Ethan jolted upright, his breath coming in quick gasps. The echoes of his dream clung to him, heavy like a burden pressing against his chest. The warmth of home, his mother’s voice, his sister’s laughter—all consumed by the ever-looming darkness of his reality.

  He rubbed a hand through his damp hair and let out a sharp breath. The low murmur of the bunker’s generators buzzed in the background, a stark difference to the stillness that enveloped the room. Jax was bent over a table, poring over a tattered map, his face serious. Felix was snoozing in his chair, his boots resting against the table, while Rhea tended to Mara’s injuries in the faint light. A few feet away, Lila sat, her eyes vacant, lost in thoughts she chose not to reveal.

  Ethan pressed his fingers to his temples, trying to push the dream away. It wasn’t real. It would never be real again.

  “Didn’t sleep well?” Jax asked quietly, his tone understanding.

  Ethan exhaled, swinging his legs off the cot. “Something like that.”

  Jax regarded him for a moment before gesturing to the table. “Come over. You wanted to learn more about the Resistance, right?”

  Ethan made his way across the room, his body still sore from the encounter with Harbinger. As he drew closer, Jax unfolded the map, its surface marked with faded ink and scattered annotations.

  “This,” Jax said, tapping a spot near the center, “was the Resistance’s base years ago. Back when we were actually making progress.” He traced a jagged line with his finger. “Then the Veil pushed us back harder than we anticipated. We lost territory, lost lives. The Resistance fell apart.”

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  Lila leaned in closer. “Jarek took charge, but instead of leading, he allowed the Squadron Leaders to divide what was left. Harbinger, Wraith, Hollow, Revenant, and Aegis—they each control different areas and forces. Some enforce Jarek’s will. Others… do whatever they please.”

  Ethan frowned. “And Harbinger?”

  Jax’s expression darkened. “He was always the most brutal. A fanatic. Believes that survival justifies any action.”

  Lila scoffed. “That’s an understatement.”

  Ethan’s jaw clenched. He had personally witnessed Harbinger’s capabilities. “So you both walked away?”

  Lila hesitated before nodding. “I left when I realized that following Jarek meant losing myself.” Her gaze met Ethan’s. “And because of you. I couldn’t stand idly by while innocent lives were caught in the chaos.”

  Jax leaned back, arms folded. “I left long before that. I didn’t see the point in sacrificing myself for a cause that had already gone astray.”

  Felix stirred from his slumber, stretching with a yawn. “Sounds pretty motivating, right? A Resistance too fractured to resist.”

  Rhea shot him an angry look. “It’s not beyond hope.”

  Felix grinned. “That’s the spirit.”

  Ethan processed their words, the weight of it settling in his chest. The Resistance wasn’t a united front fighting for freedom. It was a fractured, chaotic situation. And now, he was caught in the middle of it all.

  “So what do we do now?” he asked, his voice steady.

  Jax regarded him thoughtfully. “That depends on you.”

  Ethan tightened his fists. He had no grand scheme, no plan of action. But he understood one thing: he wasn’t going to remain passive while the world crumbled around him.

  “I need to learn more,” he declared. “About Jarek, about the Veil, about what’s truly happening. If I’m going to survive this, I need the truth.”

  Jax nodded. “Then get some rest. Tomorrow, we begin investigating.”

  Ethan didn’t argue. The fatigue was starting to wash over him again, but this time it was not just physical. It was the burden of everything he had discovered, everything he had lost.

  As he lay back down, staring at the cracked ceiling, one thought resonated in his mind.

  The war wasn’t over.

  Not yet.