---
Kael landed hard on the cracked rooftop of the ruined facility, his boots grinding against the scorched concrete as smoke curled around him. He had followed the trail of the terrorists and on getting here, he burnt everything to the ground in a fit of raven. The night sky above was thick with ash and the burning remnants of a battle already lost. He was too late.
His wings,one radiant with celestial light, the other shadowed by the abyss,folded behind him as he stepped into the shattered remains of Kessler's lab. The walls were torn, wiring hung like entrails from the ceiling, and the distant echo of alarms flickered through the hushed ruins like a dying heartbeat. He could smell chemicals, metal, and something else,burnt skin and despair.
"Elara!" he shouted, his voice a raw echo of rage.
No answer.
He dashed through the corridors, his heart hammering. With every corner, every broken door he burst through, a vision of her suffering took hold of his mind. He could still see her eyes from before, the way they screamed not for herself, but for him.
Finally, he reached a chamber bathed in a sickly green glow. Machines hummed with faint power, and cables fed into a thick glass chamber at the center. Inside, limp and unconscious, was Elara.
She was suspended in some kind of fluid. Her skin was pale, drained of its color, and tiny black veins pulsed just beneath the surface. Wires connected to her chest and arms. Her body twitched.
Kael's heart dropped.
"No… no no no…" he chanted with teeth clenched hard while rushing to the console. His fingers danced over keys, the system still functioning in a fragmentary state. A recording flickered to life ,a log left by Kessler.
> "Test subject Elara—stable, for now. The serum based on Kael's blood is incomplete. She is on a time limit… estimated fatality in four hours. Unless Kael submits willingly. His blood can cure her. Or leave her to die and preserve his freedom. He will come. He must come!!"
A hint of madness could be heard in the scientist's voice and with just a small clench of his fist the whole desk exploded to bits.
Kael stood motionless. The sound of his own breathing was deafening. His eyes shifted to her again. Elara's face was serene, unaware of the agony ticking inside her.
The chamber hissed as he forced it open. The liquid drained. Elara collapsed forward into his arms, weak and barely breathing.
"Elara… I'm here. I'm so sorry," Kael whispered, brushing the wet hair from her forehead. Her skin was cold ,too cold.
She stirred slightly, her voice a whisper of herself.
"Kael… you found me…"
"I did. But I was too late."
She coughed, blood lacing her lips. "They… tried to make me like you. But it hurts. I feel like I'm being pulled apart from the inside."
Kael's eyes welled with fury and sorrow. "I can't let you die."
He looked at the machines ,how they wanted to harvest him. Kessler thought he would trade himself to preserve Elara, to become a prisoner again.
But Kael had already made his choice.
"No. You won't become their tool. You're not dying here."
He bit into his palm. Crimson blood, with a few brilliant speckles gold laced with a spectrum of energies both divine and monstrous,dripped into his hand.
"Kael…" Elara whispered, her voice trembling. "You can't. You don't know what it will do to me."
"I don't care. It's yours."
He brought his bleeding palm to her lips. "Drink."
She tried to resist, but he pressed gently, urgently. The moment a drop passed her lips, her body shuddered.
The transformation was immediate.
Her body arched in his arms as her veins lit up with gold light. Her bones cracked and realigned. Her scream was muffled against his chest as the divine essence worked its way through every fiber of her being. It was not gentle. It was fire and judgment and rebirth all at once.
Kael held her tighter. "Stay with me. You're strong enough. I know you are."
Wings of light burst from her back for a split second, then vanished as her body stabilized. Her breathing evened out. The fever broke. And the color returned to her skin, deeper, stronger than before. Her body, no longer just mortal,had begun to evolve.
She had survived.
But Kael knew what came next.
He laid her gently against the wall, brushing her cheek. "Rest. I'll finish this."
---
Kael rose, fury in his blood, vengeance in his veins. He didn't just want to end the facility. He wanted to erase every trace of what had been done.
Room by room, he shattered machines with surges of celestial force and dark matter. The walls buckled. The ground cracked. A pillar of light exploded from the heart of the facility as Kael summoned the full breadth of his power, collapsing the entire underground complex with a roar that echoed for miles.
By the time the sun rose, nothing remained but a smoldering crater.
Even with all the havoc he wrecked doctor Kessler was no where in sight.
" Soon..." He muttered with chilling calm returning to his eyes.
---
They flew across the sea, Kael carrying Elara in his arms. Her body, now more stable, had not rejected the divine energy. She opened her eyes mid-flight, glowing faintly, and looked up at him.
"Where… are we going?" she asked softly.
"To the volcano in Hawaii," Kael replied, his voice gentle. "It's one of the few places left in this world where the land itself still remembers the old power. You need a place to recover. And I need time to think."
"Kael…" she whispered, "You gave me everything. Even if this changes me…"
He looked down at her, his expression unreadable, but his eyes held a quiet storm of loyalty and pain. "You were the reason for my change. From the beginning."
---
Elsewhere…
In the frozen caverns of the north, hidden beneath glaciers older than empires, the Demigod of Sight stood still in silence, her eyes bleeding silver tears as visions flooded her.
Beside her, floating above a pool of mirrored water, the Demigod of Water drew the fragment toward her chest. The sliver of Kael's memory pulsed in her hands, dripping with knowledge that once belonged to gods.
"It's not just power," she whispered. "It's truth."
The Demigod of Sight nodded, trembling. "And truth… always comes with consequences."