BOOK 2

PROLOGUE – EXTENDED

Title: What the Fire Forgot

Book Two: Throne of Fire & Favors: Loyalty Is a Loaded Gun

Time: 4 Months After Naomi Raines' Death

Location: Valeburn City, Southside Block, Navarro-District Border

Weather: Overcast with the smell of distant smoke and oil; a light wind rustles charred flyers across blood-washed pavement

Soundscape: Buzzing streetlamps, the soft clink of bottles, low whimpers from alley shadows, and sirens like lullabies for broken cities

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“Truth doesn’t heal. It haunts.”

— Naomi Raines, personal field journal (page 74, confiscated by Navarro Intelligence)

The sun didn’t rise in Valeburn anymore.

It leaked—dripping like an exhausted apology across cracked rooftops and empty crosswalks. The sky was bruised in perpetual grey, and the streets below wore grief like wet clothes that never quite dried.

Eli Navarro walked alone, as he often did since the blood stopped being poetic.

Every step on the shattered pavement echoed like gunshots muffled by memory. The Crownless headquarters—once a revolutionary bunker—stood silent behind him. Its windows were blacked out, its roof stained by fire. A crooked flag flapped half-heartedly in the breeze.

He lit a cigarette he didn’t plan to finish. It trembled between his fingers.

His thoughts carried names: Naomi. Malcolm. Petra. Zaria. Dante.

His thoughts always carried names.

In his coat pocket lay the last voice note Naomi ever recorded.

He hadn’t listened to it yet. Couldn’t.

Not because he didn’t want to hear her voice, but because he was terrified it would sound too alive.

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Scene 1: A City Built on Ghosts

POV: Eli Navarro | Location: Valeburn South | Time: 6:02 AM

A child sat near the ruins of a busted newspaper stand, scribbling on cracked cement with a red crayon.

“Whatcha drawin’?” Eli asked.

The child looked up—eyes too tired for ten years old.

“A fire that eats bad people.”

Eli crouched beside him.

“And who decides who’s bad?”

The boy stared into the distance. “People who lie to the city.”

Eli reached into his pocket and handed the kid a black crayon.

“Then draw the ones trying to clean it.”

The boy smiled—just a flicker.

And kept drawing.

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Scene 2: The Crownless Don't Sleep

POV: Jayce Navarro | Location: Underground War Room | Time: 6:21 AM

Jayce stood before a hologram map of Valeburn. Zones blinked red, yellow, and green.

Zone 3 had erupted again. Zone 7 had gone dark. Zone 1 was “stabilizing”—Navarro code for barely bleeding.

He hadn’t slept in 34 hours.

Behind him, Reina—ex-Crownless sniper turned ally—paced with her arms folded.

“You’re burning the candle at both ends,” she said.

Jayce didn’t flinch. “The candle’s dead. I’m burning the matches now.”

She paused. “You think your brother’s ready for this?”

Jayce turned, eyes sharp.

“No. That’s why I have to be.”

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Scene 3: Naomi’s Apartment (Sealed Since Her Death)

POV: Eli Navarro | Location: Naomi’s Flat | Time: 7:03 AM

The key still worked.

Eli stepped into a time capsule. Naomi’s scent—rosemary, ink, gunpowder—lingered like unfinished sentences.

Everything was neat.

Too neat.

He ran his fingers along her desk. Notes pinned to the wall. A to-do list half-scratched out:

“Council vote – convince Jayce”

“Final file transfer – Eli?”

“Memory cache: hide if I don’t make it”

Eli opened the drawer. A USB marked: "RAINE_HEIR-LOCKED."

He stared.

He didn't cry.

But his hands shook when he closed the drawer again.

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Scene 4: Truth Has a Smell

POV: Jayce Navarro | Location: Navarro Garage | Time: 8:31 AM

Jayce tightened the bolts on a motorcycle frame.

He wasn’t fixing it. He just needed to hear something that wasn’t war.

Zeke—his old crew member—entered. “You going to the grave tonight?”

Jayce didn’t look up. “Every night.”

Zeke hesitated. “They’re saying the city’s calming down.”

Jayce laughed, low and hollow. “Then the city’s learning to lie like we do.”

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Scene 5: Rooftop Reckoning

POV: Eli & Jayce | Location: Southside Rooftop | Time: 10:12 AM

Eli found Jayce where he always did—on the same rooftop where they first kissed. The skyline looked burned. Half-finished. Like a painting someone gave up on.

Jayce didn’t speak at first. He just handed Eli a flask.

Eli drank.

Then finally asked, “You miss her?”

Jayce: “Like lungs miss air after drowning.”

Eli: “You think we’re still doing this for her?”

Jayce turned. “No. I think we’re doing this because if we stop, we’ll have to feel what it cost.”

Eli nodded slowly.

Then reached into his pocket. Pulled out Naomi’s USB.

He placed it on the ledge between them.

Jayce stared.

Eli: “Truth doesn’t heal. But maybe it can rebuild.”

Jayce: “Or destroy what’s left.”

Eli: “Same difference.”

Jayce took the drive. Slipped it into his jacket.

The wind howled.

The city listened.

And somewhere, Naomi’s voice echoed:

> “If you’re hearing this... then the city still has a chance.”