The firelight flickered violently, casting twisted shadows over Ben's face as the group formed a half-circle around him. No one moved. No one breathed. The air had turned cold—not from the mountain wind, but from something deeper, something wrong.
"I'm not here to fight," Ben said, voice low, but each word laced with poison. "Not yet."
Kira didn't relax. Neither did Alex.
"You're not welcome," Vile said sharply, stepping forward. His usual calculated composure was still there, but something simmered beneath his tone—a rare flash of emotion. "And you don't get to stand there like you're part of this."
Ben's glowing eyes flicked toward him, and for a moment, something passed between the two. A history? A rivalry? Kira wasn't sure.
"I came with a warning," Ben continued, ignoring the threat in Vile's voice. "The Daggers of Fate are only the beginning. Something ancient is stirring… something even you, Vile, won't be able to calculate."
"Then I'll adapt," Vile replied coldly. "I always do."
But behind the sharp words, Kira noticed something: Vile's eyes had narrowed, not in anger, but in analysis. He was already putting the pieces together—Ben's sudden appearance, the power in the daggers, the sanctuary Alex mentioned. He didn't trust the silence of the world right now. It felt… too still.
Ben smirked. "You always think you're a step ahead. But this time, you'll be blind when it hits."
Before anyone could respond, a sudden gust of wind extinguished the fire. In that blink of darkness, Ben vanished. No sound. No trace.
Kira stood frozen, her hands still on the daggers.
Alex lit the crystal in his palm again, casting light back over the camp. "We keep watch in shifts," he said. "He won't be far."
But Vile wasn't listening. He was already moving—toward his satchel near the far rocks. He pulled something out. Not a weapon, not a scroll, but a metal shard, sleek and black, humming with faint neon-blue lines.
Mya approached cautiously. "What's that?"
"A fragment," Vile murmured. "From an old vault we found two months ago. It resonated when Kira touched the daggers. And now—" He held it closer to the firelight. The shard pulsed brighter, like a heartbeat responding to the world.
Kira stepped closer, uneasy. "What is it?"
Vile turned the fragment in his hand. "It's part of a design… a tool once forged to rival the gods. The ancient texts called it The Hammer of Technology. They say it could rewrite reality through code and matter alike."
Alex raised a brow. "You think it's real?"
Vile nodded. "I think the dagger awakened it. And I think Ben knows where the rest of it is."
Silence again.
Alex exhaled. "Then we find it before he does."
Kira looked at Vile. For all his knowledge and cold calculations, there was something new in his eyes. Not just logic. Purpose.
She realized something then: The daggers had chosen her. But something else—something dangerous and vast—was starting to choose Vile.
And whatever this "Hammer" truly was, its awakening might decide the fate of more than just their journey.
It might decide the future of the world.