Chapter 58: The Transfer

The bunker hummed with a low, electric vibration, as if the air itself sensed what was about to happen. Cassandra gathered the equipment with sharp, practiced movements—glowing coils, wires, metal cuffs engraved with symbols Lena’s mother once used. Every sound echoed against the cold steel walls.

Alexander stood frozen beside Lena’s unmoving body, his hands trembling over hers. He had stopped crying, but only because there were no tears left. His eyes were empty, shattered.

Elias moved toward the table, calm… too calm.

Like a man who had already made peace with death.

Alexander snapped out of his trance and grabbed Elias’s arm.

“Don’t do this.”

Elias looked at him—really looked at him—and for the first time in years, his expression wasn’t guarded or cold. It was soft. Human.

“Alex… I have spent my whole life living in the shadow of the Circle. Running. Fighting. Hating. And for what?” Elias whispered. “To survive? That’s not living.”

Alexander’s voice broke. “You are not doing this for me.”

Elias shook his head gently.

“No. I’m doing it for her.”

His gaze lowered to Lena—pale, still, golden sparks flickering faintly beneath her skin. She looked peaceful, like she was simply sleeping. But the glow told the truth: the purge energy was killing her.

Cassandra placed a metal cuff around Lena’s wrist, tightening it until it clicked.

“She is minutes away,” Cassandra said quietly. “Less, if the purge stabilizes.”

Alexander’s chest tightened. “No… please… please…”

Elias turned to Cassandra and held out his wrist.

“Put the other on me.”

Cassandra hesitated for only a heartbeat before clipping the second cuff onto Elias. The metal pulsed, syncing with his pulse.

Alexander’s voice cracked. “Elias… you’ll die.”

Elias smirked faintly. “At least it’ll be for something worth dying for.”

Then he added, softer:

“And Alex… if this is the end, then I’m glad I get to die with my brother at my side.”

Alexander shook his head violently, tears returning. “Stop—Elias, STOP—”

But Elias placed his free hand on Alexander’s shoulder.

“Take care of her,” he said. “And take care of yourself.”

Cassandra moved to the control panel, fingers flying across glowing screens.

“Once I activate the transfer,” she warned, “the purge will shoot from her body into his. It will be violent. Painful. And irreversible.”

Alexander grabbed Elias’s wrist one last time.

“Please don’t.”

Elias squeezed his hand.

“I love her too,” he whispered. “But she loves you. Don’t let that die with her.”

Alexander’s breath hitched.

Then Cassandra’s voice cut through the room:

“It’s time.”

The air seemed to freeze around them.

Cassandra pressed the button.

The world exploded.

A blast of golden light ripped from Lena’s chest, spiraling through the wires into the cuffs. The energy whipped through the air, wild, uncontrolled, crackling like lightning.

Elias arched backward, jaw clenched, a strangled cry ripping from his throat as the purge shot into his body. His veins lit up gold—then white—then gold again. His fingers clawed at the table, his chest heaving in agony.

Alexander reached for him, horrified. “ELIAS!”

“Stay back!” Cassandra shouted. “If you touch him, you’ll both die!”

Lena’s body jerked violently, her back arching off the table. Alexander grabbed her shoulders, holding her down. “Lena—LENA—come back to me—”

Her lips parted. A shuddering gasp escaped her.

Her heartbeat—faint, tiny—thumped against his hand.

Alexander sobbed. “She’s alive—oh God—she’s alive—”

But Elias screamed again.

His legs buckled. His eyes rolled back. His skin glowed white-hot.

Alexander looked at Cassandra frantically. “It’s too much! You’re killing him!”

“This IS the transfer!” Cassandra shouted. “He’s fighting the purge. He’s holding it back from her. If he stops now—she dies instantly!”

Elias convulsed, slamming against the metal table.

Alexander cried out, torn apart. “Elias—Elias, STOP—please—”

Elias turned his head just slightly—barely—toward Alexander.

A faint smile trembled on his lips.

“This is… how I make things right,” he whispered.

His body trembled violently again.

Cassandra watched the monitors, eyes widening.

“His heart rate is crashing—he’s losing the fight—”

Alexander screamed. “NO—NO—PLEASE—”

Suddenly, Lena’s eyes shot open.

Golden light burst from her pupils. She inhaled sharply, grabbing Alexander’s hand.

Her voice echoed with power not her own:

“STOP.”

Elias’s body froze mid-convulsion.

The purge energy flickered wildly between them—

as if confused.

Cassandra staggered back. “How is she conscious?! That’s impossible—”

Lena turned her glowing gaze toward Elias.

Her voice was not her voice.

It was her mother’s voice.

Ancient. Commanding. Irrefutable.

“You will not take his life.”

Elias gasped—

once—

then collapsed onto the table, chest heaving.

The purge energy froze in the air between them, suspended like a sun-sized drop of molten gold.

Lena blinked—

The glow faded.

She looked down at Elias and Alexander, tears streaming down her face.

“What have I done?” she whispered.

And then—

She fainted.