The fortress was collapsing around them.
Stone towers crashed into the courtyard as Kael pulled Lena through a narrow passage. Mara ran behind them, followed by Ethan and Adrian.
“Keep moving!” Ethan shouted.
A massive section of ceiling fell behind them.
They barely escaped.
Kael looked back.
The fortress was disappearing beneath clouds of dust and smoke.
“The Warden,” Mara said.
Kael stopped.
“He didn’t make it.”
Adrian shook his head.
“We don’t know that.”
Kael looked at the ruins.
Deep inside, something roared.
The sound wasn’t the First Origin.
It was different.
Smaller.
Angrier.
Then the ground beneath them shook.
Lena suddenly grabbed Kael’s arm.
“It’s not over.”
Kael looked at her.
“What do you feel?”
She closed her eyes.
“Veyr.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“He survived.”
A gunshot echoed through the ruins.
Everyone turned.
Ethan raised his rifle.
A figure emerged from the smoke.
Marcus Veyr.
His laboratory coat was torn and covered in blood, but he was alive.
Black veins covered half his face.
“You destroyed the seal,” Veyr said.
Kael raised his sword.
“And you lost.”
Veyr smiled.
“No.”
He touched his chest.
“You destroyed the cage.”
Adrian froze.
“What did you do?”
Veyr’s smile widened.
“Phase Two.”
The ground suddenly opened behind him.
A wave of black mist poured into the courtyard.
Mara covered her mouth.
“What is that?”
Adrian backed away.
“Origin spores.”
Kael looked at him.
“Explain.”
“They can infect living humans without a bite.”
Ethan stared at the spreading mist.
“Then we can’t stay here.”
“Correct,” Adrian said.
“We need to reach higher ground immediately.”
They ran toward the northern cliffs.
Behind them, screams erupted from the ruined fortress.
Soldiers who had been hiding among the ruins began collapsing.
Their bodies convulsed.
Then they stood again.
Their eyes glowed red.
Mara looked back.
“They’re changing.”
Veyr watched from the ruins.
“Phase Two has begun.”
Kael turned.
“We’ll stop you.”
Veyr laughed.
“You still don’t understand the purpose of your blood.”
Kael stopped.
Veyr pointed toward Lena.
“She isn’t merely K-28.”
Lena froze.
“She is the key.”
Adrian looked horrified.
“What key?”
Veyr’s eyes focused on Kael.
“The Origin can only survive in two compatible hosts.”
Kael’s expression hardened.
“Me and Lena.”
Veyr nodded.
“Together, you can create what the ancient king failed to create.”
Mara stepped between them.
“Enough.”
She fired.
Veyr disappeared into the smoke before the bolt reached him.
Kael looked at Lena.
She was trembling.
“What did he mean?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
Adrian opened the old documents.
“There may be an answer.”
He found a damaged page.
At the top were two names.
K-27 — PRIMARY HOST.
K-28 — SECONDARY HOST.
Beneath them was a final sentence.
WHEN BOTH AWAKEN, THE NEW KINGDOM SHALL RISE.
Kael stared at the words.
Then a distant horn sounded from the mountains.
Ethan looked north.
“That isn’t coming from the fortress.”
Another horn answered.
Then another.
Mara raised her crossbow.
“Who is out there?”
Kael looked toward the distant peaks.
Hundreds of lights appeared in the darkness.
Not zombies.
Torches.
Human survivors.
And they were marching toward them.
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