White-hot light ripped through the atmosphere, tearing the sky into jagged, bleeding ribbons.
Vibrations rattled through the soles of Apollo's boots, a violent tremor that threatened to shake the teeth right out of his skull.
Smoke billowed from the control panels where his guards had stood moments ago, now reduced to heaps of glowing ash.
"Apollo!" Lyra's voice cut through the screaming alarms, sharp and laced with a terror he had never heard from her before.
Turning sharply, he found her leaning against a cracked support column, clutching her side as dust fell like gray snow over her dark hair.
Blue energy crackled along his fingertips, residual sparks from the burst of power that had saved them from the cell.
"We have to move," he grunted, lunging forward to grab her arm and pull her away from a falling chunk of stone.
"Glider is in the lower hangar," Lyra said, her voice shaking as she pointed down a steep, winding staircase.
But that way was blocked by a massive wall of fire, fueled by ruptured gas lines from the facility's power grid.
Thick, toxic black smoke rolled up the stairs, threatening to choke them if they came any closer.
"Avoid that way," Apollo said, his eyes scanning the collapsing chamber for another exit.
Only the main bridge leading through the Oracle Nexus remained, a precarious path suspended over a bottomless abyss.
"Going through the core room is our only option," Lyra said, her eyes wide with dread.
"Then we run," Apollo replied, his voice hard as iron.
Massive structural beams groaned overhead, their metal frames twisting under the intense heat of the orbital strike.
Outside, the dreadnought's main weapon fired again, a blinding pillar of violet light that punched straight through the upper dome of the Oracle Nexus.
Glass shattered in a deafening chorus, raining down in sharp, shimmering needles that bit into Apollo's exposed skin.
He barely felt the sting, his vampiric blood already knitting the tiny cuts closed as fast as they appeared.
Screaming sirens echoed down the hallway as three red-eyed security drones hummed into view.
These floating steel spheres bristled with laser cannons, their targeting reticles locking instantly onto Apollo's chest.
"Get behind me!" he roared, stepping in front of Lyra as the drones fired a volley of crimson energy bolts.
Using his hyper-fast reflexes, Apollo swiped his arm outward, channeling the residual lightning to form a crackling shield of static energy.
Plasma bolts slammed into the barrier, dissipating in showers of bright sparks that scorched the stone walls.
Before the drones could recalibrate, he lunged forward, his movement a blur of predatory speed.
With a savage strike, he drove his bare fist through the center of the lead drone, ripping out its power core.
Electricity surged up his arm, feeding his vampiric hunger, filling him with a sudden, intoxicating rush of power.
He spun on his heel, hurling the ruined drone at the second one, causing both to detonate in a ball of orange fire.
Lyra didn't waste a second, firing her hand-blaster at the final drone, her shot piercing its optical lens and sending it crashing to the floor.
"Nice shot," Apollo muttered, his chest heaving as the static charge began to fade from his skin.
"Don't get used to it," she gasped, her face pale, her hand still clutching her injured ribs.
Ground buckled beneath them again, a sharp reminder that the entire temple was on the verge of total collapse.
"Central terminal is going to blow!" Lyra gasped, coughing as the air grew thick with pulverized stone and ozone.
She pointed toward the heart of the chamber, where a massive crystalline column pulsed with a dying, golden light.
Deep within that crystal lay the accumulated knowledge of a thousand generations, secrets of his lineage, and the key to his awakening.
Crimson light flared in Apollo's vision, his inner beast roaring at the scent of impending destruction and the desperate urge to survive.
Survival meant running now, dragging Lyra through the collapsing corridors to the hangar bay before the entire mountain buried them alive.
Yet, a hollow ache gnawed at his chest, far sharper than physical hunger.
If he fled, he would remain a monster in the dark forever, clueless about his origin, a stray dog with godlike power he couldn't control.
"Go!" Lyra urged, her grip tightening on his jacket as another explosion rocked the foundation. "We won't survive another direct hit!"
Rocks plummeted from the vaulted ceiling, crushing the main console into a heap of sparking wires.
Dark red blood seeped from a cut on her forehead, matching the stains on her flight suit.
Seeing her hurt twisted something deep inside him, a cold spike of panic that reminded him of everyone he had ever lost.
Every friend, every ally, every person who had ever looked at him with warmth had eventually vanished into the void.
Never would he let her become another ghost in his haunted memories.
"Hold on to me," he commanded, his voice dropping an octave as his fangs lengthened, pressing against his lower lip.
Lifting her easily, he shielded her body with his own as they sprinted across the buckling metallic floor.
Behind them, the dreadnought's secondary cannons tore into the outer walls, ripping open the ancient sanctuary to the cold vacuum of the upper atmosphere.
Wind howled through the breach, a freezing gale that threatened to rip them from their feet.
Gravity seemed to warp around them, distorted by the collapsing power fields of the ancient alien technology.
Apollo dug his fingers into a metal railing, his strength the only thing anchoring them to the ground.
"Look!" Lyra screamed over the tempest, pointing toward the central dais.
Golden data streams were leaking from the fractured crystal, dissolving into the air like burning embers.
Loss filled his mind, a suffocating grief for a history he hadn't even got to learn.
Desperately, he wanted those answers; he needed them like a drowning man needed oxygen.
Desperation clawed at his throat, urging him to drop Lyra, leap across the chasm, and grab whatever he could.
"No," he muttered to himself, shaking his head to clear the dark fog of his vampiric greed. "I won't leave her."
Still, his eyes lingered on the core, watching the light fade as the structure tilted precariously.
---
Purple energy surged from the dreadnought's main battery, slamming into the outer shield generator of the Nexus.
Alarms screamed in a deafening, frantic cadence, signaling that the structural integrity had dropped to zero.
Bracing his feet against the tilting floor, Apollo's muscles strained under the weight of his decision.
Lyra whimpered in his arms, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps that sent a jolt of protective fury through his veins.
Her warmth was real, tangible, a living anchor in a world that had always treated him like an anomaly.
But the whispers in his blood were louder now, a chorus of ancient voices demanding to be heard, begging him to reach for the terminal.
"Archives..." he whispered, his eyes locked on the cracking obsidian pedestal.
Ancient symbols flickered across the holographic displays, translating into a language his mind didn't know but his soul recognized.
Names of gods, lineages of starlight and blood, all of it about to be vaporized by the Celestial Empire's wrath.
Commander Xylos wanted this knowledge gone, buried under a million tons of rubble so no one could ever challenge their reign.
"They're erasing us," Apollo realized, a bitter taste rising in his throat.
If he let this place die, he would let his family die all over again, erased from the annals of time.
"Please, Apollo," Lyra murmured, her hand brushing his cheek, her fingers cold against his burning skin. "We have to go. Now."
Her touch broke the spell, pulling him back from the edge of the abyss.
Nodding grimly, he turned his back on the terminal and leaped across a widening fissure in the floorboards.
Power surged through his legs, his vampiric agility carrying them over the gap just as the metal sheared away.
Behind them, a massive support pillar collapsed with a sound like a dying giant, crushing the eastern wing of the Nexus.
Dust billowed outward, blinding him, filling his nose with the dry scent of pulverized limestone and ancient ash.
Running blindly, he was guided only by instinct and the faint, flickering emergency lights of the escape corridor.
Every step felt like a betrayal of his own blood, a sacrifice of his future for a fleeting present.
Yet, as he looked down at Lyra's pale face, he knew he couldn't have made any other choice.
What was the point of finding out who he was if he had to become a monster to do it?
What was a god without a soul?
---
Suddenly, a massive explosion tore through the floor directly ahead, throwing them both into the air.
Spinning in mid-air, he wrapped his arms tightly around Lyra to cushion her fall as they slammed into the hard stone floor.
Pain flared in his shoulder, a sharp, white-hot agony that told him something had dislocated.
Gritting his teeth, he refused to scream, forcing the joint back into place with a sickening pop.
Lyra rolled away from him, groaning as she tried to stand, her legs shaking violently under her weight.
"I'm okay," she lied, her voice trembling as she looked at the yawning gulf that now separated them from the exit.
A bridge of twisted metal was all that remained, swaying dangerously over an abyss of pure energy.
Below them, the planetary core of Animarium pulsed with unstable power, activated by the dreadnought's drilling beam.
Heat rose in suffocating waves, distorting the air and making it hard to breathe.
"We have to jump," Apollo said, his eyes scanning the distance to the far ledge.
Such a leap would test even his enhanced strength, let alone with the added weight of another person.
"I can't make that," Lyra said, staring down into the glowing blue depths below.
"You won't have to," he promised, stepping closer and grabbing her waist. "Trust me."
She looked into his eyes, her gaze searching his face for any sign of hesitation, finding only grim resolve.
"Always," she whispered.
Bracing his legs, Apollo channeled every ounce of energy remaining in his veins, feeling the ancient artifact in his pocket pulse in response.
Lightning crackled around his boots, leaving scorched footprints on the metal as he launched them into the air.
For a second, they suspended in a gravity-defying arc, flying through the smoke-filled cavern.
Then, gravity reasserted itself with a vengeance, pulling them downward toward the jagged edges of the far platform.
Clawing at the metal grating, Apollo scraped raw skin from his fingertips as he fought for a grip.
Metal shrieked as they slid backward, gravity pulling them toward the edge.
With a final, desperate heave, he swung Lyra upward, tossing her onto the solid ground of the corridor.
Scrambling up a second later, he rolled onto his back, gasping for air that felt like liquid fire in his lungs.
"We made it," Lyra breathed, collapsing beside him, her chest heaving.
---
Before he could answer, a low, resonant hum echoed through the chamber, vibrating in his teeth.
It wasn't the sound of the dreadnought's weapon, nor was it the collapse of the ceiling.
This frequency spoke directly to his blood, a melodic, tragic song that made his heart ache with sudden intensity.
Slowly, Apollo pushed himself up, his eyes drawn back to the center of the ruined Nexus.
Main terminal was gone, buried under a mountain of stone, but the central pillar had split open.
Inside the cracked crystalline heart, a soft, golden light pulsed, resisting the darkness of the falling debris.
"No, Apollo," Lyra warned, seeing the look on his face. "The whole cavern is coming down!"
"Just a second," he muttered, his feet moving on their own, drawn by an invisible thread.
Every instinct screamed at him to run, to escape with the woman who had trusted him with her life.
But the hunger was too strong, a deep-seated desperation to know his name, his past, his purpose.
Leaving without knowing was impossible.
Going back to being a ghost was not an option.
Stepping toward the edge of the fractured platform, he looked across the widening gap.
As the Oracle Nexus groans and begins to crumble, a single, glowing data shard tumbles from a falling pillar, landing precariously close to a rapidly expanding chasm, seemingly calling to Apollo amidst the chaos.