Chapter 68: Into the Skies of Danger

The south exit of the bunker opened into a narrow passageway carved through stone, the air thick with dust and the hum of hidden machinery. Lena stayed pressed against Alexander’s side as they moved, her legs still weak but her mind alert.

Elias walked ahead, silent, tense, every muscle rigid. The faint golden glow beneath his skin pulsed faster the closer they came to the open air.

Cassandra led them quickly.

“Hurry. The purge is reacting,” she said without turning.

Elias’s voice was low.

“It’s sensing something.”

Alexander’s brow hardened. “Sable?”

“Or something she controls,” Cassandra replied grimly.

The moment they stepped out into the night, a cold mountain wind hit them, carrying the scent of pine and snow. In the distance, faint landing lights illuminated a small, camouflaged airstrip. A sleek black jet sat ready, engines quietly humming.

Alexander’s grip tightened around Lena’s hand.

“We’re almost there.”

But Lena didn’t miss the way his eyes scanned every shadow, every treetop, every flicker of movement.

He was already preparing to kill or die.

Cassandra jogged ahead to disable the hangar alarms. Elias followed, but paused abruptly mid-step, clutching his chest.

His breath hitched.

The gold in his veins flared violently.

Lena gasped. “Elias—?!”

Alexander immediately moved in front of her.

“What’s happening?!”

Elias’s eyes squeezed shut as he steadied himself with one hand on a rock.

“She’s close.”

His voice dropped into a trembling whisper.

“Closer than before.”

Cassandra cursed under her breath. “Move! Now!”

They sprinted toward the jet. The moment the door opened with a hydraulic hiss, Cassandra shoved supplies inside and climbed in.

Alexander paused and looked back at Elias.

“You okay to fly?”

Elias forced himself upright, jaw tight.

“If I lose control… knock me out.”

Alexander nodded once.

They boarded the jet.

---

Inside, the cabin was narrow but high-tech. Alexander strapped Lena into a seat, fastening her belt gently but firmly, his fingers lingering a second too long.

“Stay close to me,” he murmured again.

She nodded. “I will.”

Elias took the co-pilot seat beside Cassandra. As the engines roared to life, the runway lights flickered on automatically.

“Hold tight,” Cassandra warned.

The jet surged forward, gathering speed.

Lena gripped Alexander’s hand.

Her pulse jumped with every shake of the aircraft.

Alexander leaned in close.

“Hey. I’ve got you.”

His warmth, his voice, his steady presence—

it grounded her even as the jet blasted upward into the dark sky.

The mountains shrank beneath them.

They were airborne.

Safe—

—until the cockpit lights blared red.

Cassandra cursed loudly.

“Damn it—something’s locking onto us!”

Alexander unbuckled instantly. “What is it?”

Elias stared out the cockpit window, jaw clenching.

His eyes glowed gold again.

“Her.”

The jet jolted violently to the right.

A shadow swept across the clouds beside them.

Then another.

Lena felt her stomach drop.

“Alex… there’s someone out there—”

Alexander moved toward the cockpit, bracing against the walls as the cabin shook.

“What are we dealing with?” he demanded.

Cassandra’s fingers flew across controls.

“Not aircraft. Not drones. It’s—”

A metallic streak tore past the window, narrowly missing the wing.

Elias growled under his breath.

“She found me.”

Lena’s heart pounded.

“Sable?!”

“No,” Cassandra said.

“Worse.”

The jet tilted hard—left, then right.

Another shadow swept past.

Lena clutched her seat.

“Someone tell me what that is!”

A dark figure landed on the left wing with a clang so sharp it echoed through the entire ship.

Alexander spun around, eyes widening.

Standing on the metal wing—

unaffected by the wind, the altitude, or the raw force of the jet—

was a masked figure dressed in black armor.

A sigil glowed red on their chest.

Elias’s voice filled with horror.

“A purge sentinel.”

Cassandra cursed. “They haven’t been used in decades—how the hell did Sable—”

Before she could finish, the sentinel drove a blade into the wing.

The jet tilted violently.

Sparks exploded across the cabin.

Lena screamed as the world spun sideways.

Alexander grabbed her, pulling her into his chest, holding her against the fall.

Elias yelled from the cockpit.

“Cassandra—bank left!”

The jet spiraled.

The sentinel held on—unmoving, unshaken, its glowing eyes locked directly on Elias inside the cockpit.

Lena’s blood turned to ice.

“It’s coming for him!” she cried.

Elias clenched the controls. “Not if I get to it first.”

Cassandra shot him a horrified look.

“You get out on that wing and you WILL fall—”

Elias unbuckled.

Alexander spun around. “ELIAS—DON’T YOU—”

But Elias’s skin was already glowing gold.

He looked back at Lena—just once—

his eyes soft, human.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Then he grabbed the emergency hatch lever.

The moment he pulled it—

Wind blasted into the cabin.

The sentinel turned its head sharply at the noise.

Elias stepped into the roaring night, golden light crackling around him—

And launched himself onto the wing.