The letter arrived in a steel box, delivered by a dead man.
Michael found the body at dawn, sprawled across the steps of the community center. The man's throat had been cut with surgical precision—clean, professional, deliberate. In his hands, he clutched a steel box, its surface cold and unmarked.
Michael knelt beside the body, his jaw tight. Another death. Another message. Another enemy he hadn't known existed.
"Who is he?" Mira asked, appearing at his side.
Michael opened the box. Inside lay a single sheet of paper, embossed with a symbol he'd never seen before—a serpent coiled around a broken sword.
"The Serpent's Awakening," he read aloud. "The Hollow Punch has meddled long enough. The Serpent has risen. Your cities will burn. Your people will die. Your legacy will turn to ash."
