The night air in Geylang was thick with humidity and the smell of incense, fried food, and gasoline. Neon lights flickered along shuttered storefronts, casting fractured reflections on the puddled asphalt.

  Kai, Mei, and Alex moved quickly through the narrow alleys, keeping to the shadows. Mei’s hood was drawn low over her head, her pace unsteady but determined. Kai led the way, though his grip on his blood-forged nodachi was tight enough that his knuckles had gone pale.

  “We’re almost at the safehouse,” Alex muttered, glancing over his shoulder. “Just two more turns.”

  Mei nodded, her breath shallow. “Something feels wrong.”

  It happened a second later.

  The rune trap in the alley flared to life—an arc of violet fire slicing upward from the wet ground. Kai reacted first, shoving Mei sideways into Alex’s arms as he twisted away. The sigil scorched the concrete where she’d stood.

  Four figures stepped out of the darkness. Frangipani enforcers, dressed in matte black coats etched with the gang’s vine-and-thorn emblem. Their eyes glowed faintly with borrowed power.

  One of them stepped forward, her face partially obscured by a spirit-mask shaped like a blooming frangipani. She spoke with clipped precision.

  “Orders from Michelle Teo. The girl comes with us.”

  Alex raised his revolver. “Not happening.”

  The leader tilted her head. “We’ll see.”

  The alley exploded into violence.

  Kai surged forward first, his nodachi a crimson blur as he intercepted two of the attackers mid-cast. Their defensive runes shattered on impact, sparks spraying into the air like shattered glass. He pivoted into a spin, blood-magic fueling his momentum—but one of the enforcers met his blade with a conjured bone-scythe, locking them in place.

  Alex fired two shots, each one singing with arcane resonance. One Frangipani agent dropped with a grunt, a containment glyph burned into his chest. The other retaliated with a soul-chain, but Alex ducked behind a dumpster, the spell whiplashing through the air inches from his head.

  Mei, wide-eyed, clutched a charm to her chest. Her fingers trembled, lips moving in silent incantation. The magic in her blood pulsed, responding instinctively—but not controlled. Not yet.

  One of the enforcers lunged for her.

  Kai saw it—too late.

  “No!”

  He slammed his body between Mei and the strike. The blade meant for her tore across his side, a deep, raking wound that glowed with cursed light. Blood sprayed. He staggered but didn’t fall, teeth bared in fury. With a roar, he unleashed a blast of raw hemeomantic force that sent the attacker hurtling into the alley wall.

  Alex caught Mei and yanked her behind cover. “Kai!”

  “I’m fine,” Kai gasped, barely staying upright. “Get her out!”

  A fresh wave of Frangipani sigils began to light up the alley, signaling reinforcements. They were running out of time.

  Alex looked at Kai—at the blood soaking through his coat, the sweat on his brow, the way his blade trembled in his grip.

  “Not without you.”

  Kai reached into his pocket and pressed a rune-charm into Alex’s palm. “Use it. It’s a jump glyph. Get her to safety.”

  Alex hesitated.

  “I’ll cover you,” Kai said through gritted teeth. “Just go.”

  “No,” Mei said suddenly, stepping forward. “We go together.”

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  She lifted her hands. Her voice rang out—not loud, but steady. The glyphs on her skin ignited. Light spilled across the alley as the air thickened. Her bloodline magic surged outward in a protective wave, forcing the remaining attackers back.

  Alex activated the glyph. The world tilted.

  And then—

  A flash of red light. A rupture in space.

  The three vanished.

  Moments later – Safehouse, location warded and unknown

  They reappeared in the dim interior of an abandoned temple—walls lined with talismans, old lanterns swinging from rusted hooks. The air was still. Safe.

  Kai dropped to his knees.

  Mei caught him before he fell fully, panic in her voice. “He’s bleeding—he’s not stopping.”

  Alex was already tearing open the med kit. “Help me get his coat off. Now.”

  They laid Kai down on the stone floor. Blood pooled quickly. The wound across his side was deep, pulsing with a strange, gray glow. Curse-bound.

  “I can slow it,” Alex said, pressing a burn-salve rune to Kai’s skin. “But this is bad.”

  Kai’s eyes fluttered open. He looked at Mei. “You okay?”

  She nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks. “You took that for me.”

  “You’re not... just a key,” he whispered. “You’re... you.”

  And then his eyes rolled back.

  Alex caught him.

  “He’s alive,” he said quickly, feeling for the pulse. “But we need help.”

  Mei knelt beside him, trembling. The runes on her skin still faintly aglow.

  Outside, the night deepened.

  But inside the safehouse, three fugitives clung to the edge of survival—battered, bloodied, and hunted.

  The war had found them again.

  And it wasn’t done yet.

  ______________________________________________________________________________________

  The lights of Little Crescent flickered weakly beneath a blanket of low-hanging fog. Arcane streetlamps glowed soft amber, casting hexagonal halos over the narrow alleyways. Alex moved like a shadow through the mist, Mei bundled in an oversized coat beside him. Her footsteps were slow, but steady. She hadn’t spoken much since Kai collapsed.

  He hadn’t woken yet.

  Alex's coat was damp from rain and sweat, his fingers wrapped tightly around the encrypted charm buried in his pocket. It pulsed once every ten seconds—a subtle signal only one man would recognize.

  WIFI.

  When the alley split into three, he paused. A flickering sigil etched on the middle path shimmered to life. A reply.

  He followed it.

  The signal led him behind an old spirit-cinema, where cracked spellglass posters still depicted ghost operas no one dared to screen anymore. A hatch opened in the stone, silent and sudden. A face peered out from the shadows—hooded, expression unreadable.

  "Been a while," WIFI said, stepping into view. His mask was different this time—etched silver with a red flicker behind the eyes.

  Alex exhaled. "I need your help."

  WIFI didn’t respond. He looked down at Mei.

  "She’s humming," he said, voice distant. "Like a broken rune."

  Alex flinched. "They used her to open a channel to the Red Veil."

  "And now the Eye is looking for her," WIFI muttered. "Of course."

  They descended into WIFI’s hidden chamber—a fractured cross between a data vault and a war room. Screens floated in the air, flickering with unstable feeds. Some showed precinct movement. Others—darker feeds—tracked Frangipani agents through the city.

  Mei sank onto a beanbag at the far end, her head resting on her knees. Alex hovered nearby.

  "I need a place to put her," he said. "Safe. Outside of the system."

  WIFI tapped a screen. "You can’t keep running."

  "No choice."

  WIFI considered. "Sparrow has an anchor-site in Chai Chee. Deep wards. Blacklisted by three precincts. That hidden enough for you?"

  Alex nodded. "What do I tell her?"

  "Tell her I owe her two bodies and a memory." WIFI smiled without mirth. "She'll know."

  ---

  **Scene: "Warded Hollow"**

  Chai Chee smelled like wet stone and fried garlic. Alex guided Mei through a disused MRT tunnel, the concrete walls painted with graffiti that moved if you stared too long. The entrance to Sparrow’s site was behind a storage hatch.

  The wards reacted to Alex’s knock in a ripple of violet.

  Sparrow answered in a bone mask and slippers.

  "Alex Lim. Inspector. Off the books, I see."

  "WIFI sent me. He said you owe him."

  "I always owe someone." She stepped aside. "Bring the girl."

  Inside, the place was cluttered—a fusion of apothecary, witch haven, and doomsday shelter. Crystal jars glowed on the shelves, each holding something alive and twitching.

  Sparrow guided them into a warded room lined with runes for sleep and protection. Mei sat wordlessly on the cot.

  Sparrow checked her over with a light charm. "She’s leaking resonance. She’ll draw predators if she isn’t stabilized."

  "You can do it?"

  "Not perfectly. But enough."

  Alex stood silent.

  Sparrow didn’t look up. "They’re hunting her, you know. Frangipani. I spotted two agents three blocks out."

  Alex's jaw tightened. "She needs to stay here."

  "You don’t trust anyone, do you? Not even yourself."

  "Especially not myself."

  Sparrow nodded slowly. "You’re not staying, are you?"

  Alex met her eyes. "I need to go to Lazarus Island."

  She didn’t argue.

  "Wards will hold for seventy-two hours. After that, you better hope WIFI has a better plan."

  Alex knelt beside Mei. She looked at him through half-lidded eyes. "Will I be okay?"

  His throat tightened. "Yeah. Sparrow knows what she’s doing."

  "And you?"

  He paused. "I have to find something. Something that might stop this."

  She didn’t ask more. Just nodded.

  When he turned to leave, Sparrow stopped him.

  "Alex."

  He turned.

  "She’s scared. But she still believes in you. Don’t let that rot."

  He left without a word.

  ___________________________________________________________