8:13
A loud, low sound vibrates up from the ground—a warning of something *moving* deep below them.
> "Go," Mina whispers urgently, already pushing them forward. Rael grabs Jin's hand, their fingers intertwining in a tight grip.
The street is emptying fast—people rushing for cover as the sky flashes, the first heavy drops of rain pelting down.
8:14
They take off running, dodging through the crowd. Rael's grip is like a lifeline around Jin's wrist, pulling him along.
> "Just keep close!" he shouts over the sound of rain.
It's more of a storm now than rain, lightning dancing across the sky above, sending everything into sharp flashes of silver, grey, white.
8:15
The wind whips through alleys, pushing them down narrow passages between buildings. People are starting to scream—a panicked chorus of voices echoing off the stone. There's a sense of building panic, the air almost alive with fear. Rael doesn't stop. He just keeps running, pulling Jin along, their hands still locked together as they race through the storm.
The rain is coming in sideways now, a stinging hail pelting down.
8:16
They've left the main streets behind, taking a maze-like path through cramped back alleys. Buildings loom on either side like shadowy walls. It's dark—only flashes of lightning provide any light, and the sound of rain is a roar now, pounding off rooftops and streets like a thousand angry fists.
The air feels heavy, charged with electricity—not just the storm. Something *else* is coming now.
8:17
And then Rael yanks Jin suddenly around a corner. They press back against a cold stone wall, both breathless, their hearts pounding in their ears.
For a moment, all they hear is rain, echoing off stone, the sound of city-life muffled by the storm. Jin can feel Rael's chest rise and fall with his breathing, smell the rain on his skin.
Then Rael leans forward and whispers in his ear:
> "Can you feel it?"
8:18
Jin shivers—not from the cold, but from the way Rael's voice sends heat through him despite the storm. He closes his eyes and focuses.
At first—just rain, wind, fear.
But then…
A pulse.
Deep.
Rhythmic.
Like a heartbeat rising through the earth.
And beneath it—a whisper in his mind, not in words… but *intent*:
> **"Found you."**
His eyes snap open.
He grabs Rael's arm, fingers digging in.
> "It's not just below," he gasps. "It's… *calling* to me."
Rael goes still—then pulls Jin closer against his chest, shielding him like a blade between Jin and death itself.
> "Then we run faster."
And as another flash of lightning splits the sky—
They vanish into the dark,
Two souls bound by desire,
Chased by something that remembers their names…
---
8:20
They race back onto the street—and nearly collide with L and Mina, who seem to have been waiting for them.
"We need to move!" L snaps, glancing up at the sky as another thunderbolt arcs overhead.
>"We need to get off the street, somewhere more secure," Mina adds, then turns to Jin—and her eyes widen. "You... you felt it? That... *pull*?"
8:21
Jin nods, breathless. "It wasn't just a pulse," he says, voice low but urgent. "It *knew* me. Like… like it's been waiting."
Mina's expression shifts—fear flickers in her eyes, but also recognition.
> "The old texts... they said the ones buried beneath Veyra weren't dead."
She steps closer, lowering her voice as rain drums around them.
> "**They were sleeping—and bound to souls strong enough to wake them.**"
L cuts in sharply:
> "Then we seal the tunnels—now."
Rael shakes his head immediately.
> "No good. It's not just *down* there anymore." He looks at Jin—their hands still locked—and adds quietly,
> "**It's in him too.**"
8:22
L and Mina both look at Jin—at first, with disbelief. Then with growing horror as the meaning of Rael's words sinks in.
A moment of stunned silence.
Then L whispers, voice barely audible against the storm:
> "Then we're too late."
Rael tenses.
> "What do you mean *too late*?"
8:23
Mina swallows before speaking.
> "Once a power is awoken and bound - it can't be contained." She meets Jin's eyes as she finishes, as if to emphasize the point.
> "Only *sealed*."
The word echoes like doom.
>"But *how*?" Rael demands. "How do you *seal* something like this?"
A pause, like a storm drawing deep before a storm.
The answer is short.
> "With power."
8:24
Jin's mind races, remembering the old man in the street... the words he didn't understand. And that feeling of being hunted. The feeling that whatever is chasing them... *wants something* from him.
Then, one word echoes louder than the storm:
> **"Desire."**
They all glance at him, startled.
Jin meets their eyes, suddenly certain.
> "It wants... me."
8:25
For a moment—nobody speaks. Then:
> "Of... course," Mina mutters, an edge in her voice. "A bond like yours..." She looks him over, eyes narrowed.
Rael seems almost frozen—but it's L who steps forward and asks the question everyone is thinking:
> "What are you saying?"
Jin meets his gaze, heart pounding.
> "That this… *whatever* it is under Veyra. It sees me as bait." He glances at Rael. "As a way through."
8:26
The air turns sharp—like the moment before lightning strikes.
Rael's hand tightens around Jin's, a silent vow.
Then he speaks, voice low and dangerous:
> "No one uses you."
L stares at him—then at Jin—and for the first time, something like respect flickers in his eyes.
> "Then we don't run."
A beat.
> **"We trap it."**
Mina's breath catches.
> "You can't trap a force that lives in memory and shadow!"
But L is already pulling up a holographic map from his wristband—one that shows layers beneath Veyra, deep into the black.
He taps a location—a nexus point under abandoned sector Gamma.
> "There," he says. "It wants to surface? Fine. Let it come… *on our ground.*"
Rael smirks—finally seeing an opening.
> "And when it does?"
L looks up.
His voice drops to a whisper thick with promise:
> **"We bury it again—with them as bait… but this time,**" —his gaze lands on Rael and Jin—**"the chain becomes the cage."**
Jin feels the glow on his wrist pulse… hot now… alive…
Like it heard every word.
And somewhere below?
The earth *breathes*…
Waiting.