“Too late, you say…”

“Your brain is no longer biological.” The boy spoke, confident in his statement. “You also have that Force Field. You and your Valkyries will not be affected by its presence. Everyone else… they won’t be able to handle it. Their minds aren’t protected, and unlike the children, they had long since lost their innocence. Their darkest thoughts will be amplified. It’s going to be ugly.”

Though he couldn’t believe what he heard, for some reason Sam was sure that the boy was telling the truth. The Olympians were ok the process of performing a ritual, one that’s necessary to obtain the Key Zeus desires. But how would they obtain this Key? Were they creating it in that giant tower of theirs? Or did it serve another function?

‘A beacon…’ Sam suddenly came to the realization. ‘They aren’t creating the Key. They’re summoning it…’

“Ah, I’m sorry, Doctor.” David spoke, smiling wryly. “It seems my son isn’t doing well. Maybe you should go rest, Karim. I doubt you’ll be able to sleep once the planes take off.”

“Kid…” ignoring the concerned father, Sam addressed his son directly. “You said something is coming…” Pausing for a moment, he took a deep breath before gazing into the darkness in his eyes once more. “What is it… what is coming?”

The boy gazed back at Sam, and so did the darkness he held. After a long moment of silence, one that seemed to last for an eternity, he finally opened his mouth to speak-

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

— A blood curdling scream startled Sam, drowning everyone’s attention to the crowd of survivors. A woman was on the ground, her face twisted with horror as she crawled backward, holding her right shoulder from which a limp, crushed arm extended. She was looking up at a man, two meters tall, wearing a camouflage uniform. He was a soldier, but that didn’t matter much. What halted Sam’s thoughts were the runes that appeared above his head. They were of a dark red color, jagged with uneven shapes, unlike anything he had seen before. They were unstable, that much he could tell, and looking at the man’s face, it was clear he wasn’t doing well.

“S-stop! What are you doing Ma-”

The woman’s words were cut short as her head was stumped to the ground, crushed under the sole of the man’s boot. Blood spattered, creating a dreadful circle around his foot. Everything was silent for some time, but then one of the soldiers took out his gun and pointed it at the man, prompting the others to do the same.

“WHAT ATE YOU DOING, MADUAKU!!?”

Though he was just done murdering someone, the soldier, named Maduaku, was strangely calm as he looked down at the scene he had caused. He turned around, looking at the guns pointed at him one after the other, then a sinister grin smeared his face, revealing crushed teeth as blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth.

“The… bitch…” the man spoke, his voice tinged with anger, but a sense of calm accompanied it. “She… she was looking at him… the man in white…” his head turned in Sam’s direction, his expression slowly crumbling into the very picture of rage, hatred and disdain.

It was the Fallen Ramla had warned him about. An adult who had awakened Runes, but was unable to control them and had lost his mind, succumbing to the madness that would eventually lead to the survivors’ demise.

Staggering once, he faced the Doctor, his shoulders rising and falling with each labored breath. The halo over his head moved and he seemed about to charge. Three moved, teleporting in front of Sam with her triangular shield held up. Nino did the same, holding her spear and readying herself.

“The… bitch… She… She…”

Time seemed to stretch once more. Sam was trying to decide how he should handle the situation. The soldiers had their fingers on the trigger. The other Valkyries noticed the commotion and were about to draw their weapons.

Everyone had their attention on the man, and when his bloody halo began to spin, they all prepared for a battle.

No one noticed the single boy raising his hand, pointing his palm at the mad Fallen. A single dot appeared on his chest, instantly expanding to form a hole filled with primordial darkness. The world began to swirl around it, forming a vertical whirlpool and changed, forming a new halo. When his eyes opened, the first ones to meet them that seemed to swallow everything.

In an instant, the Fallen man’s body twisted, its shape following the swirls as it flowed into the black hole, disappearing behind a wall of absolute darkness.

The hole in reality disappeared the next second, leaving behind an eerie silence as everyone stared at where the soldier was once standing.

Sam turned to look behind him and saw Karim slowly lowering his hand. He looked at his palm once, then let it fall to his side. As a long sigh escaped him, the crimson halo over his head came to a stop, but it didn’t disappear. The runes making it switched and changed, forming a new halo. When his eyes opened, the first ones to meet them were Nino’s. He spared her only a glance before turning his gaze to the man in the white lab coat.

“Thanks to your Valkyries, I was finally able to learn the teleportation runes.” He said, his body slowly floating up. “I already had it in my head, of course, but it would’ve taken years to understand it on my own.”

“Karim…” David said, watching in horror as his son slowly rose to the sky. “Where are you going, Karim!”

A short distance away, one of the women stood up, walking in unsteady steps while looking up at the sky. Karim glanced at her for a moment, but only a moment. His sight then turned to the old woman sitting in a wheelchair before returning to his father, a hint of sorrow making it to his stone cold face.

“Sorry, Father. There is nothing I can do to save you and Mother” He said, closing his eyes. “I’m going to the other side. If I manage to convince them to recruit me, I will probably be sent to their world. That way I will at least guarantee my own survival.”

“Karim!” The woman suddenly shouted, but her voice was ignored.

The halo over the boy’s head began to spin, the Runes making it turn to a blur as they formed a complex pattern. When he opened his eyes, his gaze fell on Sam, the darkness that was there before having already disappeared.

“Doctor, instead of trying to play the hero over here, you should hurry up and go back to your world.” He said. “You have nothing to gain by staying here, and these people will die anyway. If you want to save someone, you should start with your own people. Once that thing arrives here, your world will be its next destination.” 𝒪𝐯xt.𝗇t

Sam was speechless, the boy’s words having had a much deeper impact than he liked to admit. The ritual carried out by the Olympians is intended to summon something, something that would bring chaos to this world. The boy blamed the madness on its whispers, he believed that nothing could escape its presence, and so he gave up on everyone, even his parents, and was about to desert to the enemy’s side in order to save his own life.

Sam had to admit that, in a sense, Karim was the more logical one between them. He was willing to abandon everything to secure his survival while Sam wasn’t even focusing on his main objective, opting to try and save the lives of those few humans instead of looking for the Nephilim.

His chances of success decreased with each passing second and as a commander he had to make a decision.

Should he continue trying to save the humans? Or should he leave them there to die?

He looked at his Valkyries one by one, then at the old seer watching from a distance. He found himself unable to choose, but at that moment, another scream resounded through the abandoned airport, the horror it portrayed announcing that his time had run out.