Then—
A voice.
Soft, yet commanding. Familiar.
> "These walls are not your barriers. Follow me."
A flash of white.
A man emerged from the shifting space—white hair, white beard, holding a smooth, glowing stone.
Shawn's heart clenched. Him. Again.
Before he could react, light consumed his vision.
The world twisted.
And then—
Silence.
The next moment, cold night air hit Shawn's face.
He stood at the edge of a wide boulevard, his feet skidding slightly on asphalt. Car horns blared. Neon signs flickered overhead.
He was no longer in the old district.
He barely had time to register this before...
A sleek, silver-gray car screeched to a stop beside him.
The tinted window rolled down.
A man in dark sunglasses looked out. He was older, maybe mid-forties, his suit crisp, his expression unreadable.
"Shawn," he said. "Get in."
His voice was calm. No urgency. No wasted words.
Shawn hesitated.
The man sighed. "Kent sent me. If you want to live, move."
No time for doubts.
Shawn yanked the door open and slid inside.
The car took off immediately, tires screeching as they merged into traffic.
As soon as the doors locked, the driver tapped the console. A holo-screen flickered to life.
Kent's face appeared.
"Shawn." His voice was tight. "Are you hurt?"
"No," Shawn said, though his pulse still pounded. "But that was close."
Kent's expression darkened. "Tell me everything."
Shawn recounted the chase, his voice steady despite the adrenaline still rushing through him.
He kept it brief—how the men cornered him, how the Zhen Palace Spirit Key activated, how the white-haired man appeared.
At the mention of the man, Kent's eyes narrowed.
"He's appeared before?"
Shawn nodded. "Three times now. First, during my College Entrance Examination. Second, when the Zhen Palace Spirit Key malfunctioned. Now this."
A beat of silence.
"Not a coincidence," Kent murmured.
"I know." Shawn exhaled. "Who is he?"
"We'll figure it out later," Kent said. "Right now, we have a bigger problem."
The screen flickered, splitting into two views.
On one side—Kennedy, the leader of the Wyrm Guardians.
On the other—kent, o the Society's General Secretary
"Shawn," kent's voice came through, steady but urgent. "The enemy is moving faster than we anticipated."
He leaned forward. "It's worse than we thought."
Kennedy nodded grimly.
"Grace is still missing. Lara, Dora, York, and Jordan are all being relocated as we speak. But the fact that they got to you first—" He shook his head.
"They know what we're planning."
Shawn's grip tightened on his bag. The Central Palace Spirit Key was still inside, cold against his skin.
"We have a leak," he said.
Kent's expression was grim. "Yes. And until we find it, none of us are safe."
Shawn swallowed hard. He already knew that.
But the real question was—
How deep did the betrayal go?
The car sped through the city, weaving between traffic.
Shawn glanced out the window. For now, no sign of pursuit. But that didn't mean they weren't being tracked.
Then—
The dashboard beeped.
A red warning flashed across the holo-screen.
The driver cursed.
A sharp screech—
Behind them, a black SUV accelerated fast. Too fast.
Kent's voice snapped over the comms. "Evasive maneuvers. Now."
The driver jerked the wheel. The car swerved hard, barely dodging as the SUV rammed forward, trying to force them into a crash."Who the hell—"
Shawn started, but then he saw them.
Through the tinted glass of the SUV—black suits.
The same men from the alley.
They had recovered. Fast.
Another lurch. Another impact.
Shawn's head slammed against the window.
"Seatbelt," the driver barked.
Shawn barely had time to click it before—
A loud pop.
The back windshield shattered.
Gunfire.
The driver cursed again, yanking the car into a sharp turn. The tires screeched, barely avoiding a crash as they tore through an intersection.
"They're armed," the driver gritted.
No kidding.
Shawn's pulse spiked. He reached for his bag, fingers brushing the Spirit Keys.
Options. He needed options.
Then—
A sharp vibration.
The Zhen Palace Spirit Key.
It was reacting again.
Before Shawn could question it, the holo-screen flickered.
A new voice cut in.
Calm. Measured.
The white-haired man.
> "Shawn. Listen carefully."
Shawn's breath caught.
> "You cannot fight them yet. But you can outrun them."
The light from the key pulsed brighter. The air around him seemed to warp.
Shawn's heart pounded. "What—"
> "Trust the path."
The energy surged.
And then—
The car vanished.
When Shawn's vision cleared, the city was gone.
They were somewhere else.
The air smelled of salt. The sky stretched wide, filled with unfamiliar stars.
The silver-gray car sat motionless on a dirt road, tires resting on rocky terrain.
The driver's hands trembled on the wheel. "What the hell just happened?"
Shawn slowly exhaled.
The Spirit Keys still hummed in his hands.
Kent's voice came through the comm, strained. "Shawn? Where are you?"
Shawn looked out at the endless horizon.
"I don't know."
But one thing was certain.
The war for the Spirit Keys had just begun.