The balcony had become Nana's favorite spot in the base—a crumbling concrete ledge on what used to be the building's third floor, with just enough structural integrity to support weight. From here, she could see across several districts of Avalon, the broken cityscape stretching endlessly into the gray horizon.
She sat beside Mina, both of them catching their breath after another brutal training session. Nana's arms felt like jelly, her sword arm especially. The massive blade Mina had given her—salvaged from god knows where—leaned against the wall behind them, its edge stained with the black residue of demon blood from yesterday's encounter.
Three weeks. She'd been in Avalon for three weeks now.
Twenty-one days of learning to survive in a world that wanted her dead.
"Your form is getting better," Mina said, passing Nana a bottle of precious water. "That upward slash—you actually made it look graceful today."
Nana snorted, taking a careful sip. Water was rationed strictly in the base. "Graceful. Sure. That's the word I'd use for nearly dropping my sword halfway through."
"You *didn't* drop it though. That's progress." Mina stretched her arms over her head, joints popping. "A week ago, you couldn't even complete the sequence without—"
The sound cut through their conversation like a blade.
*CRRRAAAASSSSHHHH*
Both women's heads snapped toward the noise. In the distance—maybe four blocks away—a building was collapsing. Not gradually, not from structural decay, but actively falling apart. The walls seemed to fold inward, the roof caving as if crushed by an invisible hand. Dust and debris exploded outward in a massive cloud.
Nana's hunter instincts kicked in immediately. She was on her feet, reaching for her sword. "What was that? Attack? Should we—"
"Relax." Mina didn't even stand up, her expression utterly calm as she watched the building crumble to rubble. "Just the city."
"*Just* the—what?!"
"The city is alive, Nana." Mina said it so casually, like she was commenting on the weather. "Didn't I mention that? Avalon itself is sentient. Or semi-sentient. Or maybe just malicious. We're not really sure." She took a sip of water. "But yeah, it tries to eliminate us. Slowly. Creatively."
Nana stared at her, then at the settling dust where a building had stood moments ago, then back at Mina. "You... you didn't mention that, actually. That seems like pretty important information!"
"Sorry. There's a lot to cover." Mina shrugged apologetically. "The building collapses are random. Sometimes the city just decides a structure has been standing too long and brings it down. We've learned to listen for the warning signs—creaking that gets progressively louder, temperature drops, that sort of thing. It's why we do structural checks on the base every day."
"Warning signs," Nana repeated weakly, sitting back down. Her legs felt unsteady. "The city is alive. Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? Nothing else here makes sense."
As if to punctuate her words, another distant rumble echoed through Avalon. Somewhere to the east, smoke began rising—thick and black, definitely not natural.
"Fire," Mina observed. "Probably District 9. The fire spirits like to nest there."
"Fire spirits."
"Giant eagles made of living flame. They burn everything in a district, then move on." Mina counted on her fingers. "Then there are the floods—water rises from nowhere, drowns whole sections of the city. The storms that crack buildings open with lightning. The poison gas from those flying deer creatures—one breath and you're hallucinating for hours before you suffocate. And..." She paused, her expression growing serious. "The demon cycles. Once a month, the demons go into a feeding frenzy. If you get bitten during a cycle, you turn into one within hours. There's no cure, no way to stop it."
Nana's throat felt dry despite the water she'd just drunk. "How do you fight that?"
"You don't. You hide and pray they don't find your base." Mina's jaw tightened. "We lost six people in the last demon cycle. Chen was one of them—the guy who saved me from turning. He got bit protecting a kid. Turned within three hours. We had to..." She didn't finish, but Nana understood.
They'd had to kill him.
"And the worst?" Nana prompted quietly, remembering what Mina had said earlier. "You mentioned something worse?"
"The vampire cycle." Mina's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "It only happens once a year, but when it does..." She looked at Nana with an expression that held genuine fear—something Nana had never seen on her face before. "The vampires aren't like the demons or hybrids. They're *impossible* to kill unless you're incredibly strong or incredibly lucky. And their bite? Instant transformation. The moment their teeth break your skin, you're one of them. No grace period. No chance to cut out the corruption. Just... instant."
"Have you seen it? The vampire cycle?"
"No. I've only been here a month, remember? But the others—the ones who've survived longer—they talk about it. Hundreds of vampires filling the streets, young and old, all hunting. The sky turns red. Blood moon, they call it. And there's a place..." Mina's gaze drifted to the northern horizon. "A place where the vampires nest. An ancient tree, massive, with caves underneath. That's where they sleep, where they breed. During the cycle, they all wake up."
Nana followed her gaze, seeing nothing but the usual broken cityscape. But somewhere out there, in some district she hadn't reached yet, was a tree full of sleeping vampires waiting for their cycle.
*And Zayne is somewhere in this nightmare too*, she thought. *Does he know about the cycles? Is he surviving them? Is he even alive?*
The thought of Zayne being bitten, being turned into a demon or vampire, made her stomach turn.
"Nana." Mina's voice pulled her back to the present. "There's something else we need to talk about. It's why I brought you up here."
The serious tone made Nana focus. "What's wrong?"
"The clans are moving." Mina gestured toward the western districts. "Hybrid clan has been getting aggressive. They've conquered three districts in the past week, killed or absorbed any survivors they found. The demon clan is pushing east, doing the same thing. They're not just hunting anymore—they're trying to control territory. To be the dominant force in Avalon."
"Why? What do they gain?"
"Survival." Mina's expression was grim. "See, there's a theory among the long-term survivors. They say that Avalon isn't just a prison—it's a test. That if one group can become strong enough, dominant enough, they might find a way out. Or maybe they just want to eliminate the competition. Either way, they're coming for bases like ours. Human settlements. Easy targets."
Nana's hand moved instinctively to her sword. "How long do we have?"
"Chen's scouts reported hybrid movements two districts away yesterday. That was before..." Mina paused, grief flickering across her face. "Before the demon cycle got them. I'm estimating we have three, maybe four days before they reach us."
"So we fight."
"No." Mina shook her head firmly. "We run. There are thirty people in this base, Nana. Maybe five of us can actually fight. The rest are civilians—old people, kids, injured folks still recovering from their arrivals. We can't defend against an organized clan attack."
"Then where do we go?"
"There's another settlement. District 15, near the eastern edge. Bigger, better fortified. Chen told me about it before he..." She swallowed hard. "Before. They have walls, actual defenses, more fighters. If we can reach them, we might have a chance."
"How far?"
"Two days' travel, if we're careful and lucky. Through three different districts, across hybrid territory, past the old industrial zone where the giants hunt." Mina met Nana's eyes. "It's going to be dangerous. Really dangerous. Not everyone will make it."
Not everyone will make it.
The casual way survivors in Avalon talked about death still made Nana's skin crawl. But she understood now. This place didn't allow for sentimentality. You survived or you didn't.
"When do we leave?"
"Dawn. When the city is quietest." Mina stood, stretching. "We'll move in groups. Fighters at the front and rear, civilians in the middle. Pack light—only essentials. Food, water, weapons, medicine."
"And if we encounter a clan? Or a demon cycle? Or—"
"We adapt." Mina's smile was fierce and determined. "That's what we do, Nana. We adapt, we survive, we keep fighting. Because the alternative is giving up, and I didn't survive a month in this hellhole just to give up now."
Another building collapsed in the distance, its death rattle echoing across Avalon.
Nana looked at her hands—blistered, calloused, wrapped in torn cloth bandages. Hands that had once pulled triggers with precision but now gripped sword handles with desperate determination. She thought of the hunter badge hidden in her pack, that piece of her old identity.
Class S Hunter Angelina Wang.
That woman felt like someone from another lifetime.
But maybe that was okay. Maybe in Avalon, she needed to be someone different. Someone who could survive the impossible.
"I need to train more," Nana said suddenly. "If we're leaving at dawn, I need every hour I can get."
"Nana, you're exhausted—"
"So?" Nana grabbed her massive sword, feeling its weight settle into her grip. The blade felt slightly less impossible than it had three weeks ago. "You said not everyone will make it. I refuse to be one of the ones who don't. And I refuse to slow down the group because I'm not strong enough."
She thought of Zayne somewhere in this nightmare city. If he was alive—*when* she found him—she needed to be strong enough to protect him. Strong enough to fight beside him. Strong enough to help them both escape this hell.
"Again," Nana said, moving into her starting stance. "Teach me again. The full sequence. I need to be able to do it in my sleep."
Mina looked at her for a long moment, then smiled—that same warm, encouraging smile that had kept Nana going since day one.
"Okay," she said, drawing her own blade. "But we're doing it properly this time. Full speed, full contact. If you're going to push yourself, we're going to do it right."
They trained as the gray afternoon stretched into gray evening. Again and again, Nana ran through the sequences. Parry, slash, dodge, counter. Her muscles screamed. Her blistered hands bled through their bandages, leaving red stains on her sword grip. Sweat poured down her face despite the cold air.
And when she finally collapsed, her body giving out after the hundredth repetition, Mina helped her up one more time.
"Last one," Mina said. "Give me everything you have left."
Nana raised her sword. Every fiber of her being hurt. But she thought of Zayne—his calm hazel eyes, the way he'd smiled at her in the cafe, the strawberry candy, his hand in hers as they fell through the portal.
She moved.
The sequence flowed through her like water—each strike precise, each dodge calculated, each movement building on the last. Her aether core flared weakly around the blade, blue energy enhancing the final slash that sang through the air.
Perfect.
Nana lowered her sword, breathing hard, and looked at Mina.
Her friend was grinning. "Now that was graceful."
Nana laughed—a broken, exhausted sound—and collapsed onto the balcony floor.
Above them, the gray sky of Avalon watched with indifferent malice.
Somewhere in the city, Zayne was fighting his own battles, carrying his own burdens, surviving his own nightmares.
And tomorrow, at dawn, Nana would take another step toward finding him.
Hold on, Zayne she thought as consciousness slipped away into exhausted sleep. I'm getting stronger. I'm surviving.
"Wait for me."
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To be continued.