Chapter 70: Overload

The night sky burned gold.

The surge of purge energy ripped across the wing, blinding, violent, alive. Alexander shielded his face as the force slammed into him, nearly tearing him off the metal.

“ELIAS!” he shouted, voice raw.

But Elias didn’t hear him.

Couldn’t.

His body glowed brighter—veins lit like molten rivers, hair lifted by static, every breath a shockwave. He looked less like a man and more like a star about to collapse.

Inside the cabin, Lena screamed his name, her voice carried away by the roaring wind.

“ELIAS—STOP! LISTEN TO ME!”

But the purge inside him was drowning everything else out.

Cassandra grabbed the cockpit mic, yelling into it,

“Elias! You’re overloading the purge core! You need to stabilize—NOW!”

He didn’t respond.

His feet dug through the wing metal, molten gold dripping from his heels. The aircraft groaned, shaking violently.

Alexander crawled toward him, pressing against the wind that threatened to rip him free.

“Elias!” he shouted again. “Look at me!”

No movement.

Elias arched backward, chest heaving, eyes shining white—no pupils, no humanity.

Just the purge.

Alexander clenched his jaw.

He made the final crawl, grabbed Elias’s arm—

And immediately felt it.

A burning force blasted through him, pushing him back. He gritted his teeth, yelling in pain.

“Elias… brother… LISTEN!”

Elias’s head snapped toward Alexander—movement sharp, unnatural.

“Go,” he growled, voice layered with static.

“Get off the wing.”

Alexander stayed rooted.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I said…”

His voice distorted, deeper, fractured—

“GO.”

Lena tried climbing out of the hatch, but Cassandra yanked her back.

“Lena, STOP—if you get near that level of energy, your heart could stop again!”

“I don’t care!” Lena cried, tears flying in the wind. “He needs us—he needs BOTH of us—”

Alexander looked back at her—eyes terrified but determined.

She met his gaze, chest heaving.

“Alex—bring him back.”

Alexander nodded once.

He turned back to Elias and shook him hard.

“HEY! Look at me! Don’t you dare let her win!”

Elias’s glowing eyes flickered—

white to gold—

gold to green—

then back to white.

Static pulsed through his veins.

Alexander pressed his forehead against Elias’s, gripping his face.

“Elias. You are NOT hers. Do you hear me?”

A crack ran through the wing beneath them.

The jet tilted, alarms blaring.

Cassandra screamed from inside,

“We’re losing the wing! Thirty seconds until structural failure!”

“Alex—PLEASE!” Lena screamed. “Bring him back—”

Alexander locked his hands around Elias’s head.

“LISTEN TO ME, DAMN IT!”

For a moment—

just a moment—

Elias’s eyes flickered green.

Soft.

Human.

Recognizing.

“Alex…?” he whispered weakly.

Alexander exhaled a shaking breath.

“Yes. Yes, I’m here.”

“It hurts…” Elias gasped. “So much…”

“I know,” Alexander whispered, choking on emotion.

“But you’re not alone.”

Elias’s mouth trembled.

Then—

A wave of white-hot light exploded out of his chest.

Alexander was thrown across the wing—

slamming into the fuselage.

He slid, fingers clawing desperately for something to hold onto.

The harness line snapped tight, jerking him violently but saving his life.

Lena screamed his name.

“Alexander!”

He coughed, raising his head in time to see—

Elias floating inches above the wing.

Not standing.

Not human.

Hovering.

A sphere of pulsing white-gold energy enveloped him.

Alexander felt his heart drop.

“Cassandra…” he whispered through the mic.

“What am I looking at?”

Cassandra stared at the readings in horror.

“He’s entering critical overload.”

Lena’s face drained of color.

“What does that mean…?”

“It means,” Cassandra said slowly—

“If Elias doesn’t stabilize, he’ll detonate.”

Alexander’s blood ran cold.

“Detonate?!”

“Yes,” Cassandra said. “Like a purge bomb. Everything within ten kilometers will be vaporized.”

Lena slapped a hand over her mouth.

“No… no… Elias, no…”

Alexander tried crawling toward him—

but the wind and the energy surge forced him to stay down.

“ELIAS!” he roared.

“Elias—listen to me—PLEASE—FIGHT IT—”

Elias’s voice echoed—layered, distorted, trapped between worlds.

“I… can’t…”

Lena pushed past Cassandra, collapsing at the hatch.

“Elias!” she cried, tears streaming.

“Don’t leave us—DON’T LEAVE ME—”

Elias’s eyes flickered again.

White—gold—green—

He saw her.

He really saw her.

And for a second, the overload slowed.

His face softened.

“Lena…” he whispered.

Her sob broke the night.

“Yes—YES—Elias, I’m here—stay with me—PLEASE—”

Alexander crawled closer, fighting through the wind.

“Elias—look at us. Come back. You’re stronger than this.”

Elias’s face twisted with pain.

“Sable… she’s inside…”

He gripped his head.

“She’s trying to take control—she’s—”

A violent surge blasted from him.

Cassandra screamed into the comms:

“He’s seconds away from collapse!”

Lena sobbed harder. “Alex—what do we do?!”

Alexander clenched his jaw.

He had one choice.

The choice he never wanted to make.

He shouted over the chaos,

“Lena—close the hatch!”

She froze. “What—? NO!”

“DO IT!” Alexander roared.

Lena shook her head violently.

“Alex—NO—we can’t leave him—”

Elias looked down at them—

his glowing form trembling, cracking with light.

His voice broke.

“Go… please…”

Lena screamed, “ELIAS—STOP SAYING THAT—”

But Alexander grabbed the hatch frame and looked at Lena with heartbreak in his eyes.

“If that overload reaches full capacity…”

He swallowed hard.

“…Elias will destroy this jet. And you.”

Lena sobbed. “We can’t abandon him!”

Alexander touched her cheek with trembling fingers.

“We won’t abandon him.”

He looked back at Elias—his brother, glowing like a dying sun.

“But we might have to survive him.”

The wing cracked again.

Metal peeled.

Energy howled.

And Elias whispered—

“I’m sorry.”

Then his body exploded in a sphere of brilliant white light—

And the jet plummeted toward the mountains below.