Leaving the Cage Behind
Cassian
The blue light is still fading when I reach them. It washes the corridor in hard colour, catches on damp stone, on the twisted metal of a broken collar at Allison’s feet, on the dark smear where Varyn’s body lies too still to be anything but finished. Allison is upright, and Christopher stands right behind her, both hands firm at her waist like he’s making sure she stays anchored to the ground. Her hair is a mess, her throat is angry-red where the collar burned her, but her eyes are bright. She looks like she dragged a storm through the corridor and is still deciding what to do with the aftermath. I keep my blade down as I close the distance. I take in the scene the way I always do: threats first, injuries second. Emotion can wait until I'm sure nobody is trying to kill us. Kael is to my left, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, face pale under the grime, mouth set in a hard line he’s pretending is calm. Evander stands a little behind him, shoulders squared, eyes fixed on Allison’s throat. Rhaziel is stiller than all of us, shadows quiet at his feet, his gaze on Varyn like he’s confirming he is, in fact, dead.
Somewhere deeper in the compound, something clicks. Old wards resetting. An automatic response with no mind behind it. I lift my hand, and everyone stills.
“Allison,” I say quietly. “Can you breathe?”
She swallows once. The movement pulls at the burn on her throat, and she winces.
“Yeah,” she says. “I’m fine.”
Her voice is rough, but it’s there. She doesn’t look away from Varyn’s body as she speaks, like if she breaks eye contact he might turn into something else. Christopher’s fingers tighten once at her waist. Rhaziel steps forward, his shadows slide across the floor and coil around the dead man’s wrist and throat. He drags the body half a foot. The head lolls with it, and that is all the proof we need. Kael lets out a breath, and Evander’s gaze flicks to me.
“Perimeter’s quiet,” he says. “Nothing moved after the blackout. Whatever he did in here didn’t touch us outside.”
I nod once. “He built a box and climbed inside it.”
Allison finally turns her head. Her eyes meet mine.
“I couldn’t reach you,” she says quietly.
“I know,” I reply. “I'm here now.”
Her chin lifts a fraction. She looks past me, down the corridor behind. The darkness has thinned, but the lights still haven’t returned. Emergency strips flicker weakly along the ceiling, pulsing every few seconds, painting the walls in brief grey. Christopher shifts beside her, assessing the space. His eyepatch is still in place, leather dark against his skin, and he’s standing like a man who has finally stopped waiting for permission to exist.
Rhaziel’s voice cuts through the corridor, low and controlled. “We need to move.” He looks at me. “Report.”
“Route back is clear enough,” I say. “Two guards neutralised on entry, but the compound’s wards are waking. It’ll try to seal, trap, or collapse corridors to contain us.”
Kael’s mouth curves faintly. “Cute.”
Rhaziel ignores him. His gaze shifts to Allison’s throat again, and this time I see the calculation there. The quiet rage is boiling under his skin.
“Allison,” he says. “Your magic.”
She rolls her shoulders once, testing. Her fingers flex, and a thin line of blue sparks flickers over her knuckles and dies.
“It’s different,” she says. “It's like all of your combined.”
Christopher’s hand lifts and brushes her jaw, careful of the burn. She leans into it for half a heartbeat. Rhaziel studies her the way he studies weapons and storms.
“Show me,” he says.
Allison hesitates only a second. She closes her hand slowly, palm up. The air around her fingers tightens. Blue light gathers, brighter than before, flaring wildly but compressing, folding in on itself like it’s being shaped by will instead of instinct. The corridor hums in response. The emergency lights flicker and then go out completely, drowned by the glow emanating from her skin. It feels like standing too close to a fault line.
Kael lets out a low whistle. “Well. That’s new.”
Evander doesn’t speak. His gaze sharpens, something proud and wary sitting side by side in his expression.
Rhaziel nods once. “Integrated,” he says. “You didn’t just draw from them. You own them now.”
Allison opens her hand again, and the light fades obediently, and the corridor feels like it exhales. The compound shudders beneath our feet, a deeper tremor this time. The walls creak, and dust shakes loose from the ceiling.
“That’s our cue,” I say. “Move. Now.”
We don’t waste time. Christopher shifts in tight beside Allison, his body angled protectively. Kael peels off to the rear, blades already in his hands. Evander moves wide, scanning ahead. Rhaziel falls in behind us, shadows stretching farther now, less restrained.
The corridors fight us on the way out. A bulkhead slams down ahead of us, and Allison lifts her hand without being told. Blue light snaps outward, precise and brutal. The metal buckles inward with a scream and drops free. She doesn’t pause to look at it; we keep moving. Another ward flares, pressure rolling toward us like a wave. Allison steps into it, jaw set, and the magic folds around her instead of crushing her. She pushes once, nice and controlled, and the ward collapses like wet paper. I glance back at her just long enough to catalogue it. She’s steady. We hit the maintenance junction at a run. Cold air knifes into the corridor as I tear the panel free and climb out into the tree line. Night swallows us whole. Pine and damp earth and wind rush in like freedom. We clear the entrance and put distance between us and the compound fast, boots pounding uphill until the ground levels out and the trees thin just enough to see. Rhaziel turns back toward the buried structure and lifts one hand, and the charges go. Stone groans, the earth gives way. The entrance collapses inward with a deep, final roar that rolls through the forest and then dies, and silence settles. Allison stands at the edge of the clearing, chest rising and falling, blue light still clinging faintly to her skin like it hasn’t decided to leave yet. Christopher’s hand rests between her shoulders, steady and sure.
Rhaziel looks at her once more. “What you are now,” he says quietly, “the world will feel.”
Allison lifts her chin. “Let it.”
I sheath my blade and turn toward the dark path ahead.
“Let’s go,” I say. “There’s a lot to rebuild.”