Chapter 104: THE HYBRID NETWORK
Chapter 104: The Hybrid Network
The Council prison break was meant to be impossible. But when Death himself walks through your walls, impossible becomes easy.
Darius crouched behind a pile of rubble, watching the old fortress burn. Council guards ran everywhere, screaming about shadows that ate light and crystals that sang dangerous songs.
"The distraction is working," Luna whispered, her blood magic crackling around her fingers.
"But we need to move fast." Through the chaos, Sera led them down passageways that twisted like living things.
Her Council access codes opened doors that shouldn’t exist, showing cells that held nightmares. "She’s in the deepest level," Sera said quickly. "Where they keep the prisoners too dangerous to kill."
The elevator dropped for what felt like forever. When it finally stopped, the air itself felt different. Heavier. Poisoned with hopelessness. "I can smell her," Darius said sadly.
"And she’s not alone." The tunnel stretched ahead, lined with cells that hummed with containment magic. But as they got closer to the end, sounds drifted through the quiet. Voices. Children’s sounds. "No," Luna breathed.
"They wouldn’t." But they had. The final cell was bigger than the others, built like a small apartment. Inside, Celeste sat on a simple bed, her honey-blonde hair now streaked with white.
But she wasn’t alone. Twelve children sat in a circle around her, their ages ranging from maybe five to fifteen. Each one glowed with the same dimensional energy that was killing River. Hybrid children.
"You’re too late," Celeste said without looking up. Her ice-blue eyes were duller now, aged by months of magical drain. "They brought these little ones here three days ago. They’re going." "What are they doing to them?" Death asked, his terrible voice somehow soft.
"Testing," Celeste answered bitterly. "The Council found that hybrid children can reach through dimensions.