A woman was standing on the balcony of the penthouse, watching the city view.
The world, as we currently perceive it, is a lie built on silence and compromise.
We only show the surface: the beautiful moments. The champagne.
We never mention the sweat behind the scene. The debt. The sacrifice.
And those who show their journey? They all already signed contracts with the State. They are just puppets, mimicking scripts in exchange for being glorified as Gods among humans.
The State Entities.
I once considered myself the one who was making better for everyone else, especially the little ones who can't protect themselves.
Since my demotion, oh gods know, I was wrong.
What I thought I saw, whatever undivided transparency I thought I had... I thought I was the State Entity that was going to unite us all.
Special or human. Lower class to upper class. Everybody with the same opportunity. No tricks. Just efforts only.
Maybe I was delusional.
I was the Entity of Beauty for a reason. But the Badge is gone. The title is gone.
I lost the rank, but not the essence. The Beauty is the power. And the power... is the failure.
Now, on the ground, I feel the valid hatred for everyone. I can understand them. I can see their rage, their dreams, and their desperate hope.
At some point, I am one of the reasons their dreams will never come true. Because I failed to make a better society.
Now they only rely on the default, corrupted system. Law and order are their only choice. Their survival is glued to it.
The music was loud, bass thumping through the floor of the penthouse where we celebrated Keeza's birthday. I didn't realize Armani was already close to me. He was leaning his back on the fence, watching the party inside—the opposite direction I was watching from.
His attention to the people was extreme. He seemed happy, unlike me. I felt like I was suffocating, feeling I should be out in the wild, anywhere but here. The air inside smelled of expensive alcohol and cheap cologne, the perfect scent of people trying desperately to prove they were immortal. Forcing my eyes to focus on the vibrant scene, the light only emphasized the hollow echo in my own chest.
I should be happy. Aren't this what normal looks like?
"It's a birthday party, remember?" Armani said. "You clearly need a drink."
"Enzo is having fun, look at him," I replied, forcing a laugh.
Armani just hushed me with a smile that showed no teeth.
"Unlike his friend," I continued. "Something bothers me about him."
"You mean the fact that all those 'Specials' think they are special, huh?" Armani countered. "Everybody inside that room bothers you."
I turned my head closer to Armani's face. "Is that why you never applied for the Special Mortal Contract? You don't think you are special. Because I know for sure your little brother would kill to have just half of your Runes abilities. Refusing to open a door only few can open... I would say you are more scared than you think."
"Look, you may be right," he conceded. "But right now, I want you to close the door in your mind."
He turned me toward the party. "Embrace the present. This is not a cognitive therapy session. Let's go party."
Armani grabbed me, pulling me inside. Keeza ran toward us, excited.
"Where you two lovebirds were hiding!" Keeza exclaimed. "I was looking for you, before my toast."
"Well… I missed eight minutes already, missing your toast would be an insult. You put effort into all this. Right, Armani?" I said.
"Oh yeah, absolutely," Armani confirmed.
"Aww, that's touching. Now it's time to make a toast. Lana, come with me, as women we need to hold each other up." Keeza grabbed my hands and started walking right away. I turned my head, rolling my eyes at Armani, who was raising his hand like the "I don't know" emote.
Keeza stood in the center of the room, the crystal chandelier light catching the tears in her eyes—rehearsed or real, it was hard to tell. She held up her glass, commanding the silence.
"Years ago, I was just an immigrant girl from the South Occidental Continent," Keeza began, her voice trembling perfectly. "I was chasing a dream."
The crowd leaned in.
"School. Jobs. Career. I followed it all. I chased the Economic State Dream." She paused for effect. "And I had it."
KEEZA "I was a nurse for a few years. I did everything right. Then… I had a breakup."
She let out a self-deprecating laugh. The crowd softened.
KEEZA "I was empty."
In the back of the room, hidden in the shadows of a large fern, Enzo nudged Bobby.
ENZO (Whispering) "Let me put you on. She is talking about Demetrious."
BOBBY "Can you shut it for a minute? Please."
Bobby wasn't looking at Keeza. His eyes were locked on the woman standing next to her—the one with the silver-white hair and the spiked gold crown.
BOBBY "Who is the girl behind her?"
ENZO "That's Lana. And funny enough... Demetrious was her ex as well."
Bobby didn't reply. He was analyzing her. Fixing her. His gaze swept from her heels to her crown, taking in the terrifying perfection of her posture. She looked like a statue made of ice and judgment.
Then, it happened.
Lana's emerald eyes shifted. She looked past the crowd, past the lights, and locked directly onto Bobby.
Thump.
Bobby panicked. He moved his head quickly, ducking behind the shoulder of a tall guest in front of him. His heart hammered against his ribs.
She saw me.
While he was staring at the floor, feeling the intense pressure of her gaze burning through the crowd, a phone screen shoved into his vision.
It was Enzo's phone. On the screen was a picture of a man—tall, dangerous, with long dreadlocks cascading down his back. He was standing in the center of a massive, opulent casino, holding a hand of cards with a bored expression.
ENZO "That's your competition."
Bobby blinked, confused.
ENZO "It's him I was talking about. I see how you are looking at Lana. But if you want a shot at the Queen... you gotta raise your standard to this."
Bobby stared at the guy in the casino. The man oozed money and power.
BOBBY "Raise my standard? That guy looks like he bets on people's souls."
Enzo snorted, pulling the phone back.
On the stage, Keeza's voice rose, reclaiming the room.
KEEZA "I buried what I was born with just to fit in! My mortal power!"
She clenched her fist.
KEEZA "Then I stopped crying. And I realized... I was the prize.
I took the Special Mortal Test. And I am the first generation to manifest my abilities—The Treasure Compass."
The crowd cheered.
KEEZA "Every agency wanted me. But I signed with Sparta. And now? The rest is history."
She grinned, spreading her arms wide.
KEEZA "Everybody check online—Keeza Favelas. Worth twenty-one million per year."
She gestured to the massive cake.
KEEZA "Before I blow this candle—close your eyes. It's gonna be fun."
The room went quiet. Eyes closed.
KEEZA "Thank you for cooperating. This day should be a wake-up call. Think about your desire… your deep, buried wish… the one in your subconscious."
KEEZA "Open your eyes."
She blew out the candle. The smoke drifted up, curling around Lana's unamused face.
KEEZA "My wish is to see you all manifest yours."
She smiled, a predator's grin.
KEEZA "Because mine has already come true."
Keeza's voice had dropped to a smooth, satisfied tone as she accepted the thunderous applause.
KEEZA "I buried what I was born with just to fit in! My mortal power!" She clenched her fist.
KEEZA "Then I stopped crying. And I realized... I was the prize." "I took the Special Mortal Test. And I am the first generation to manifest my abilities—The Treasure Compass." The crowd cheered.
Every agency wanted me. But I signed with Sparta. And now? The rest is history." She grinned, spreading her arms wide. "Everybody check online—Keeza Favelas. Worth twenty-one million per year." She gestured to the massive cake.
KEEZA "Before I blow this candle—close your eyes. It's gonna be fun." The room went quiet. Eyes closed.
KEEZA "Thank you for cooperating. This day should be a wake-up call. Think about your desire… your deep, buried wish… the one in your subconscious."
"Open your eyes." She blew out the candle. The smoke drifted up, curling around Lana's unamused face.
KEEZA "My wish is to see you all manifest yours." She smiled.
KEEZA "Because mine has already come true."
Lana forced a smile like the rest in the room. Keeza's performance was over, yet the lingering smoke of the candle—the scent of fulfilled dreams—made her feel ill.
Lana watched her—the nurse who had become a State Entity, whose ability, The Treasure Compass, had secured her a contract with Sparta. Keeza had everything: the rank, the contract, the wealth, and the adoration. There was no hypocrisy in Keeza's position; she had paid the economic State dream and reaped the reward. She had no excuses left.
State used Keeza to replace Lana, usurping her rank through the system that Lana herself had championed. Keeza was the new Entity of Beauty, shiny and unscarred. But the public still wanted the old one, and Lana couldn't give them what they wanted because the State and she were not on good terms—it was just not public yet.
The words stung.
Now that I think about it, I don't really know what I want to do exactly.
Lana turned away from the party, the bass of the music still thumping hollowly in her chest.
Next Day: to the Bobby Incident
The city was a jagged, midnight-blue tapestry of neon and steel, but the sun was still bleeding orange light onto the lower west blocks. The time was 5:40 PM, just after Bobby had taken his final break—the moment everything went sideways.
Lana and Armani were already on the scene. They had been called because their Magitek detected an Anomaly—a massive, sudden spike in Zilla energy signature.
Lana stood on the pavement, looking across the street at the silent figure of Bobby.
"It's a good thing we arrived before actual law enforcement," Lana muttered. "But this is something different. I know him. That's the creepy Enzo friend."
She paused, her eyes narrowed.
"But now he is different," she finished.
TA. TA. TA.
The sound wasn't human. It was the rapid, metallic beat of pure, unbound power radiating from the kid on the street. This was the signature of a Soul Entity. Lana's mind registered the threat automatically: four heartbeats.
Soul Entities have a heartbeat signature. Three beats and above are serious-level threats that can go toe-to-toe with State Entities. State Entities can usually handle a Soul or Demon Entity with two or three heartbeats because of their experience, specific techniques, and abilities. The heartbeat is a quick way to quantify how dangerous the opponent is.
Bobby had four heartbeats.
"Armani, go handle the other one while I evaluate what's going on here," Lana commanded, already moving toward the center of the road.
Armani tensed, his expression grim. "You sure you can do this alone? There is no doubt he's a Soul Entity that just woke up. If you don't suppress it quickly, it's going to keep getting worse. I'm leaving it to you."
Armani didn't wait for her confirmation. He drew his enhancement rune—a complex lattice of glowing blue energy that traced the major arteries in his forearm—allowing him to boost his physical limits. With a sound like a compressed spring releasing, he launched himself down the street, moving with the agility of John Carter on Mars.
Lana faced the source of the anomaly. Bobby was standing motionless in the center of the road, looking up at her, the confrontation that ended the previous chapter now resuming. She was confident she could handle him; even an experienced four-heartbeat Entity needed time to master their power. She was sure she could still knock him out.
"What is your name again?" Lana demanded.
By the time Lana finished her sentence, two red parallel lines—looking exactly like fresh, dripping blood—were already carving across the air toward her like bullet lines. She barely adjusted her pose.
Shhhk.
She felt a stinging scratch just below her earlobe. Lana recoiled and launched herself sideways, landing on the roof of a parked car twenty feet away.
"You surely move fast for a newborn," Lana observed, wiping a small trickle of blood from her neck.
She looked down at the concrete where she had been standing. The tiny drops of her spilled blood were boiling violently, like miniature volcanic pools. From the steam and heat, a woman that looked exactly like her began to emerge—a demon replica, complete with eyes burning with angry orange light. So far, only the upper body had been generated.
Lana spun back to the street. Bobby wasn't there anymore. He was gone.
"Something is off," Lana muttered into her comms.
"Armani, do you copy? Can you locate someone for me?" Lana asked.
"No need to," Armani replied instantly, his voice strained. "I can feel somebody running straight toward my direction, like I'm being followed."
Lana stared at her boiling blood-clone.
"He just summoned a demon, I don't know what it is, but it's definitely a look-alike of me, but zombie-like. And he just used a small amount of my blood, which means he is in control."
"Well, if he's that strong as you said, my guess is he's heading where he sent the demon," Armani said.
"Hello? Hello? Lana, are you there?"
Lana was instantly cut off, lost in thought. She understood the scene right away.
Bobby wasn't escaping. He was using the demon clone to distract her so he could hunt the main target. It was personal.
"Armani, don't interfere with him. Just observe him," Lana instructed, her voice dropping into the cold register of her Entity rank. "Let him take the kill. If he does this, he will calm or burn out. We kill two birds with one stone:I'm going to join you right away."
Lana ended the call. The zombie-like Lana was almost complete, the generation process filling her out to knee level.
The golden spiked crown on Lana's head began to glow with the blinding intensity of the sun.
"Sinner Jewelry: Exorcism," Lana whispered, her face devoid of emotion.
She sprinted toward the emerging creature and delivered a crushing punch to its navel, followed by a strike to the chest. She then moved behind the zombie. Her left hand clamped around its neck, and her right hand was placed flat against the top of its head, holding it down like a basketball.
The zombie began to melt in reverse. Its knees dissolved, followed by its stomach. As Lana prepared to launch herself into the air to join Armani, the zombie, which had been mumbling indistinctly the whole time, said something that froze her in place.
"You did what I couldn't. You finally found him before them."
Lana instantly spun back, trying to bring the melting face close to hers. "Who? Who is coming for him?"
The zombie's upper body dissolved completely, leaving only a gurgling sound in the boiling blood. The cryptic words floated on the steam:
The first to wake up, and the last to fade.
Then, it was gone.
Lana stared at the empty, smoking patch of concrete, the fear finally cutting through her Entity composure. The answer was The Hollow the first nightmare. And Bobby was the lastborn.