--- Chapter 65: Dominion Blade The rebels whispered of hunters in the smoke. Three scouting parties had left the Cinder Wards in the past two nights. None had returned. No bodies, no signals, no final words on the comm-scratchers. Just silence — the kind of silence that spoke louder than screams. Dante stood at the barricade of a ruined overpass, his eyes on the lattice towers that pierced the skyline miles away. The air carried a metallic tang, sharp enough to sting the back of his throat. Something had shifted. Mira approached, her boots crunching on shattered glass. “Another patrol gone. They were careful. Ghost-quiet. And still—” “They didn’t come back,” Dante finished. Mira nodded grimly. “Something’s hunting us.” Aria joined them, pale, her eyes still haunted from the wraith

