The fire came from the sky.
Nana had seen it from three districts away—massive wings blotting out the gray, a creature made of living flame that shouldn't exist but did because this was Avalon and nothing here followed the rules of reality.
The Giant Eagle Fire Spirit.
She'd been out hunting for supplies, had left the hospital base at dawn with promises to be back by afternoon. Mr. Simon had warned her to be careful. Mina had made her promise not to take unnecessary risks.
I'll be back before you know it, she'd said, flashing that confident smile that came easier now after months of survival.
She'd lied.
By the time Nana made it back to District 11, the entire area was an inferno.
Building burned with flames that consumed concrete and steel like they were paper.
The hospital—their sanctuary, their carefully defended base—was engulfed, its windows exploding from the heat, its structure groaning as support beams melted.
"No," Nana whispered, breaking into a run. "No, no, NO!"
She could see figures in the flames. People running, screaming, burning. The Giant Eagle circled overhead, its wings spreading fire with each beat, its cry a sound like the death of worlds.
Nana's aether core flared, wrapping her in protective blue energy as she crashed through the burning entrance. The heat was insane, enough to make her skin blister even through her core's protection.
"MINA!" She screamed into the inferno. "SIMON! ANYONE!"
The smoke choked her, making her eyes stream. She stumbled through corridors that she'd walked a hundred times, now transformed into tunnels of flame and death.
Bodies. So many bodies. People she'd lived with, fought beside, shared meals with. All of them burned beyond recognition, dissolving into ash and white mist.
And then she found them.
Mr. Simon lay in what had been the main gathering room, his body positioned protectively over three younger survivors—teenagers who'd looked up to him, who'd called him "Uncle Simon" despite not being related. He'd tried to shield them with his own body.
It hadn't been enough.
All four of them were gone, their forms already fading.
"Simon,"
Nana sobbed, falling to her knees.
The man who'd pulled her inside during the poison gas. Who'd given her strength when she'd wanted to give up. Who'd led them through the flood with nothing but determination and hope.
Gone.
Get up, her survival instincts screamed. The building is collapsing. You need to move—
But she couldn't. Couldn't leave him. Couldn't—
A sound reached her through the roar of flames.
A sob. Human. Alive.
"MINA!"
Nana scrambled to her feet, following the sound through the burning hospital. Her hands were blistering now, her aether core struggling to protect her from heat this intense. But she didn't care.
Mina was alive.
She found her in what had been their shared room, curled against the far wall, and Nana's heart stopped.
Blood. So much blood.
And on Mina's shoulder, clearly visible even through the torn fabric—
Bite marks.
Large, savage bite marks that could only have come from one thing.
Demon.
"No." The word came out broken. "No, Mina, no—"
Mina looked up, and her eyes—her beautiful, fierce eyes—were already starting to change. The whites were darkening, black bleeding in from the edges. She had maybe three hours before the transformation completed. Maybe less.
Mina whispered, tears cutting tracks through the soot on her face. "I'm so sorry, Nana. I couldn't... I couldn't make it. We were supposed to get out together, and I—"
"NO!" Nana crashed to her knees beside her friend, pulling her into a desperate embrace.
"We're going to get out together! There has to be a way to stop it, to cut it out like Chen did for you before—"
"It's too deep." Mina's voice was eerily calm, the calm of someone who'd already accepted their fate. "The bite hit bone, Nana. There's no cutting this out. I'm going to turn."
They held each other in the burning room, both of them sobbing, the fire raging around them like Avalon's final cruel joke.
From the broken window, Nana could see more destruction—the Giant Eagle had moved on to another district, leaving this one in ruins. Creatures that had survived the flames were already moving in, scavenging, hunting. The screams had stopped. Everyone was either dead or fled.
They were alone.
"You have to kill me," Mina said quietly. "Before I turn. I don't want to hurt you, Nana. I don't want my last act as a human to be trying to kill my sister."
"I can't." Nana's voice broke completely. "I can't kill you. Mina, please, don't ask me to—"
"You have to." Mina gripped her hand with desperate strength. "Because if you don't, I will hunt you. I will kill you. And I'll be aware enough in the first few hours to know what I'm doing. To remember being human while I tear you apart."
Nana was shaking so hard she could barely function. This couldn't be happening. Not Mina. Not her sister, her teacher, her best friend in this nightmare world.
Not her.
With trembling hands, Nana reached into her pack and pulled out the last chocolate bar she'd found two weeks ago. She'd been saving it, waiting for a special occasion to surprise Mina with.
She placed it in Mina's hands.
They both started crying harder, the chocolate bar a symbol of everything they'd lost, everything they'd promised each other, all the dreams of hot chocolate in a real cafe in the real world.Mina whispered, unwrapping the chocolate with shaking fingers.
"You're the best thing that happened to me in this hellhole. Meeting you, fighting beside you, watching you become so strong..." She took a small bite, savoring it like it was the last taste of humanity.
"I'm so proud of you, Nana."
"Don't." Nana was sobbing openly now.
"Don't say goodbye. Please."
But Mina was already reaching for the necklace around her neck—a simple silver chain with a small pendant shaped like a star. She'd worn it every day since Nana had known her, said it was from her mother in the real world.
She pressed it into Nana's palm.
"So you remember me," Mina said softly. "When Avalon tries to crush your shoulders down, when you want to give up, you look at this and you remember: Mina believed in you. Mina knew you were going to make it"
They held each other again, tighter this time. The fire was spreading, getting closer.
They didn't have much time left.
Nana could feel it happening—Mina's body temperature dropping, her breathing changing, her grip getting weaker.
The transformation was starting.
"Now," Mina said, her voice already changing, deeper, more guttural.
"Do it now, while I'm still me."
She guided Nana's hand to her chest, over her heart.
"Make it quick," she whispered.
"Please. I don't want to feel myself stop being human."
Nana's hand was shaking so badly she could barely activate her aether core. But Mina was right. If she didn't do this now, she'd have to fight demon-Mina later. Would have to kill her anyway, but slower, more painful.
This was mercy.
This was love.
"I love you," Nana sobbed. "I love you so much. You're my sister. You saved me. You taught me everything. I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to tell everyone about you. About how brave you were, how strong—"
"I know." Mina smiled one last time, and despite everything—the bite, the pain, the approaching transformation—it was her warm, encouraging smile.
The one that had kept Nana going through countless horrors.
"Now go find your Zayne. Go survive. Go live."
She cupped Nana's cheek with one hand, a final gesture of affection.
"Goodbye, little sister."
Nana's aether core flared, blue energy concentrating into a single point.
She pushed the blade over mina hearts.
Quick.Clean. Painless.
Mina's eyes widened slightly, then went peaceful. Her smile remained, frozen in that last moment of humanity.
And then she was dissolving—not into the black mist of demons, but into white, because she'd died as a human, bitten but not yet transformed.
Nana held her until there was nothing left but empty air and a chocolate bar wrapper.
Then she screamed.
A sound of pure anguish that echoed through the burning hospital, raw and broken and destroyed.
Something in Nana shattered in that moment. Not broke—shattered, like glass under a hammer, into a thousand pieces that could never be put back together the same way.
She stood slowly, Mina's necklace clutched in her fist, and walked out of the burning building.
Outside, demons and hybrids were scavenging through the ruins, fighting over territory, killing stragglers.
They saw her.
They charged.
And Nana moved.
Not with calculation. Not with strategy. With pure, incandescent rage.
Her sword came up, aether core blazing so bright it hurt to look at. She hit the first demon like a force of nature, her blade taking its head before it could react.
For Mina.
For Simon.
For everyone she lost.
A hybrid lunged from the left. Her boot caught it in the throat, crushing its windpipe. Her sword followed, cleaving through its torso.She didn't care. Let them come. Let them all come. She was done running, done hiding, done surviving.
If Avalon wanted her dead, it would have to work for it.
Nana spun, kicked, slashed, her movements a blur of fury and grief. Her aether core burned at levels that should have killed her, blue energy wrapping around her like armor and weapon combined. Blood—black and red—painted her face, her hands, her clothes.
A demon's claws raked across her shoulder. She didn't feel it. Just killed it and moved to the next one.
A hybrid's club hit her ribs. Something cracked. She killed it anyway.
They kept coming. She kept killing.
By the time the rage finally exhausted itself, Nana stood in a circle of dissolving bodies.
Twenty? Thirty? She'd lost count. Her sword was slick with blood, her aether core completely depleted, her body screaming with injuries she'd ignored.
The survivors were dissolving into white mist around her, and she watched them go with cold, dead eyes.
They killed my sister, she thought distantly. They killed Simon. They killed everyone.
Good that they're dead. Good that they're all dead.
She swayed, suddenly aware of how much blood she was losing. Her vision blurred. The adrenaline was crashing, and with it came the pain—god, the pain—
Nana collapsed to her knees, then forward onto her hands, gasping.her mind ordered. You're injured. You're vulnerable. More will come.
But she couldn't. Didn't have the strength.
Mina's necklace pressed against her palm, the metal warm from her grip.
"Go find your Zayne," Mina's voice echoed in her memory. "Go survive. Go live."
"I promise," Nana whispered to the empty air, to the ghost of her sister. "I promise, Mina. I'll find him. I'll get out. I'll tell everyone about you."
Somehow, she found the strength to stand.
Somehow, she started walking.
Away from the burning hospital. Away from the bodies. Away from everything she'd lost.
The city stretched endlessly ahead, gray and broken and full of horrors.
And somewhere in that nightmare, Zayne was alive.And Nana was going to find him.
For Mina.
For Simon.
For everyone Avalon had taken from her.
She would survive.
She would escape.
And she would make this nightmare city regret everything it had done to her.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.