Ash drifted lazily in the morning light, settling over the conquered market and the battered streets beyond—silent witnesses to a city bending beneath new rulers. Smoville hadn’t recovered from the chaos of last night. Fires still smoldered, and the air tasted like old smoke and fear.

  Kai moved through the silence with Zach at his side—a hulking shadow whose eyes still carried that unnatural blue spark. They’d made a plan in the hours before dawn. Not a true truce, but an agreement: Zach would lead the charge, break down doors and bodies, while Kai mapped out their moves. Word was spreading—after what happened, the smaller gangs were scared, jumpy, desperate for protection or revenge.

  Their first target was the Iron Market. Once, it was a hub for scavengers and black marketeers. Now, it was just a cluster of barricaded stalls and nervous faces. Their followers fanned out behind them, a ragged line of muscle and raw nerves. At a nod from Kai, Zach surged forward, smashing through the main gate with a single swing of a makeshift club. Screams echoed as the market’s defenders melted away, some dropping their weapons, others begging for mercy.

  Kai watched everything—the way Zach reveled in chaos, the way the crowd shrank from his laughter. He kept his own blade sheathed. Fear was more powerful than blood, at least for now.

  He found Finn, the market boss, cowering behind a stack of crates. “You run this place?” Kai asked, voice calm and low.

  Finn nodded, eyes wide. “Not anymore, I guess.”

  “Smart answer.” Kai leaned in. “You work for us now. You pay what we say, when we say. Try anything stupid, and Zach comes back for you.”

  Finn didn’t argue. No one did. The market was theirs before noon.

  By the next sunset, word had spread. More gangs sent envoys, hoping to cut deals or buy favors. Kai listened, weighed every offer, and played them against each other. Zach prowled the perimeters, making sure everyone remembered what had happened to those who fought back.

  But nothing came easy. At the edge of their new territory, someone had tagged a blue rat across a battered wall. Rumors grew—about disappearances, about the rat’s eyes glowing in the dark, about curses that followed those who crossed the Evil Duo. Even Zach seemed unsettled, sometimes catching himself staring at shadows, his bravado slipping for a heartbeat.

  Kai stood in the gutted office above the Iron Market, watching his followers sweep up debris and loot whatever wasn’t nailed down. He should have felt triumphant. Instead, he kept glancing at the rooftops, uneasy.

  The blue rat lingered there, perched on a rusted sign, tail coiled, eyes sharp. It wasn’t just watching—it was judging. Kai felt the weight of that gaze like a chill up his spine.

  Last night replayed in Kai’s head. Zach, wild-eyed, fists slick with blood, the blue flicker burning even brighter in his gaze. That blue—sometimes it looked like electricity, sometimes like something colder. Kai remembered the first time he saw it, how Zach seemed more alive, more dangerous, less…human. He wondered what was really growing behind those eyes.

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  A memory hit him as he watched the market below: years ago, stealing bread with shaking hands, hiding from the gangs, never knowing if he’d survive the night. He remembered wishing for power, for safety, for the city to finally be his. Now, with Smoville bowing at their feet, the cost of that wish pressed in on him. How many lives, how many pieces of himself, had he given away to get here?

  He wondered if it was worth it.

  One night, as Kai counted tribute in a back room, Zach burst in, dragging a terrified runner by the collar. “He was spying,” Zach growled.

  Kai studied the boy—a kid, really, maybe fifteen. He looked half-starved, eyes darting from Zach to Kai and back again.

  “Who sent you?” Kai asked.

  The boy swallowed. “Nobody. I swear. I was just—just looking for food.”

  Kai hesitated. He remembered being that hungry. He remembered worse. For a second, the room was quiet except for the distant thrum of city generators.

  “Let him go,” Kai said finally. “We’re not monsters.”

  Zach’s jaw flexed, but he obeyed, tossing the kid aside. “You’re getting soft.”

  “Maybe.” Kai’s gaze was steel. “But that’s how we keep this city. Not by killing everyone who looks at us wrong.”

  Outside, the blue rat watched from a rooftop, its tail curling and uncurling, eyes reflecting the neon haze. The myth was growing, twisting with every new rumor, every frightened whisper.

  Kai knew the hardest part was still ahead. They’d taken the market, scared the gangs, but the city was bigger than muscle and fear. It had its own secrets, its own currents—and something in the shadows didn’t want them in charge.

  That evening, as the last light faded, Kai and Zach met in a warehouse to plan their next move. The blue rat was there again, sitting in the broken window, eyes reflecting the dying sun. Zach noticed and scowled.

  “That thing’s starting to piss me off,” he muttered, voice rough. “Always watching. Like it expects us to mess up.”

  Kai almost laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Maybe it’s waiting to see if we’re as bad as they say.”

  Zach shrugged, but Kai saw the way his eyes flickered blue, just for a second. Sometimes Zach seemed almost drawn to the rat, or maybe the power inside him was. Lately, after every fight, the flicker lingered longer, and Zach would stare into nothing, jaw clenched as if fighting something only he could see.

  Before Kai could push further, a runner burst in, bleeding and shaking. “They’re coming! Monsters—from the tunnels! They’re killing everyone!”

  The warehouse shook with an inhuman shriek. Kai barely had time to grab his sword before chaos crashed in.

  Outside, the street was a nightmare. Hulking, twisted things poured from the old subway grates—eyes burning yellow, claws slicing through flesh and bone. The market defenders scattered. Zach barreled into the fray, swinging a rusted beam, the blue in his eyes flaring with every blow.

  Kai hesitated, just for a second, as the monsters closed in. Was this the cost of ruling? Was this the city’s punishment for letting monsters lead? He forced the thoughts down, fighting back-to-back with Zach, blades and fists making a desperate stand.

  The blue rat watched from above, unmoving, eyes glinting in the firelight. Kai caught its gaze and felt a jolt—like it was waiting for him to make a choice, or watching to see if he’d break.

  They fought together, harder than ever. Their followers, seeing them united, rallied and pushed the monsters back. Inch by bloody inch, they drove the creatures toward the tunnels, burning and hacking until the street was theirs again.

  When dawn broke, the market was battered but not lost. Survivors slumped in the ruins, eyes wide with something like awe—and fear.

  High on a chimney, the blue rat’s tail curled and flicked. Kai met its eyes and felt, for a heartbeat, like he was staring at a jury that still hadn’t reached a verdict.

  Was this victory, or just the next round of judgment? As the rat melted into the dawn, Kai wondered if he and Zach had passed the test—or just survived it.

  The city was still watching. And so was something stranger, waiting to see whether Smoville’s new rulers deserved their thrones.