The Chosen sprinted through the hangar, marble hangar with small metal plates covering inspection areas, the Chosen run across the metal platforms as they rattle and rumble under their feet.

  Rumbles thundered constantly, so close they felt them in their chests. Each blast sent orange emergency lights flickering overhead, plunging the hangar into brief moments of darkness before they flared back to life. Debris rained from the ceiling, sparks, panels, chunks of metal, forcing them to dodge and weave as they ran. The smells of metal and smoke filling the hangar, they know they need to get out fast.

  No one slowed.

  They burst out of the hangar and onto a wide landing pad, wind whipping at their clothes, hair flying in the wind, looking across the hangar, a vast expanse of land. Six sleek escape ships waited for them, engines already humming, Royal Guards positioned around the pad with weapons raised, scanning the skies.

  As they reached the ships, Zara skidded to a halt.

  “Guys… have you seen that?”

  She pointed upward.

  The others followed her gaze, heads tilting back toward the sky. Hovering above the base was a colossal ship, dark and angular, its design crude and brutal. It loomed like a shadow over everything, unmistakably Shoven, rudimentary technology scaled to terrifying size. It creates a shadow over the whole base, eclipsing the blue and white sun of Shahero.

  A chill settled over them.

  Zara glanced at Samantha, whose face had gone pale. Samantha’s eyes flicked from the ship to Tyron. Tyron noticed immediately and raised an eyebrow, a crooked smile tugging at his lips.

  “Why are you looking at me?” he chuckled lightly, trying to cut the tension.

  Samantha hesitated, then spoke, her voice tight.“Ok, look Zara had a vision. It might be nothing, but once we leave this landing pad… one of us gets shot down. Their ship crashes into that thick forest over there.” She swallowed. “We don’t know what happens after.”

  Tyron shrugged, far too calm for the situation. “So Zara gets visions too?” Tyron looked at her confused.

  “She absorbed my powers, but yes, she got a vision.” Samantha says urgently, trying to avoid it as Tyron seemed to miss the point.“Well, whatever happens, happens. There isn’t a lot we can do about that now, is there?” Tyron says shrugging.

  Zara and Samantha exchanged a look, neither reassured, but meaninglessly nodding. There was no time to argue.

  They ran.

  Tyron opened his mouth to give an order, then seemed to think better of it.

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  Each of them leapt into a ship as Royal Guards waved them on. Engines roared to life, and one by one the crafts lifted from the pad, bursting upward into the sky in a tight formation.

  The moment they cleared the platform, Zara’s vision became reality.

  Samantha’s stomach dropped as if she already knew whose future she’d failed to change.

  From the massive gunship above, Shoven fighters poured out like insects from a hive. Sleek and vicious, they closed in fast, weapons blazing. Vicious vehicles, with an almighty speed, designed like a knife, one large blade up the side of the crafts, strong and designed to unsettle even the strongest nerves.

  Tyron’s ship narrowly missed one of the enemy crafts, the Shoven fighter slicing past him by inches. Another swung around, lining up a shot. The first blast missed, but a second fighter surged up from behind and fired.

  The shot struck true.

  Tyron’s ship jolted violently. Alarms screamed as smoke poured from the rear engines. The craft lost altitude rapidly, spiralling downward, trailing a thick black plume behind it.

  “No! Tyron!” Zara screamed. She tasted ash at the back of her throat, the vision refusing to fade.

  They watched helplessly as the ship vanished into the dense, dark forest below. A flash of fire erupted among the trees, followed by smoke rising through the canopy.

  There was nothing they could do. The ships on auto pilot on a pre determined course, all they could do was watch the smoke and the flames rise from the forest as they go into the distance,

  Cid slammed a fist into his console hard enough to fracture the casing.

  Their ships, continued forward, none of them felt good leaving their leader behind, they didn't know each other much yet, but they knew in the same situation Tyron would fight to come back for them.

  Tyron was gone. Gone from the sky, not yet proven dead.

  “He’s gone down,” Lazarus’s voice crackled through the onboard communicator, strained but controlled. “There’s nothing we can do. We have to get to the new base.”

  Cid’s voice followed, quieter, uncertain.“What’s going to happen now?”

  A pause. No one gave an order, and no one filled the silence, the humming of the ships is all that can be heard, slow and constant.

  Then Freya spoke, though doubt crept into her tone. “We… we continue like normal.” Freya’s hands trembled, the fire at her fingertips guttering low.

  “Normal?” Lazarus let out a short, humourless laugh. “Normal? Nothing about this is normal. Yesterday I was living my life like everyone else, now look where we are.”

  “That wasn’t our normal life,” Samantha said firmly, her voice steady despite everything. “That wasn’t our purpose. This is our normal.” She didn’t look at any of the crafts, feeling like all eyes would be on her.

  Zara stared out the viewport at the back of the craft, eyes fixed on the distant forest where smoke still curled into the sky. She hopes that Tyron will be safe, she thinks to herself we are the Chosen we have to stay together.

  “You’re right, Sammy,” she said softly. “This is our life now. This is normal.”Her voice wavered just slightly. “It feels like this is where I’m meant to be.”

  Samantha again cringes at the name Sammy, she thinks to herself that's not my name, but she says nothing.

  Still, her gaze lingered where Tyron had fallen.

  And none of them spoke again as their ships disappeared into the clouds.

  None of them believed the fall was the end, only the beginning of something worse.

  f something worse.

  Thanks for reading!

  Every time someone spends a few minutes in the world of Shahero, it honestly means more than I can properly put into words. Seeing people follow the journey of Tyron, Samantha, Lazarus, Freya, Cid, and Zara makes all the hours of writing worth it.

  If you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a comment or follow the story. I read every comment, and it genuinely helps the story reach more readers here on Royal Road.

  A few people have also asked how they can support the project as I work toward eventually publishing the book. If that’s something you’d like to help with, there’s a support link below that goes toward editing and preparing the story for print.

  No pressure at all though—reading the story is already huge support.

  Question for readers:What moment in this chapter stood out to you the most?

  See you in the next chapter.

  — Matthew Cooke-Sumner