The Prototype

Chapter 17

Ethan's gaze swept to the water below, dread rising in his chest. The once-calm waves were beginning to swell, rising higher, creeping toward the hill where they lay.

Without Maia's influence holding them back, the floodwaters surged forward, rushing hungrily toward them with a force that would soon be impossible to outrun.

"Solace, try again!" Ethan shouted, struggling with his own watch, pressing buttons that wouldn't respond.

"It's jammed! The energy must've shorted them out," Solace replied, voice trembling. The water was climbing faster, its roar growing louder as it clawed its way up the hillside, and there was no telling how much time they had left.

Rowan grabbed Ethan's arm, his voice tense. "What do we do, Ethan? If we don't get these watches working, we're done for."

Ethan clenched his jaw, focusing on steadying his hands as he worked on his watch. "Don't give up. We'll find a way. We just need a little more time..."

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" Rowan shouts as his chest rises in fear his hopes of making it out alive dimmed within him watching the water rise higher.

The water was mere feet from their position, and Solace's face went pale as the waves surged closer. She glanced at Ethan, her voice a soft, fearful whisper. "Ethan... this might be it."

Ethan looked at her, seeing the same fear mirrored in her eyes that he felt deep in his own heart. He reached out, taking her hand in his as the waves surged forward, the cold spray hitting them with a force that shook his resolve.

But he held her hand tighter, grounding himself in the warmth of her touch.

"We're getting out of here, Solace," he said, his voice low but certain. "Together."

Just as the water reached their ankles, a faint hum began to emit from his watch, flickering back to life.

He shot a hopeful glance at Solace, who quickly pressed her watch, and after a few desperate seconds, it too came to life.

"Hurry!" Rowan called out as his own watch finally sparked back on, the countdown showing mere seconds before they'd be submerged.

They each gripped their watches, inputting the coordinates with shaky fingers as the waves surged higher, now waist-deep and pulling at their feet with a relentless force.

In a final, desperate moment, Ethan activated his watch, feeling the familiar tug of teleportation kick in just as the water closed in around them.

The world blurred, and they reappeared with a jolt, breathless and soaked, on the rugged shoreline of Norway, the cold air biting at their drenched skin.

For a few seconds, they stood there in silence, taking in their new surroundings. Ethan's shoulders sagged as he looked at his friends, their faces etched with exhaustion, fear, and something else—a deep, unspoken understanding of what they had just faced.

Solace's hand remained in his, her grip trembling, and he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze, finding some solace in the shared moment of survival.

Rowan's gaze drifted to the sky, where remnants of the northern lights twisted, ghostly and pale, like an echo of the storm they had narrowly escaped.

He turned back to Ethan, his expression somber. "We made it... but Maia... she's still out there. And she has the 3rd and 4th piece now."

Ethan nodded, his chest tight with the weight of their unfinished journey. "She's out there... and she's stronger and more dangerous than ever."

Nathan stepped forward, his face darkened by both anger and sorrow. "We stopped her for now. But this isn't over. Maia's lost in that power, consumed by something none of us understand yet. She won't stop coming for us."

As they stood there, the roar of the Norwegian sea at their backs, Ethan looked at his friends, feeling the weight of what lay ahead settle heavily on his shoulders.

They had survived this time, but this was one of the last and final battles they survived this time.

They've now started and entered the war of his own creation. His own brain. And the love of his life has now...

Become a monster.