I stand. Frozen. Dan’s body is lying on the floor. His face is completely gone and caved in by my bloody fists. The sound of his cries still echoes in my ears. They sound louder than the whispers around me. I know this moment has scarred me for life, but what choice do I have?

  I have to survive for my sake. My heart was never pure to begin with. I’ve killed someone who has begged to live. This betrayal isn’t his fault. I know this. I am aware of the other forces at play.

  And yet, that did not stop me from killing him. I fall to my knees, and my forehead touches the cold stone. I begin to sob till exhaustion fills my chest.

  Dan might have spoken like a narcissistic bastard, but he didn’t deserve death. The same goes for Sasha. We’re all just pawns on a much bigger board. A game for the superiors.

  I do not like what I am becoming. But I don’t have a choice. If shedding the blood of my siblings is the way, then I will do so and exact revenge on the ones who started it.

  There is nowhere to wipe the blood, only stone.

  I reach for the Kangra flowers in my pocket and slowly chew them. They’ve been in my pockets for too long, so the healing ability has fallen in quality. However, it still works to stop the worst injuries and replenishes a little of my Ether.

  With both of them dead, I sit far from their bodies and wait for the day to end, for Nico to wake. I don’t expect Devon to come searching for Dan. Right now, his focus is on the Darkest Night. My next opponent.

  Damn this place.

  I wait, but no one comes. The silence grows heavier, swallowing even the sound of my breath. Tessia floats above, silent as ever, having witnessed everything. She refuses to speak. Distant creatures howl somewhere in the wind, and sharp gales sweep across the rocky terrain. Everything feels both natural and wrong, as if the world itself can’t decide what it’s supposed to be.

  Eventually, exhaustion wins. I close my eyes. I dream of Ivy and the others. Of her bright voice telling us about her colony, her parents who worked as shuttle engineers, and how they lived. We’re all smiling, curious about the worlds beyond Beta 3, while she describes the green seas of her moon and the strange animals that swim beneath them.

  Out of the thirteen of us, only six remain. And after Devon falls, only five will be left.

  A small price for a new monarch, isn’t it?

  When I wake again, the air smells of food. Nico sits nearby, his magical chest open, a small fire crackling beside him. The cold out here is merciless, but he’s managed to tame a little of it.

  I shiver. The pain in my body has dulled; my regeneration must have finally kicked in after I blacked out.

  “Good evening, Miss Sleep,” he says. The sound of his voice eases something inside me. Maybe now we’re even.

  I push myself up slowly.

  The bodies of Sasha and Dan are gone. For a second, I want to believe it was all a dream—until I see the dried blood beneath my fingernails. My stomach twists. I look toward the fire instead, breathing in the scent of cooked food, using it to drown out the memory of what I’ve done.

  “How much time has passed?”

  “Almost a day, I think,” he answers. “I woke up a few hours after you killed Dan.”

  I flinch. He notices. It’s my first time killing someone like that, someone who begged. The knowledge of what I’ve done clings to me like a stain. I wish I could be as ignorant as I was before this loop.

  “I don’t like it,” I swallow hard. “I don’t like the idea of killing our siblings.”

  “We have to do things we don’t like to survive.”

  “He begged me to stop.” My hands tremble. I can’t look at them. They feel filthy. I feel filthy. “He begged me, and I didn’t stop… because I knew he wouldn’t have stopped for me.”

  The cost of freedom is too high.

  Nico studies me for a while, his voice soft when he finally speaks. “That’s how the jungle works, Astrid. Sasha and the others were brainwashed to obey. And for those too strong-willed to be controlled, they have chips surgically implanted in their heads. Believe me when I say their deaths were mercy.”

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  “Chips?” I lift my gaze. His face looks gentler in the warm firelight. He picks up a heated food pack and hands it to me. It’s scorching after sitting in the flames too long, but all I feel is a dull sting.

  “Yes, microchips,” he says, waving his bracelet. “Each one of us has a chip linked to this device. When we die, the chip collects all our data and sends it to a connector near a gateway. That information is then used to prepare the next group.”

  “What about those who don’t die?”

  “I don’t know. What we do know is that we’re still under their control until the chips are destroyed. They’re attached to the prefrontal cortex. I confirmed that after examining Dan’s remains.”

  A bad feeling settles in my chest. “Then how do we destroy them?”

  “Well…” he sighs. “They’re sophisticated tech—fused with magic. Not made from any naturally occurring material. So we can’t just destroy them.”

  “But there is a way, right?”

  He nods. “A Star Child can fry the chips. But only one who’s awakened.”

  There it is. The truth behind why he needed a Star Child. A chance to free himself from Bloodhaul, even if it means risking becoming a monarch.

  “So that’s what you need me for.”

  "Yes." He nods again. “I also heard your conversation with Dan.”

  Shit. He’s not going to say what I think he’s going to say.

  “You’re an Undying, aren’t you?”

  I nod.

  “It’s funny,” he says with a faint smirk, “that you were cursed like that—considering you’ve always been…”

  “Suicidal? I know.” I sink my head into my hands and groan. “I can’t believe this happened to me.”

  “At least you have the highest chances of survival out of all of us,” he says softly. Then his tone sharpens. “Anyway, we’ve got bigger fish to fry at the Spire. We only beat Sasha and Dan because of luck. I doubt lightning will strike twice.”

  ‘There was no luck. That thing you’re calling luck is me suffering over and over to save your ass.’ I keep my thoughts to myself. Anyone can know I’m an Undying—but no one should know that my immortality comes through return.

  We start discussing our plan for what’s ahead. Our main opponents are two: the creature known as the Darkest Night, which noticed me through Sasha, and Devon, the strongest of our batch. We know that he's so synchronised with his ichor that it’s granted him superhuman strength and heightened sensitivity to Star Ether.

  I can only imagine how much stronger he’s become since entering this world. But all hope isn’t lost yet. According to Nico, Devon will be easier to kill because his death is part of his mission. That’s the reason they gave him the gauntlet in the first place.

  I chew on the food paste, letting it rebuild my energy as Nico explains why Devon must not leave this world alive. He doesn’t hold back this time.

  “Devon consumed demon blood and survived the process. It was a miracle, considering demons are children of chaos. And chaos itself is a source of power—hence why Devon’s perception is so high. Like you, he’s different. But…” Nico’s expression darkens. “The other scientists see him as an abomination that must be stopped at all costs.”

  “An abomination?”

  “If Devon leaves this world, he’ll become the first demon to appear in this reality since the Dragon purged them thousands of years ago. And with the powers of a Monarch…” He pauses, voice low and grim. “He’d be the greatest threat the Galactic Order has ever faced.”

  It all makes sense now. The doctors assisting Nico belong to the Galactic Order—a much larger organisation than the Planetary Alliance. He’s on a mission to become a Monarch and stop the reemergence of a demon.’

  I finally understand what he means and which side he’s on. So, the Planetary Alliance and the Galactic Order aren’t allies?

  That’s… interesting.

  “Isn’t the Galactic Order on the same side?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “The Galactic Order is the universe—all races united under one banner. The Planetary Alliance, however, is purely human. It’s an empire built on the idea that human monarchs are the rightful inheritors of space. The Galactic Order keeps them in check, but they always start trouble like this… like you. There’s a reason silverblood humans were the first to die when the Nexus Events began. I was supposed to kill you, but you’re a Star Child. That means more. And even worse, you can’t die.”

  I swallow hard. What will he do if he finds out I’m not a Star Child? What will the Galactic Order do if they discover that the Dragon Monarch—their supposed weapon—can’t truly die?

  The darker “what ifs” crawl through my mind. Instinct urges me to summon the Trusted Dagger and press it to his throat. But I suppress it. I need him as much as he needs me. He’s telling me all this to pull me to his side.

  But truthfully, I don’t care what happens if a demon is released. Why would I stop Devon if he’s not standing in my way?

  “So,” I ask quietly, “what are you proposing?”

  “I’ll help you become a Monarch Nexus Being. With that, you can finally break free from Bloodhaul.”

  He smirks, his face glowing in the firelight. He’s changed a lot since we first met—more confident, sharper, dangerous even. Then again, so have I. He was always quiet before, always observing from the shadows. His intelligence is what sells him as the superior one between us.

  “The Galactic Order and the Planetary Alliance do not deserve that power,” he continues.

  “So you’ve betrayed them?”

  “More like decided who the better choice. I used to think that it was impossible for someone not to die. That undying is a freak fairytale,” he chuckles. “When you return to the real world, try your hardest to escape. Do not let the Planetary Alliance or the Galactic Order learn of your existence until you think you’re ready.”

  I heave out a sigh. It echoes. “Easier said than done. I’ve never seen the surface. I don’t even know how to leave a planet or how to get a shuttle.”

  “Hehe…but you do.” his face lights up. “Ivy has described almost everything. We know her family used to live on a moon colony. Beta 3 has two moons, Pax Niner and Alora. Some shuttles take people to those moons. You can grab one and figure out the rest.”

  He is right. I can figure out the rest once I am off the planet. The past fifteen years have prepared me for the outside world.

  But wait..

  “What happens to you? How will you become a Nexus Being?”

  “By killing the Darkest Night, of course.”