Third Person POV
Darius was already standing near the edge of the rooftop, completely soaked in the rain . He kept wiping water off the screen of his smartwatch, his eyes narrowing every time he checked the flashing numbers. It was 11:38 PM."What a bunch of cowards," Darius muttered to himself, his voice sharp with anger. He ran a hand through his wet hair and shook his head. He had spent hours manipulating the boys, using their deepest secrets and pains just to get us to agree. But now, standing alone in the dark, he truly believed Kaelen had chickened out. He thought they were too weak and too broken to show up.
Then, a faint scraping sound came from the far side of the building. Darius froze as he He walked slowly over to the ledge, keeping his body low . He looked down and saw two figures dragging themselves over the brick wall. It was Riven and Kaelen…
KAELEN'S POV
My muscles were screaming from the climb, and my hands were still raw and burning from the kitchen soap earlier today, but I had forced myself to keep moving.
"You finally picked up your balls and glued them to yourself again," Darius said with a mocking smirk on his face as he reached down, offering his hand to pull us up onto the flat roof one by one.
"Will you ever be less offensive?" I retorted pulling my arm away from his grip. I brushed the brick dust and rainwater off my old jacket. My heart was pounding so hard against my ribs that I was afraid they could hear it. I didn't want to be there….For some reason every instinct in my gut told me to run but every time I closed my eyes, I saw that viction notice and the empty bed where my grandmother used to breathe…I needed the money.
Darius didn't even bother to respond to me, his eyes were already focused on the massive ventilation shaft a few yards away.
"Okay, listen to me carefully," Darius said, his voice dropping into a low, deadly serious whisper. "Remember, you must stick to the plan exactly and if anything goes wrong, or if anyone gets caught, you are completely on your own. You do not snitch, and you do not reveal your allies that is our deal."
Hearing him say those words made a shiver run down my spine that had nothing to do with the freezing rain. I looked over at Riven. His face looked pale under the dim sky, his eyes fixed on the metal vents.
He was carrying the heavy weight of his little sister's future on his shoulders. He looked at me and gave me a small, silent nod..we were in this together.
The plan itself was terrifying, this museum was not a normal building. It was heavily guarded with top-tier with modern security systems because deep inside its central vault lay the Hellspire Orb.
From the history books everyone knew what that orb was. It was the literal key to hell, the ancient device used three hundred years ago to close the portal to the demon realm and end the first Demon-Human war. It was the most dangerous item on earth, and if it fell into the wrong hands it would bring total destruction and a second war. Because of this, the guards were elite, and the security lines were high-tech.
But Darius's anonymous mob boss client was a few steps ahead. Days before the heist his advanced tech team had completely hacked into the museum's core security systems. They had studied the guard routes mapped out the laser grids, and located every single camera placement. They knew every single weakness in the building.
Darius pulled out a small black device from his pocket, which was a specialized frequency jammer given to him by his client. He clicked a button, and the small lights on the museum's rooftop sensors instantly turned from red to a dead dark grey. The rooftop alarms were officially disabled.
According to the blueprints on Darius's watch, the Bangle of Narak'Zar was located on the south side of the chamber, right near the Hellspire Orb. Since the orb was the most valuable item, our plan was to have Riven cause a false alarm near the orb's location. This would draw the majority of the heavy guards away from the south side. While the guards were distracted, Darius and I would drop down from the ventilation shaft, disable the local motion and heat sensors, grab the bangle, and pull ourselves back up to escape.
My hands shook as we put on our protective gear, pulling dark masks over our faces. The bad feeling in my stomach was growing heavier by the second.
Darius turned to Riven and gave him a sharp nod. Riven was supposed to head in the opposite direction, toward the vent that sat directly above the Hellspire Orb.
Darius opened the heavy metal vent cover with a quiet click. He hooked a strange mechanical contraption and a thick rope around the steel frame, then attached the other two ends of the line to his own harness and mine.
"W-What is this?" I whispered, my voice trembling as I looked at the thick black cord.
"It's a recoil line, Kae," Darius replied, checking the locks. "How do you think we're going to come back up here? The rope will pull us right back into the shaft once we have the prize."
He pulled a small walkie-talkie from his belt, holding it close to his mouth and making a low static sound. "Agent Ri, calling agent Ri. Are you there, man?"
"Yes, I am here," Riven's voice came through the speaker.
"We're going down the vent now," Darius commanded. "Stay focused, and on my signal, disrupt the alarms."
"Sure," Riven replied.
Darius turned back to me and gestured toward the dark, gaping hole of the vent. "You first."
"M-Me? Why me?" I asked, stepping back instinctively. The dark shaft looked like the throat of a monster waiting to swallow me alive.
"Kae, look at me and look at yourself," Darius hissed with impatience. "You're way lighter and skinnier than I am. If the rope around your harness unhooks from the frame, I can easily grab your line and pull you up with my own weight. Now stop asking so many dumb questions and get into the vent we don't have enough time."
I hesitated, staring into the dark hole. My chest felt so tight I could barely draw air.
I thought about my grandmother's face, her cold hand, and the fact that I couldn't even afford to bury her. Desperation took over my fear….I took a deep breath, stepped over the ledge, and slid into the cold metal vent.
Darius followed right behind me. We slowly crawled down into a wide, hollow space inside the shaft where different air ducts branched off in all directions.
"Remember, keep left and keep completely quiet," Darius whispered into my ear.
I crawled forward on my hands and knees. The air inside the vent was freezing and smelled like old dust but surprisingly the metal beneath my palms didn't make a single sound as we moved. The closer I got to the end of the line, the more a strange pressure settled over my chest.
I felt sick, but I couldn't stop now. We were already in phase two of the plan, and I knew Darius would never let me back out at a time like this.
I pushed the doubt aside and kept crawling until we finally reached a wide metal grid. We were directly above the glass case that held the Narak'Zar.
I crouched silently above the vent, peering down through the slats into the vault below. The room was massive and liined with tall reinforced glass display cases.
Each case held ancient and terrifying looking relics from the war three hundred years ago, and even from up here hey seemed to radiate a sickening feeling of pure horror.
One case held a twisted crown made entirely of sharp bone and rusted metal, and its jagged points were stained dark with something that looked too old to still be blood. Another case displayed a severed, monstrous hand wrapped tightly in ancient golden thread. Its fingers were curled into a sharp claw, suspended mid-air as if frozen in time. A third artifact shimmered with a strange, oily sheen. It was a jagged dagger made entirely of black crystal that seemed to be whispering a low sound just beyond my ability to hear.
Everything in that room screamed danger.
But my eyes instantly locked onto the central display holding the Narak'Zar.
To my absolute horror, the bangle looked like it was breathing. It looked exactly like the photo Darius had shown us, bloody red with thick black lines pulsing all around its spiked, spider-leg shape.
As I stared at it, a wave of dizziness hit my brain. My chest grew tighter and tighter, making it impossible to breathe and large beads of sweat broke out across my forehead, and my body suddenly felt burning hot.
The world around me went completely silent, and the sound of the rain disappeared entirely. My vision blurred around the edges until all I could see was that red bangle. It felt like it was calling out to me, not with human words but with a strange and deep vibration that shook my very soul. I couldn't look away, and I didn't even want to.
Suddenly, a heavy hand smacked against my shoulder, bringing me back to reality.
"Kae, what's up with you? Why aren't you responding?" Darius hissed in a loud whisper.
.
"What, what did you say?" I blinked rapidly, shaking my head as if waking up from a terrible nightmare. The pull feeling and heat vanished leaving me shivering and cold again.
"I said, is there anyone down there?" Darius snapped, glaring at me.
I shook my head slowly, wiping the sweat from my eyes. "Oh, no. No, I don't see anyone the floor is clear."
Darius pulled out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "Riven, it's time. Trigger it."
"Copy that," Riven's voice crackled back.
"And now we wait," Darius muttered.
As we sat there in the heavy silence of the vent, a loud growling sound suddenly echoed through the metal duct and it sounded like a wild animal.
Darius jumped, his eyes wide with concern. "What the hell was that?"
"IT
t-It's just my stomach," I whispered, my face burning with embarrassment in the dark. "I'm sorry…I haven't had proper food or anything to eat for about two days now."
Darius relaxed letting out a small breath and patting my shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. After tonight you'll be able to buy as much food as you want just hang in there."
Our conversation was cut short by a sudden, deafening wail. The museum's emergency alarms started ringing throughout the building, flashing bright red lights across the vault below. Just as Darius's client had predicted, we heard the loud, chaotic sounds of heavy combat boots and shouting guards running down the main hallway, and their footsteps quickly faded away as they rushed toward the Hellspire Orb.
"That's your cue," Darius nudged me hard. "Go!"
My hands trembled violently as I pushed the metal grid open. I poked my head out, looking around the flashing red room to make sure all the cameras were dead and no guards were left behind.
I threw the tension rope down into the room, gripping the cord tightly with my hands and lowered myself down into the open space until my feet were hovering right above the top of the glass case. The top of the display had an open ventilation gap, making the theft easy.
Darius reached down from the vent and handed me a long metal rod with a hook attached to the end.
I slowly lowered the hook into the case, and the moment the metal got close to the relic, that horrible feeling rushed back into my body. The red lights of the room faded away and the sound of the blaring alarms vanished. The entire world felt like it disappeared, leaving nothing but me and the bangle.
"Kaelen! Will you stop acting up and grab it already?! You're going to get us caught!" Darius's voice violently dragged me back to reality.
I snapped out of the trance, my heart racing as I wondered why this object was affecting me so deeply. I thought to myself that maybe it was just a demon effect. Since I was surrounded by cursed things, my mind was probably just playing tricks on me.
I hooked the rod through the center of the bangle and pulled it up carefully. The moment it reached my hands, I grabbed it and felt a strange warmth radiate from the metal. I quickly shoved it deep into the inner pocket of my jacket zipping it tight against my chest.
"I got it!" I yelled up toward the vent.
Darius nodded quickly and hit the switch on the contraption. The tension line snapped tight, pulling my body up through the air and back into the ventilation shaft within seconds.
The mission was a complete success.
"Now let's go get Riven and get out of here before they notice the case is empty," Darius said, already moving back down the duct, he pulled out his walkie-talkie and clicked the button. "Riven, our mission is a success. We've got the package. It's time for us to move to the extraction point."
Nothing came through the speaker…Darius frowned, his jaw tightening as he clicked the radio again.
"Riven? Come on, man. This isn't funny. Answer the radio."
Still, nothing but silence answered him.
"W-What's wrong?" I asked, my brows furrowing as a cold knot of fear formed in my chest. "Is Riven okay? Why isn't he answering?"
"There's no response from his end," Darius snapped, his voice sounding panicked as he looked at his watch. "We need to leave right now. Come on, this way. Let's go, we need to get out of here fast."
"What?! No!" I yelled, grabbing Darius's jacket to stop him from turning back toward the roof. "We can't leave without Riven! We promised!"
"We don't have time, Kaelen!" Darius turned facing me with a furious look as he held out his open hand. "Give me the bangle. Now."
I pulled back instinctively, clutching my arms over my jacket to protect the pocket.
"No! We are only standing in this vent because of you, and there is no way in hell I am leaving this place without him!What if he got caught or is in trouble? I am not giving you this bangle until we find Riven!"
"You're being fucking difficult, kid," Darius hissed, getting closer to me in the tight space.
"And you're being a selfish coward!" I snapped right back, staring directly into his eyes without backing down. "If we don't turn around and look for Riven right now, I will scream. I'll kick this metal vent until every guard in the building comes running and we both get caught!"
Darius stared at me, his chest heaving with rage as he realized I wasn't bluffing. He exhaled an angry breath through his teeth. "Alright, fine. Fine!"
He let go of my harness and scanned the glowing digital blueprint on his smartwatch. "This way," he pointed toward the northern air duct. "Follow me."
The two of us unhooked our shared recoil lines, leaving them behind as we began to crawl quickly through the dark in Riven's direction.
I thought the bangle itself was horrifying. But absolutely nothing on earth could have prepared me for the horrific sight waiting for us at the end of the tunnel.