Lucian walked.
The city felt different now. Not louder. Just sharper. Like every sound had teeth. Every corner watched him. The mark on his hand hadn't glowed again, but he could feel it, alive just beneath the skin. Sleeping maybe. Waiting.
He kept it buried in his pocket.
He didn't know where he was going. Only that he couldn't go back.
The rain had softened into a thick mist, curling around flickering streetlamps and broken gutters. The alleys in the lower sector were mostly empty. A stray cat bolted across the road. Neon signs above shuttered stores buzzed like dying insects. Somewhere behind him, a woman's voice rose in anger, then cut off suddenly.
Lucian moved faster. Hood low. Head down.
Then he heard it. Footsteps. Soft. Even. Following him.
He spun. Nothing. Just wet concrete and scattered trash. But the feeling in his gut didn't go away. If anything, it got worse.
He walked faster. Took the next turn. Then another. His boots splashed through shallow puddles as he moved through a maze of alleys he barely recognized.
Still, footsteps.
Not loud. But steady. Precise. Like someone who wanted to be heard just enough to scare him.
His chest tightened.
He ran.
No more creeping. No more pretending he could stay calm. Lucian sprinted through the narrow backstreets, heart pounding, breath ragged. He didn't know where he was going, just away. Away from whoever was behind him. From whatever had changed the city into something alive and dangerous.
He glanced back.
A figure.
Moving like smoke. Fast. Controlled. A blur of black and red, barely visible beneath the haze of rain and streetlight.
His foot caught on a broken pipe.
He stumbled, hit the ground hard. Gravel tore into his palms. He groaned. Pushed himself up, heart slamming in his ribs.
The figure was closer now. Female. Short red hair. Glowing green eyes like something not fully human.
She didn't shout. Didn't say a word.
She just advanced, one step at a time.
Lucian raised his hands. "Please, I don't know who you are."
She moved. Fast.
He barely dodged. Her blade nicked his jacket as he threw himself sideways, knocking over a stack of rusted crates. He rolled, came up gasping, and bolted the other way, slipping past her before she could grab him.
The city blurred around him. Wet concrete. Old walls. Steam rising from sewer grates.
He didn't stop.
Not until he crashed through a broken chain-link fence and landed in the lower canal.
The sound of footsteps behind him was gone but not forgotten.
He crouched in the shadows, panting.
The mark on his hand throbbed like it knew something he didn't.
He gritted his teeth.
He didn't know who she was or what she wanted. But he knew one thing now for sure.
She wasn't the only one hunting him.
Lucian heard a soft voice calling from
somewhere above the ledge.
"Lucian?"
He looked up.
It was Kai. His only best friend.
Tall, lanky, and always wearing that stupid patched-up hoodie, Kai leaned over the canal wall, eyes wide.
"I've been looking for you, man. What the hell happened?"
Lucian climbed up quickly, dragging his wet jacket behind him.
"Someone tried to kill me," he said, voice tight.
Kai blinked. "You serious?"
Lucian opened his palm.
The mark was still there, faint but real.
Kai stared. "What is that?"
"I don't know," Lucian said. "It started glowing. Then someone came after me. A girl with a blade. She wasn't normal. Fast. Strong. Cold."
Kai looked around, suddenly nervous. "Okay. We need to get off the street. Come with me."
They cut through an old tunnel near the edge of the marketplace, weaving between crates and broken fences. Lucian glanced over his shoulder constantly, half-expecting those green eyes to appear from the mist.
Kai led him to a narrow entrance covered in sheets of metal and tarps.
Inside was a small hideout, built out of an abandoned subway stop. A few mattresses. Some books. A heater powered by stolen wires. It smelled like rust and sweat, but it was safe.
Kai pulled out a towel and tossed it to Lucian.
"You need to explain everything," he said.
Lucian sat, drying his face, shivering. "Three days ago, I started feeling… different. Then last night the mark appeared. It glowed. And I heard something. A voice inside my head."
Kai looked at him for a long time, then whispered, "Do you think… it might be real?"
"What?"
"All that stuff they say about the old symbols. The ones that marked people. Chosen ones. Guardians. The starborn."
Lucian shook his head. "That's just mythology. Stories."
"Maybe. But maybe not."
Lucian looked at his hand again.
The mark pulsed faintly.
Somewhere far outside, the sound of footsteps echoed through the pipes.
Kai turned off the heater.
Silence.
Lucian stood.
"They found me."
"Already?"
"They're not wasting time."
Kai opened a small drawer and pulled out something metal. A small taser. "If anyone comes through that door, I'll buy you time."
"No," Lucian said. "I'm not putting you at risk."
Kai looked like he was going to argue, but then nodded.
Lucian slipped through the side exit and ran.
He didn't stop to breathe. Didn't stop to think.
Because now, he wasn't just running from Marinette. He was running from something much bigger.
And somewhere inside him, the voice returned. Faint. Calm.
Run faster, Starborn.