Star stood on the bridge, the smoke-choked sky glowing behind her like a warning. The masters’ threat still burned across her cheek, their voices echoing in her skull—Kill Ja’kari or be destroyed. She clenched her fists, feeling the weight of her weapons, the weight of her choices. Below, Posida’s squad vanished beneath the river, the town already screaming under her command. Star breathed in the chaos she created, the fire, the falling world.
“Time to come home, baby,” she whispered, not sure if it was love, hate, or the curse pulling her back.