Velmora City woke up the next day like it always did.
Coffee machines whirring. Trains rumbling. People posting selfies.
But for those who moved power behind curtains…The morning air tasted different.
📰 Whispers in the Smoke
"Three buildings gutted… no fire reports… and no sign of explosives?"
The city police chief stared at drone footage of the industrial site from the night before. Everything had been leveled in a perfect circle. No burn marks. No fingerprints. Just absence.
"Ghost Protocol?" one agent suggested.
"No. This is above that. This wasn't tech."
He paused, uneasy.
"This was cultivation."
💼 Boardroom Tremors
At Jefferson Global, tension brewed like a thunderstorm behind silk ties and fake smiles.
Elsa strode into the boardroom wearing a crisp white suit, eyes unreadable. The night before had left her restless. Dreams of dragons. Gold fire. Eyes in the dark calling her by name.
"Where are we on the Aeris Holdings merger?" she asked, calm but sharp.
"Stalled. Aeris… pulled their execs overnight," Kip whispered, sliding her a file. "Unofficially—they're scared."
She opened the file. Inside, notes scribbled by one of Aeris' advisors:
'We didn't know he was alive.''Milo's gone. Something erased him.''We're pulling out before he notices us.'
Elsa frowned.He?
She closed the folder.
Her husband's face flickered through her mind again. That night at the warehouse. The way he moved. How the air bent around him.
"Chess…" she murmured.
🩸 Repercussions
In a private bunker beneath the city, a man in a crimson cloak knelt before a massive black mirror.
"He's awakened the second seal."
The mirror pulsed. A deep voice spoke:
"Then the timeline accelerates. Summon the Seven Thrones. The last heir of the Dragon Sect will not be allowed to reclaim his crown."
"And the girl?" the cloaked man asked.
"Let her continue. She will draw him out better than any blade."
🍷 A Quiet Return
Chess sat alone in the rooftop garden of one of his lesser-known properties—no guards, no tech. Just stars above and the city murmuring below.
He stared at his hands.
The second seal hadn't just given him power—it had unlocked memories.
Of his master.Of the trials in the floating citadel.Of the one who betrayed them all…
He sipped his wine slowly.
"I feel her watching me now," he muttered.
Behind him, Grimm appeared with quiet steps. "Elsa?"
Chess nodded.
"She's starting to feel the pull. Her bloodline is singing."
"And when she learns what you've done?"
Chess stood slowly, sliding on his jacket.
"She won't forgive me.""But she'll understand."
"And if she doesn't?"
He smiled faintly.
"Then I'll let her kill me."