Episode 4 – Blood on the Tracks

The first wave charged.

Gunfire echoed through the abandoned station.

Kael rushed forward, his sword cutting through the air. He disarmed one mercenary with a swift strike and sent another crashing into a pillar.

Lucien stayed close, watching every movement.

"Left!"

Kael spun just in time to block a hidden attacker.

"You saw him?"

"I see everything," Lucien replied.

Working together, they began to move like a single unit.

Kael's strength shattered the enemy's defenses.

Lucien's sharp instincts exposed every trap before it was sprung.

Even the mercenaries hesitated.

"They're adapting to each other!"

Commander Darius watched from the platform above.

"So... this is what the prophecy meant."

He pressed a button on a small remote.

A deafening rumble shook the station.

An old freight train, left dormant for years, lurched forward down the tracks. Its brakes had been disabled.

"It's going to crush them!" one mercenary shouted.

Kael grabbed Lucien's wrist.

"We jump!"

They leaped onto a narrow maintenance walkway as the train thundered past, scattering sparks and debris.

The impact collapsed part of the platform, separating Darius from his soldiers.

As the dust settled, Kael noticed a metal case that had fallen from Darius's coat.

Lucien picked it up.

Inside was a faded photograph.

Kael's heart stopped.

The picture showed his parents...

Standing beside Lucien's parents.

They weren't enemies.

They were smiling.

Friends.

Kael looked at Lucien in stunned silence.

"If our families were allies..."

Lucien finished the thought.

"...then someone made us believe they were enemies."

High above, hidden in the shadows, a cloaked figure watched through a sniper scope.

"The truth is getting too close."

"Prepare Phase Two."

The safety was quietly released.

A single shot rang out.

...,,............

Bang!

The gunshot echoed across the ruined station.

Kael reacted on instinct, shoving Lucien aside.

The bullet tore through Kael's upper arm instead of Lucien's chest.

"Kael!" Lucien shouted.

Ignoring the pain, Kael snapped the shaft of a broken railing into the air. It struck the sniper's perch, forcing the hidden shooter to retreat into the darkness.

"We have to move," Kael said through clenched teeth.

Lucien quickly wrapped a strip of cloth around Kael's wound.

"You've lost too much blood."

"I'll survive."

"You don't know that."

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Kael looked at Lucien.

"You could have escaped while I distracted them."

Lucien tied the bandage tighter.

"I don't abandon my partner."

The words hung in the air.

It was the first time Lucien had acknowledged their arranged marriage without bitterness.

---

They followed a narrow tunnel beneath the station until they reached a massive iron vault.

Carved into its surface was the crest of both the Black Raven Guild and the Silver Fang Guild intertwined.

Kael frowned.

"Our guild symbols... together?"

Lucien brushed away decades of dust.

"There was only one time in history when these emblems were united."

"The Alliance Era..."

He pushed the heavy door open.

Inside lay a forgotten council chamber.

A circular stone table stood in the center.

On it rested a leather journal bearing the seal of the last High Guild Master.

Lucien opened it carefully.

The first page read:

> 'If you are reading this, then the Guilds have already fallen into the hands of traitors.'

Kael's heartbeat quickened.

The next line made the room fall silent.

> 'Never blame the Vale family or the Ardent family. They were betrayed by those they trusted most.'

Kael slowly lowered the journal.

Everything he had believed for ten years was beginning to unravel.

Just then...

A hidden door behind the chamber creaked open.

A white-haired man stepped into the light, carrying an ancient sword.

"I've waited twenty years..."

"...for the heirs of both families to find this place."

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