CHAPTER 11: Descent into Darkness

CHAPTER 11: Descent into Darkness

"How about we grab a beer after this?" murmured Lucian, with a tense smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I doubt this place has anything more modern than an oil lamp, but a bar in Berlin should do."

Fénix didn't take his eyes off the shadows writhing at the edge of the light.

"If we get out of here without anything biting our asses, it's on me," he replied, his voice as dry as the dust kicked up by his boots.

The creaking of the floorboards under their feet was the only sound, and then...

Then, a whisper.

Wet. Close.

Right behind Fénix.

"They are in my domain… no one escapes."

Fénix spun on his heels, but it was too late. A skeletal hand, cold as tombstone marble, pierced his chest with a viscous sound. His eyes widened as he felt the fingers close around his heart.

"FÉNIX!" Vanessa's scream tore through the air.

Fénix's body was thrown like a bloody rag against the wall, where the darkness swallowed him mercilessly.

From the shadows, he emerged.

Tall. Thin. Sallow skin stretched over bones sharp as blades. His eyes glowed like embers in the night, and his smile revealed a row of yellowish teeth, arranged in a macabre disorder.

"Welcome to my home," he said, his voice mellifluous like poisoned honey. "My name is Adrian. No, it's not a pleasure to meet you… but I must thank you for bringing me some entertainment."

Lucian gripped his weapon, his knuckles white from clenching.

"What… what are you?" his voice trembled, but he didn't lower his gaze. "What did you do to Fénix?"

Adrian laughed, a sound that started as a whisper and ended in the chirping of dying crickets.

"Fénix…" he repeated, savoring the name. "He is an interesting toy. I sent him for a walk through the corners of his own madness. He will return… if there's anything left of him."

Vanessa stepped back, but her foot stumbled on something soft. Looking down, her heart froze.

Bones. Small. Thin.

Children's?

"This place was an orphanage," she murmured, her voice broken. "Are you… one of them? One of the forgotten?"

Adrian's smile vanished. For an instant, something human surfaced in his eyes.

"I am what remained," he whispered, "when everyone else was gone."

The roar that followed split the air like thunder.

From the shadows, something moved with the speed of an enraged feline. Fénix, covered in blood, his eyes now golden and bestial, lunged at Adrian.

"Lucian!" his voice was a distorted growl, half-human, half-monster. "Stairs to the right, GET OUT OF HERE!"

Lucian didn't think twice. He grabbed Vanessa's arm and ran. Behind them, the basement thundered with the sounds of the fight: bones breaking, inhuman snarls, and Adrian's hysterical laughter, echoing like a nightmare.

As they emerged, the rain hit them hard, cold and brutal like a slap.

"We can't leave him there!" shouted Vanessa, her eyes bright with tears.

Lucian clenched the smoke grenade in his hand, his jaw tight.

"Trust him," he murmured. "He knows what he's doing."

But then, the building shook.

A supernatural roar, like that of an ancient predator, shook the foundations.

And Fénix emerged.

Only he was no longer Fénix.

Without wasting any more time, Fénix in his Uber Lycan form finished off Adrian in the most grotesque way possible: first, he tore out his eyes, then he ripped out his heart.

"Enid…" Lucian spoke into the communicator, his voice broken by adrenaline. "Fénix went down. He transformed. He killed everyone. Now he's heading for the sewers… if he reaches the metro…"

On the other end of the line, an icy silence.

"Contain him," Enid finally responded, her words as sharp as blades. "At any cost."

Lucian looked at Vanessa. It didn't need to be said.

Fénix, their leader, their brother-in-arms, was now the biggest threat to Berlin.

And they had to stop him, whatever the cost.