The Bride they burned

"Children of war don't cry. They carve futures with bloodied hands."

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AARAV – KRAY'S TRAINING ROOM

The room smelled of sweat and steel. A punching bag dangled, torn from the seams. The floor was red—not with paint.

Kray tossed a small blade to Aarav.

> "Your test."

Across the room, a man sat—blindfolded, tied, and gagged.

Aarav flinched.

> "Who is he?"

> "The man who dragged your mother back to Ravian when she ran the first time."

The boy's chest tightened.

> "I'm not a killer."

> "You want to protect her?" Kray asked, stepping close. "Then make the world afraid of touching her."

> "She wouldn't want this."

> "She's been doing worse since before you were born."

The man tried to mumble something. Aarav's fingers trembled.

But then he remembered her—his mother, bleeding, begging for him while locked behind glass.

He stepped forward.

And he did it.

---

NYRA – SAFEHOUSE, NIGHT

Kai's voice played in my ear through the comms.

> "The footage is real. Ravian's alive."

My fist hit the wall.

> "How?" I whispered.

> "He has a clone account. The death reports were forged."

> "Why fake it?"

> "To make you drop your guard."

I looked down at my stomach.

> "He doesn't know… about the child."

> "Then that's our weapon."

---

LEO – PARKING LOT UNDERGROUND, 11 P.M.

He waited at the car.

Sahir showed up, blood still drying on his shirt.

> "I heard," Leo said.

> "About?"

> "Nyra. The pregnancy."

They stood in silence.

> "It's not me," Sahir finally said. "I thought it was. I wanted it to be. But…"

> "You're sure?"

> "She told me herself. Right before I left her side."

Leo closed his eyes.

> "And what do we do now?"

> "We raise hell," Sahir said. "And we protect whatever's left of her."

They shook hands.

> "One war. Two devils."

---

CELESTE – ABANDONED CHURCH

She lit a candle for Nyra.

Then stabbed the priest who asked her to leave.

> "She will need me again," Celeste murmured. "When the child arrives. When the men crumble. When the silence comes."

She painted Nyra's name across the altar.

In blood.

> "They'll all leave you. But I'll be there."

---

NYRA – OLD VAULT, 3 A.M.

The vault under Ravian's secret estate was colder than death. I entered alone.

Tapes. Videos. Letters.

And a single, recorded confession.

> "If she's hearing this… she's alive. That's disappointing."

> "My dear wife… the girl who thought love was something earned."

> "I never stopped watching. I saw Sahir touch you. Leo fight for you. Celeste beg you. All puppets in your palace."

> "But you forgot something."

> "I don't lose."

His voice echoed.

And my soul flinched—but didn't fall.

> "You lost the moment I became my own god," I whispered.

I walked out of the vault.

Straight into war.

---

TO BE CONTINUED…