The first sign that something was wrong came from the sky.
Mando was walking home when the clouds above the lower district stuttered not moving, not parting, but flickering, like a damaged screen. People stopped in the streets, staring upward.
A child pointed.
CHILD
Mama… the sky did that before.
A low hum rolled across the city.
Not a siren.
Something deeper.
Mando felt his weapon react instantly, forming halfway before he consciously summoned it.
MANDO (thought)
It's responding to something far away…
Kael found him minutes later.
Too fast.
Too precise.
KAEL
We're leaving.
MANDO
What's happening?
Kael didn't answer. He pulled Mando into a side street just as a shockwave of pressure rippled through the air above the city. Windows cracked. Neon signs shattered.
Then it stopped.
Silence followed unnatural, absolute.
MANDO
That wasn't a monster.
Kael's jaw tightened.
KAEL
No.
KAEL
That was a system correction.
They weren't alone.
A woman stood on the rooftop above them, cloak fluttering in the wind. Her presence was overwhelming not hostile, but dominant. The air around her felt heavier, denser.
She dropped down effortlessly.
White hair. Gold-trimmed coat. A massive revolver hung at her hip unsummoned, yet real.
WOMAN
So it's true.
Kael stiffened.
KAEL
…Liora.
Mando glanced between them.
MANDO
You know her?
Liora's sharp eyes flicked to him.
LIORA
I know his father.
The words hit harder than any shockwave.
They moved to a quiet overlook above the city.
Liora leaned against the railing, watching emergency drones swarm the district below.
LIORA
The system just scanned for irregularities.
MANDO
Irregularities?
She smiled faintly.
LIORA
People who don't obey probability.
She looked at Mando.
LIORA
People like you.
Kael crossed his arms.
KAEL
You shouldn't be here.
LIORA
Neither should that thing that just woke up.
Her gaze hardened.
LIORA
I felt it.
A legendary shifted.
Mando's stomach sank.
Later, Kael and Mando stood alone again.
MANDO
You've fought one before.
Kael didn't deny it.
KAEL
Once.
A long pause.
KAEL
I survived because your father dragged me out of its jaws.
Mando's breath caught.
MANDO
What happened to him?
Kael looked away.
KAEL
He didn't die.
That was worse.
That night, Aysh watched the same sky from a different rooftop.
Her communicator pulsed violently.
UNKNOWN: The system has flagged him.
UNKNOWN: If he enters the public sphere, containment will fail.
Aysh's hands shook.
AYSH (whisper)
Please… don't make me choose.
Below her, Mando walked home unaware.
Deep beneath the earth, something vast shifted again.
Stone cracked.
Chains snapped.
A voice echoed through forgotten tunnels.
"THE FORGE BEARER HAS AWAKENED."
End of Chapter 10