THE OBSIDIAN HEIR

Rain fell over Beijing like liquid silver. From the eighty-second floor of a luxury apartment complex, the city looked endless. Neon advertisements shimmered against sheets of rain, flying taxis drifted between skyscrapers, and drones buzzed silently above crowded streets. Every building seemed alive, breathing through thousands of glowing windows. Inside Apartment 8206... Alina couldn't breathe. Her heart slammed against her ribs as she sat upright in bed, drenched in sweat. The nightmare was gone. But the feeling remained. She looked toward the digital clock. 2:18 AM. One minute. Only one minute had passed since the stars had changed. Her apartment was unusually silent. Even the ever-present hum of the city's AI network had disappeared. Then... A soft blue glow spread across her room. Alina slowly opened her trembling hand. The black crystal was still there. Smooth. Cold. Beautiful. Thin silver veins ran beneath its surface like lightning trapped inside glass. She had never seen it before tonight. Yet somehow... it felt as if it had always belonged to her. The moment her fingers tightened around it... voices whispered inside her mind. Not one. Hundreds. Ancient. Broken. Calling her by a name she had never heard before. "Your Majesty..." She gasped and dropped the crystal. It struck the wooden floor without making a sound. Instead of rolling away... it floated. Just a few centimeters above the ground. The air inside the apartment suddenly grew cold. Every light began flickering. Outside... thunder echoed across the city. Someone knocked. Three slow knocks. Knock. Knock. Knock. Alina froze. Who could possibly be visiting at this hour? She walked cautiously toward the front door. The apartment's smart security system remained offline. No camera. No facial recognition. Only darkness beyond the peephole. She looked anyway. Nothing. The hallway was empty. Her phone vibrated. Unknown Number. She answered without thinking. Silence. Then... A calm male voice spoke. "Do not open the door." Her heartbeat stopped. "Who is this?" "They found you sooner than expected." "What are you talking about?" "Step away from the entrance." The knocks came again. Louder this time. The voice continued. "If you open that door..." "...you will die." A deafening crash exploded through the hallway. The reinforced apartment door bent inward as though struck by a truck. Another impact. Steel groaned. The hinges began tearing away from the wall. Alina stumbled backward. "What is happening?" "You have exactly twelve seconds." "Who are you?" "My name is Lucien Vale." Before she could answer... The apartment door exploded inward. Three figures stepped through the smoke. Each wore armor blacker than the night itself. Their faces were hidden behind polished obsidian masks. The tallest raised his sword. Its blade shimmered with strange crimson symbols. His voice echoed unnaturally. "Alina." She couldn't move. "You carry the Heart of Obsidian." "I... I don't know what you're talking about." "You were never supposed to awaken." He lifted the sword. "For the sake of mankind..." "...you must die." The crystal suddenly erupted with brilliant black light. Time itself seemed to stop. The rain outside froze in midair. Shattered pieces of the apartment door hung motionless around the room. Only Alina... and the three masked warriors... could still move. A deep voice echoed from behind them. "I gave you one instruction." The warriors turned instantly. Fear spread through their eyes. Standing in the ruined doorway was a man wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. Rain dripped from his dark coat. His silver eyes glowed faintly in the frozen world. His expression was calm. Almost bored. Lucien Vale. The billionaire whose face appeared on magazine covers across the world. The richest man alive. The man who had supposedly built the most powerful technology company in history. Yet something about him felt... inhuman. One warrior whispered, "The Obsidian King..." Lucien sighed softly. "You came into my city." His voice remained gentle. "You threatened someone under my protection." The temperature dropped. Cracks spread across the walls. The air itself seemed to tremble. Lucien looked directly at the three assassins. "I hope..." "...you've already made peace with your gods." The crystal in Alina's hand pulsed once. Lucien slowly turned toward her. For the first time in seven hundred years... his perfectly controlled expression broke. His silver eyes widened. Almost... as if he recognized her. He whispered a name that wasn't Alina. "No..." "It can't be." Then, for the very first time... Lucien Vale looked afraid.