The Forbidden Archives of Rome
Beneath the cobblestones of Rome, time seemed to have ground to a halt. Rose was surrounded by shelves that climbed toward the vaulted ceiling, laden with chronicles humanity was never meant to read. The blue glow of the access crystal on the stone table highlighted the dark circles under her eyes. She had lost track of the hours spent pouring over the sealed file of Maya and Silas.
The truth about their immortality was far darker than she had imagined. It wasn't a gracious gift, but a curse they had inflicted upon themselves in the name of love. The report described their mission to Mesopotamia centuries ago, where they had discovered the Fountain of Youth. They had drunk from it together, thinking eternity would be the perfect sanctuary for their passion. But for Silas, immortality had become a devastating drug.
As the decades turned into centuries, Silas began to despise human fragility. Rose read, with a heavy heart, how the mage had transformed into a predator. He started killing during missions for no tactical reason, simply for the thrill of watching life go out. To him, the mortality of others had become a game—a distraction from the boredom of eternity. The Order eventually hunted him like a wild beast. Cornered, Silas took the ultimate gamble: attempting to use the Ebony Gate to purge the Earth of all mortal life. He ended up trapped inside, condemned to wander between dimensions in an endless exile.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
Rose jumped. Octavia was there, standing motionless in the shadows.
"He turned their love into a massacre," Rose whispered. "Maya had to lock away the man she loved because he had become a monster. That's why she erased everything. The memory of what he became was worse than death."
"And now, he's back," Octavia replied. "And he called her 'my wife.' He doesn't just want to kill her; he wants to punish her for surviving without him."
"Christian's Incursion in Bloom Town"
In Bloom Town, the atmosphere was more grounded, but no less heavy. Christian, driven by a journalistic intuition he could no longer suppress, had gone to the Knights Stalkers' headquarters before dawn. He had managed to enter the building, slipping past as a cleaning crew member arrived. He moved through the carpeted hallways, his heart hammering in his chest.
Upon reaching the third floor, he stopped in front of an office with the door left slightly ajar. Inside, Kaelen Brice stood with his back to the door, watching the rain fall over Bloom Town. Christian was struck by how unsettling the scene felt. Brice seemed to be talking to himself in a calm, monotone voice, but his sentences would stop abruptly, as if he were listening to a response that only he could hear.
"...the mission in Rome is taking a critical turn," Brice was saying. "Rose and Maya are on the front lines. I'm worried... the threat is unstable. The risk to them is too high."
Christian felt himself slipping into the surreal. Brice looked like a madman, or perhaps a genius working with an invisible earpiece he couldn't see. Hearing Rose's name associated with "too high a risk" and a "critical mission" in Rome confirmed his worst fears. Rose wasn't checking customs accounts; she was at the heart of an ultra-secret paramilitary or governmental operation.
He took one step too many, his shoe creaking slightly on the floor. Christian froze, but he heard no movement. Yet, in the blink of an eye, a towering shadow loomed over him. Without having heard him approach, Brice was there, right behind him, as if he had materialized out of thin air.
Christian jumped back, his breath caught in his throat from the shock. Brice didn't seem angry, nor surprised to find an intruder in his offices. He had the Olympian calm of a man who possessed absolute power. He placed a hand firmly on Christian's shoulder. The pressure was constant—not enough to hurt, but enough to make Christian realize he was completely at this man's mercy.
"I understand your concern, Mr. Cilantro," Brice said in a voice that seemed to vibrate through the entire room. "But you have no business being here. This office is no place for curious civilians."
Christian was paralyzed. How did this man know his name? "I... I'm looking for Rose. I know she's in Rome and that something happened at the Palladium."
Brice didn't blink. His gaze was of an unbearable, almost hypnotic intensity. "Go home, Christian. I promise you Rose will return in one piece. But do not come back here."
He withdrew his hand. Christian, bewildered and perplexed, didn't wait around. He left without a word, feeling Brice's gaze pierce through his back until he reached the elevator. Outside in the rain, he wondered if he was losing his mind. Brice wasn't an ordinary boss. And Rose wasn't an ordinary employee.
"Maya's Awakening"
Back in Rome, Rose had returned to Maya's bedside. She held her hand, hoping that simple human presence could pull her back from the abyss.
Suddenly, Maya's hand tightened on hers. The immortal woman opened her eyes, but they were bloodshot, her gaze wandering as if she still saw the horrors of the Ebony Gate. She grabbed Rose's wrist with inhuman strength.
"He didn't escape..." Maya gasped, her voice nothing more than a hiss of terror. "He was released. Someone opened the Ebony Gate from the outside. Silas isn't alone, Rose. He has an accomplice here... at the heart of the Order."
Rose felt an icy chill wash over her. In Bloom Town, Christian was fleeing a man who seemed to read his mind, and in Rome, Maya was telling her that the devil had an ally among them.