The sky above the Eclipse Hideout glowed with the pale orange of a dying sun, its light struggling through thick layers of industrial smoke. Their base, a half-buried facility hidden beneath the ruins of an old metro station, hummed with quiet generators and coded whispers.
The metal doors slid open with a harsh hiss.
Ilpizo staggered inside.
His clothes were torn, his mask cracked, his breath uneven. Dust coated his shoulders like the ashes of a battlefield. Everyone turned as he limped down the hall, each step louder than the last.
Dr. Tau stood waiting at the end of the corridor, hands clasped behind his back, eyes sharp with restrained worry.
"You're late," Tau said calmly.
Ilpizo sank to one knee.
"Sir… the mission… the boy…"
Tau's expression tightened.
"Report."
Ilpizo swallowed, voice trembling.
"The child—Rey Deskan—he awakened. And what he unleashed… I've never seen anything like it. Avalon agents were thrown like paper. Buildings collapsed. The air itself felt like it was screaming."
He looked up, fear flickering behind his eyes.
"That was Aydren's son."
Tau said nothing.
Ilpizo continued, words spilling out faster:
"Everything Avalon sent was destroyed. Even our own infiltration squad pulled back. No one could get near the boy—not even Keven. And when it ended, Avalon captured him. They took him… and his mother."
The hall fell silent.
Tau slowly removed his glasses, wiping the lenses with a cloth, his movements slow and deliberate.
"This is… unfortunate," he said.
Ilpizo clenched his fists.
"Unfortunate? Sir, Avalon has the Ring. They have the boy. They will break him, twist him, weaponize him—"
Tau raised a finger, and Ilpizo stopped mid-sentence.
"Walk with me."
They moved through the corridor, passing walls covered with maps, protest graffiti, and diagrams of Avalon's bio-weapons. Everything felt heavier today, as if the building itself understood what Rey's awakening meant.
Tau spoke softly:
"Ilpizo… do you know why Eclipse exists?"
Ilpizo hesitated.
"To oppose Avalon?"
Tau's expression sharpened.
"No. To oppose the lie Avalon built."
He stopped in front of a wall covered with news articles—smiling politicians, awards, promises of peace.
Tau touched the glass beside one headline:
AVALON ANNOUNCES NEW SECURITY ACTPEACE THROUGH CONTROL.
"Avalon sells peace," Tau said."A fake, polished peace. A peace built on silence. On obedience."He turned to Ilpizo."They control food. Medicine. Law. Technology. Every citizen lives because Avalon allows it—and dies when Avalon decides it."
Ilpizo lowered his head.
Tau continued, voice steady but heavy:
"They call us terrorists because we refuse to worship their order. But tell me—what is a terrorist? A man who breaks chains? Or a government that fastens them?"
Ilpizo felt a shiver run down his spine.
"It doesn't matter now, sir. What matters is the boy—"
"It matters greatly," Tau interrupted. "Because the world thinks Avalon is justice. And we are chaos. Yet in truth… we are the ones fighting for human freedom."
He exhaled slowly, as if carrying a weight too large for one lifetime.
"But if Avalon controls Rey Deskan… our fight ends."
A quiet sound echoed through the hall.
The soft draw of a violin.
Yuri stood in the doorway, bow moving gently across the strings, releasing a haunting melody that filled the air with sorrow.
Tau frowned.
"Yuri. We're in the middle of a briefing."
Yuri didn't stop playing. He walked forward, eyes half-closed, every note trembling with emotion.
When he spoke, his voice was soft but cutting.
"You speak of freedom, Father… but all I see are graves."
Ilpizo stiffened.
Yuri stepped closer, the music fading into silence.
"Avalon kills for peace," Yuri said quietly. "We kill for justice. Different words, same bodies."His gaze shifted toward the cracked screen showing Rey's face."And now a child suffers between us."
Tau closed his eyes for a moment.
"Yuri. Enough."
But Yuri continued, voice colder:
"Aydren fought in your name once. And he vanished. Now his son awakens… and you speak of victory?"
Tau's jaw tightened.
"Do not misinterpret my intentions. I do not want the boy for war. I want him freed."
Ilpizo muttered under his breath:
"Freed? After what he did today? He could destroy nations."
Tau nodded.
"Yes. And that is exactly why Avalon must not have him."
He tapped a screen.
It showed Rey's unconscious body strapped to a medical bed, blue light flickering around him.
Tau's voice dropped low:
"If Zero shapes him… the world will kneel under Avalon's heel. Forever."
Ilpizo shivered.
"So what do we do?"
Tau turned away from the screen, expression sharp and full of iron.
"We reach the boy before Zero breaks him."
Ilpizo blinked.
"A rescue mission?"
Tau shook his head.
"No. A truth mission."
He stepped forward, touching the screen showing Rey's faint breathing.
"We will show him what Avalon truly is.We will show him freedom.And then… he will choose who deserves to fall."
A long silence filled the hall.
Yuri lowered his violin slowly, eyes darkening.
"And if he chooses Avalon?" he whispered.
Tau closed his eyes.
"Then… the world will drown in the peace Avalon has always wanted."
For a moment—just a breath—doubt cracked through his mask of calm.
Yuri smiled faintly.Not with joy.With prophecy.
"Father," he said softly, "you keep worrying about the future."
He stepped closer, shadows stretching behind him like wings of darkness.
"But listen carefully."
His voice dropped to a chilling whisper, almost gentle.
"This world has no tomorrow."
Ilpizo froze.
Tau's breath caught in his throat.
Yuri walked past them, violin dangling loosely from his hand, bow dripping a single line of rosin dust like falling ash.
"Avalon will fall," Yuri continued, tone quiet and absolute. "Eclipse will fall. Cities, nations, armies… they are already dying. They just haven't noticed yet."
He paused at the doorway, turning his head slightly.
"And when all the lies collapse…"His eyes gleamed dangerously."…only truth remains. And truth is crueler than any war."
Tau felt a chill, deeper than fear.
Yuri's final words drifted through the corridor like a prophecy carved in stone:
"Don't worry about the boy, Father. Worry about the world."
He left without waiting for permission—a shadow walking toward a destiny no human could stand against.
And in that moment, Tau understood:
Rey Deskan might become a weapon.
But Yuri…
Yuri was becoming something far worse