Antipolo Safehouse – 2:17 AM
The house shook.
Elias snapped awake, heart pounding. Kael was already at the window, blade-arm activated.
Maya was gone.
Only her shadow remained… and it was moving without her.
---
Maya's Nightmare
She ran.
Barefoot through glass.
Breathless.
A hallway that never ended, doors slamming shut behind her, one by one.
Then—
A mirror.
Her reflection stood still while she kept moving.
The shadow on the glass moved first.
"Why do you keep locking me away?" it asked.
Maya choked out a whisper. "Because if I let you out… people will die."
The shadow laughed.
> "They already have."
And the mirror shattered.
---
Back in Reality – The Awakening
Kael found her first—on the hill behind the safehouse, eyes rolled back, arms trembling.
Elias arrived seconds later.
"Maya!" he called, stepping toward her.
But her shadow snapped its neck toward him—and lunged.
Not at him.
Through him.
His armor activated on reflex, but the force sent him flying.
Maya floated off the ground, her veins glowing violet-black, her arms raised involuntarily.
Her voice echoed—but layered, like two people speaking at once.
> "I didn't want this... But now it won't stop."
> "Let them see what fear really looks like."
---
Elias's Dilemma
Kael threw a dagger into the ground, forming a containment sigil. The shadow writhed, screeching.
"She's gone Overgrowth," he warned. "If we don't contain her now, she'll burn out. Or worse—merge fully like Dominic."
Elias shook his head. "No. I can reach her."
Kael stepped in front of him. "You do that, and she might drag you in with her."
Elias looked up at Maya—suspended in midair, tears falling while her shadow raged around her.
"I promised her she wasn't alone."
He charged into the storm.
---
Inside the Shadowstorm – Maya's Mind
He found her.
Curled in a corner of a shattered version of their hideout.
Maya looked up, eyes red.
"You should've stayed away."
Elias knelt. "Not a chance."
She sobbed. "It hurts. I've been holding it back since I was a kid. Every scream. Every punch. Every time they told me to 'keep quiet' or 'act nice.' I buried it all."
"And now?" Elias asked.
Her eyes hardened.
"Now it's digging itself back up."
---
Together, They Break the Cycle
Elias reached for her hand.
"It's not about burying it anymore. It's about choosing what to do with the flame."
Outside, the storm slowed.
The swirling shadow paused. A pulse—then silence.
Maya lowered to the ground.
Her armor formed for the first time: sleek, black, silent—like obsidian wrapped in silk.
She stood upright.
And she was in control.
---
Project Silencer — Panic
Inside the war room, alarms blared.
Colonel Dela Vega stared at the screen.
"Maya Alcantara has stabilized."
Ria Velasco grinned. "Then Dominic will make contact. He always reacts to balance."
Sure enough…
On a rooftop overlooking Antipolo, Dominic watched the lights flicker.
His smile was small. Empty.
But his shadow…
grinned wide.
> "She's ready," it whispered.
"Let's break her next."