Even without drawing on Will, their speed was no longer human. Within a minute they reached the source of the gunfire.
The street was chaos.
Five Starspawn carcasses were in various stages of disintegration, their remains hissing against scorched pavement. Two dozen armored vehicles formed a loose perimeter around fire trucks, medical vans, and a long caravan of civilians. Nearly five hundred people huddled together under armed guard, shock written plainly on their faces.
“Stop right there!”
A soldier stepped forward, rifle raised. Dorian and Kesi slowed and raised their hands, eyes flicking briefly to the dead Starspawn.
The soldier keyed his radio. “Captain Keller, we’ve got two more civilians approaching. They’re…uh…in rough shape.”
“Where are the orange crystals?” Dorian asked casually.
The soldier blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“The crystals,” Dorian repeated. “When you kill a Starspawn, they drop out. Orange. About this big.” He gestured with his fingers on his working arm. “We need one each to heal up.”
The soldier frowned, clearly lost. “Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dorian pressed. “You haven’t seen any?”
The confusion only deepened. “Healing crystals?” The soldier shook his head. “If you’ve got information about the Starspawn we don’t, you need to speak with the captain.”
Kesi leaned closer to Dorian. “How do they not know about Remnants?”
“I don’t know,” Dorian muttered. Unease crept in.
They were escorted past the vehicles toward a command truck parked near the center of the formation.
A man stood beside it issuing rapid instructions to two aides holding digital tablets. He was broad-shouldered and solidly built, the posture of someone used to being obeyed. His hair was cropped short, black shot through with gray, and his face was clean-shaven, jaw set hard. When he turned, his light green eyes immediately took in the blood, burns, and broken stance of the two approaching civilians.
“Jesus Christ,” he said. “You look like you’ve been through a blender in hell.”
He stepped closer. “I’m Captain Keller. I hear you’ve got information about Starspawn. Let’s get you to medical while you talk.”
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“Yeah,” Dorian said. “That’d be great. But before that, we were hoping we could each get one of the orange crystals that drop when you kill them. We also have intel about what’s happening in the neighborhood.”
Keller frowned slightly. “Never heard of any orange crystals. How’d you come across them?”
Dorian felt a flicker of worry that they’d be written off as lunatics. Then he remembered the burning world around them. Sanity had a new definition.
“Kesi and I have been killing Starspawn,” he said. “Oh. I’m Dorian, by the way.” He extended his good hand.
“Captain Jackson Keller,” the man replied, gripping it firmly.
“Kesi and I have killed Starspawn,” Dorian continued. “When they die, they leave behind orange crystals, I call them Remnants. We absorb them. They make you stronger, faster, tougher. They also let you generate something I’ve been calling Will.”
Keller’s brow furrowed. “You’ve been killing Starspawn? You two?”
“About forty-four between us,” Dorian said evenly.
Keller stopped walking.
To emphasize the point, Dorian flared a faint orange shimmer around his working hand.
His other arm still hung uselessly at his side.
For the first time, Keller looked genuinely shaken.
As they moved toward the medical vehicles, Dorian explained what Will could do. Shields. Strength. Healing. Limited control over the body. Power, but exhausting at their current level.
A nurse met them at the medical truck and reached for Dorian’s shoulder wound with a needle.
She pressed.
The needle bent.
She tried again. It bent further, then snapped with a sharp metallic ping.
Keller stepped closer, skeptical. The nurse tried again with a fresh needle. It bent and snapped as well.
Dorian blinked. “Huh.”
They’d been fighting Starspawn for so long he hadn’t really considered how fragile normal tools were by comparison.
“Try me,” Kesi said.
The nurse tested his forearm. Same result.
“If a steel needle can’t penetrate your skin, how did you get injured at all?” Keller muttered rhetorically.
Keller exhaled slowly. “You’re telling me this is because of those crystals. The Remnants.”
“That’s right,” Dorian said.
Keller crossed his arms. “Then why haven’t we seen a single one? We’ve killed as many Starspawn as you claim to have.”
Kesi spoke up. “Maybe ranged kills don’t trigger it. Have any of your people killed one in melee?”
Keller snorted. “Son, If we could fight them in melee, the world wouldn’t be on fire. Those things tear people apart in seconds.”
Dorian nodded slowly. “Then maybe it’s something in us. Something that only activates when someone kill them up close. Ranged weapons might not have the same effect.”
Kesi shrugged. “We’ll need to test it.”
Keller studied them for a long moment. “Even if everything you’re saying is true, I’m not sending civilians into combat. Not like this.”
“We understand,” Dorian said. “But we can’t afford to sit around. There are stronger Starspawn coming.”
“And what makes you so sure?” Keller asked.
“We simply haven’t encountered anything that could break the blockade yet,” Dorian said. “But the Starspawn are here. Something forced a path open. I refuse to believe the fleet just failed or let a few through.”
Keller nodded slowly. “If you want to stay with the convoy during search and rescue, I won’t stop you. And if you can help my people become…Illuminated like you, even better.”
“We’ll stay close,” Dorian said. “But before you move deeper into the neighborhood, you need to know about two Starspawn you haven’t seen yet. They’re stronger. More importantly, smarter. I call them Fiends.”
As Dorian explained, Keller didn’t hesitate. He halted the convoy’s advance immediately.
It was the right call.
Keller began assembling a team to move under Dorian and Kesi’s guidance, and for the first time, Dorian and Kesi felt like they weren’t alone in this.
