Nolan staggered forward in the gray haze of his mindscape, still reeling from the girl's cryptic words. The spiraling static in his head refused to settle. Every step closer to the center of his consciousness brought a new throb of pain.
The world around him, once vivid with memories was now cracked and flickering like an unstable television signal. He clutched his temples, grimacing, and finally reached the edge of the circle where the chair the seat stood.
But he wasn't alone.
The Beast sat there.
Massive, still, and regal in his own warped way. His skin shimmered with invisible tension, like muscle barely caged. Eyes shut. Arms draped lazily over the armrests. But the seat now turned into a throne had changed it was darker, bone-like, and pulsing with a low, red glow. Twisted by his presence.
Nolan tried to see through the Beast's eyes to glimpse the outside world like he usually could when someone else sat in the chair.
But… nothing.
'That's new,' Nolan thought, unsettled. 'That's not supposed to happen.'
****
The Beast hurled a man into a rusted dumpster with a crunch that shattered bone. Blood splattered the brick wall behind him as the thug collapsed in a heap, barely conscious.
Two others rushed from the shadows, yelling, swinging rusted pipes and knives. One charged with a snarl and lunged, driving a serrated blade directly into the Beast's side.
Snap.
The blade shattered against his skin.
The attacker stared in mute horror. The Beast looked down, then slowly turned his head with the grim amusement of a predator humoring prey.
"Pathetic," he growled.
He grabbed the man by the throat and hurled him through a chain-link fence, the metal warping on impact. Then, with a roar like a wild lion, he charged the last thug, grabbing him by both arms and lifting him off the ground with casual ease. With a sickening crack, he slammed the man down onto the hood of a car, caving it in.
Silence fell.
Steam hissed from a busted pipe. The alley reeked of sweat, blood, and fear.
The Beast tilted his head back and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes.
"This city reeks of great suffering…" he murmured, savoring it like a fine scent. "…a crucible of pain. Yes."
He smiled—a feral, crooked thing.
"This will be the beginning. The seat of my kingdom and rise of the true order."
***
Nolan moved, lunging for the chair but a growl stopped him cold.
The Beast's eyes opened. They gleamed gold and inhuman, shimmering with rage and superiority.
"You presume to take it from me?" he said, voice deep and gnarled. "You're nothing, Nolan. You've always been nothing. You suffered, yes but you hid. I evolved."
Nolan didn't back down. "You're not a king. You're a parasite !"
The Beast sat firmly in the throne. Even in this mental world, his presence radiated menace. "I am the future. The next stage. The unbroken truth. This throne belongs to me."
"It belongs to me!" Nolan replied, crouching low.
Before he could leap, the Beast struck shoving him with both hands.
Nolan stood back up and rushed forward tackling the beast causing the throne to told and both men to fall.
They crashed into the ground with a sickening thud, the weight of the Beast flattening Nolan beneath him. His ribs screamed. The Beast wrapped one hand around Nolan's throat, slamming his head against the floor once, twice.
"You are not worthy of the seat!" the Beast roared, spittle flying from his snarling lips.
Nolan wheezed, trying to wrench free. He struck the Beast's temple with an elbow—nothing. The Beast didn't even flinch. He simply grabbed Nolan by the shirt, hauled him upright, and slammed him down again with such force the floor cracked.
CRACK.
Pain shot through Nolan's body.
He fought back anyway—fists flying, desperate strikes to the Beast's face, neck, even biting at his shoulder—but the Beast barely reacted. It was like trying to fight a statue carved from muscle and rage.
The Beast straddled him now, fists pounding down like hammers. One punch clipped Nolan's jaw. Another struck his ribs. Then his shoulder. Then his face again.
"You're weak," the Beast sneered, "You hide behind empathy. Behind restraint."
"I'm not… hiding…" Nolan choked.
He twisted under the next blow and scrambled back, trying to rise—but the Beast grabbed his ankle, yanked him off balance, and dragged him across the stone floor like a rag doll.
"You think suffering makes you strong?" the Beast snarled, dragging Nolan close again. "You survived in the light hiding me away! I will hide no longer Nolan."
Nolan kicked out blindly, heel connecting with the Beast's chin—but again, it barely staggered him.
Then—he was pinned. The Beast straddled his chest again, both hands gripping Nolan's arms, forcing them down with brutal, unrelenting strength.
Nolan struggled, teeth gritted, veins bulging—but he couldn't break free. It was like fighting a concrete wall.
"I could break you here," the Beast growled, eyes burning gold. "I could end you in your own mind."
Then—
Quentin slammed into the Beast from behind, wrapping both arms around his neck and yanking with all his strength.
"GET OFF HIM!"
The Beast rose, roaring, flinging Quentin off like he weighed nothing. Quentin hit the ground hard, groaning.
Kieran sprinted in next, tackled the Beast's waist, punching wildly. "Nolan, move! Get to the seat!"
But the Beast howled and backhanded Kieran away. Blood sprayed from his nose as he hit the ground.
Vey entered like a brawler—no hesitation. He cracked the Beast with a full-bodied hook to the jaw, making him stagger for the first time.
"Stay down, monster," Vey growled.
And in that moment—battered, wheezing, dizzy—Nolan forced himself up. Every bone in his body screamed, but he ran. He leapt.
Hands on the throne.
The Beast let out a final, furious scream—
"NO—!"
—but the seat rejected him.
Waves of force blasted from Nolan's grip, and the Beast was ripped backward, consumed by the very storm of the mind he once commanded. Black tendrils wrapped around his limbs, dragging him screaming into the darkness, shrinking, shrinking—
Until he was gone.
Nolan stood shakily and sat on the sear turned back from the throne it was once.
"Did… did we win?" Kieran asked.
Nolan didn't answer at first.
Then, he opened his eyes.
And they were his.