Chapter 11: The Awakened

The wind howled across the summit of Table Mountain.

The sky was a battlefield of shifting hues—burning orange fading into violet shadows, clouds spiralling like torn silk around a sun that was no longer fully there.

The agents of AZO stood at the mountain’s edge, silent.

Keith adjusted his gloves. His heartbeat echoed in his ears louder than the wind.

“They’re still unconscious,” Evan said, peering upward with narrowed eyes. “But...that’s not normal spiritual essence. That’s something else entirely.”

Suspended above them, Jordan and Richard floated in tandem—two bodies glowing with impossible energy. Jordan blazed like a golden flame, her presence like a miniature sun, radiating heat even from far below. Richard was the opposite—cool and trembling with pulsing shadows, his aura turbulent like the churning sea below.

Ava stepped forward. She clenched her fist behind her back.

“Neither are Aries,” she said quietly, almost to herself.

Maya tilted her head. “You sure?”

“I know,” Ava replied. “It’s something else. Something older.”

Keith’s hands trembled slightly. “I can’t even use Spirit Expand here... it’s like their energy is rewriting everything around them.”

Matthew lowered his voice. “Then what are they?”

A crackle of static buzzed through Evan’s comms. “Agents,” Miloslav’s voice came through. “Report.”

“They’re here,” Maya replied. “Both of them. Suspended mid-air—completely unconscious, but radiating unprecedented spiritual essence. Keith couldn’t maintain his expansion. Said it’s too much.”

There was a pause. Then Miloslav’s tone shifted.

“We suspected the first surge was a Zodiac awakening. We assumed it was Aries. But now we know… neither of these match the energy patterns.”

“Then what the hell are they?” Keith asked.

Ava answered before Miloslav could.

Her voice was low, almost a whisper. “One… sun.”

Keith’s brow furrowed. “Wait—what?”

Maya leaned closer. “Did you say… sun?”

Ava’s eyes flicked between them. “And… moon.”

The words seemed to hang, incomplete.

“Is that… a new Zodiac?” Keith asked, disbelief cracking his tone.

Ava swallowed. “They spoke of twelve, yes… but sometimes there’s… whispers. Two beyond the twelve. Not of the earth. Something else. Something that returns…”

She trailed off, letting the implication settle. “Two awakenings,” Maya murmured. “At the same time.”

“Celestial convergence,” Ava said. “And we’re standing in the eye of it.”

Just then, another pulse exploded outward from Richard’s body—a surge of darkness tinged in deep crimson. The clouds above fractured. Thunder growled low and long.

Keith stumbled back. “We need to do something!”

But no one moved.

Because in that moment, the wind stopped.

Time froze.

And the eyes of Jordan and Richard opened—glowing like twin stars.

A gentle breeze drifted through the open windows of the seaside restaurant. Seagulls cried in the distance, and the scent of grilled calamari clung to the air.

Jason swirled the ice in his glass.

Across from him, Megumi sat motionless, sipping from a narrow porcelain cup—her black hair tied back in a short, neat braid, katana resting beside her like a silent threat.

All around them, laughter rose from other tables. Waiters moved briskly. Glasses clinked. Children chased each other between tables.

Jason swirled the ice in his glass. A sudden pulse of heat—or maybe cold, he couldn’t tell—made his head spin. His stomach lurched. The seagulls’ cries warped for a split second. He rubbed his temples. “What the—?”

And then it happened.

The screaming started.

A child dropped their ice cream.

The laughter died.

Jason’s glass stopped swirling.

A deafening roar, like a thousand rivers released all at once, shook the restaurant walls. Chairs toppled as the patrons panicked, scrambling to flee.

From the distant horizon, a monstrous surge of water rose like a wall—foaming, dark, and angry—rushing straight for them with the hunger of the sea itself.

Jason didn’t move.

Megumi exhaled.

The moment before impact, her sword gleamed silver in a blur too fast to see. A sharp crack followed—like thunder cracking ice.

The wave split clean in two, parting around the restaurant like Moses in the Red Sea. Spray coated the windows, but the tables stood untouched. The only sound left was the hiss of steam as the shattered water dispersed into mist.

Jason took a slow sip of his drink and grinned. “Show-off.”

Megumi sheathed her blade without a word, eyes fixed on the distant mountaintop, where the sky now swirled with unnatural light.

Her sword gleamed in the sunlight as she readied for the wave, but her gaze flicked briefly toward Table Mountain, tension tightening her jaw.

This wasn’t just a surge… it was the first ripple. Something larger was coming.

 “It’s begun,” she said.

Jason leaned back. “You’re finally gonna tell me what our mission is?”

Megumi rose smoothly from her chair, adjusting her coat. Her voice was calm, clipped.

“Jason. You have all the raw talent to become one of the strongest Hunters alive. But you lack two things: concentration... and ambition.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Okay, mom.”

She ignored him.

“Rule 13,” she said, walking past him, “states that a rookie should not ask what the mission is if the senior hasn’t told them.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but why does that stupid rule even exist?”

Megumi stopped at the edge of the restaurant. Her eyes were shadowed, but sharp.

“To instil trust,” she said. “A mission is never just about the target—it’s about the ones standing beside you. If you don’t trust me, you won’t survive what’s coming.”

Jason stood too, slinging his blade over his back. “You say that like you actually care whether I survive.”

She started walking.

“I don’t,” Megumi said coolly. “But the world might.”

Jason laughed under his breath and followed.

They disappeared into the misty street, heading straight for Table Mountain.

The sky was no longer just sky.

Clouds churned inwards, collapsing like paper burned at the edges. An eclipse had swallowed the sun, and the moon stood like a judge at the gallows—immovable, ominous. The light bled out of the world, and something older than time crept through the cracks of reality.

The Convergence had begun.

Across the globe, sensitive souls collapsed to their knees, clutching their chests. Animals scattered. Buildings groaned. Insects fell silent.

And on Table Mountain, time seemed to stop altogether.

Jordan and Richard hovered above the stone plateau, suspended in tendrils of spiritual essence so dense they shimmered like woven starlight. Their bodies were limp—eyes closed—but the air around them pulsed with a power beyond reckoning.

The AZO—The 10—stood beneath them, awestruck.

Ava narrowed her eyes. "Neither of them are Aries."

Maya swallowed. “I’ve never seen spiritual frequencies twist like this. It’s like… the spirit realm is leaking into them.”

“Do we engage?” Helena asked, gripping the hilt of her dagger. “Or wait?”

Keith was already contacting Miloslav. His voice, despite decades of experience, was strained.

 

Back on Table Mountain, the winds died.

The moon aligned with the sun completely—and then, reality cracked.

Veins of purple-black light streaked across the sky. The veil between the spiritual and physical realms tore, and for a moment, the mountain sat at the center of two worlds converging.

Jordan’s eyes opened—glowing silver. Richard’s followed—his irises blood-red.

They landed without sound. Not breathing. Not blinking.

Just standing.

Helena whispered, “What the hell are they?”

Before a move could be made, new arrivals stepped onto the plateau. In uniforms of deep blue and gold: members of The Order.

At the front, grinning like he’d just arrived at a theme park: Aiden.

“Yo! Fancy seeing y’all here,” he said, waving casually.

Helena scowled. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Evan stepped forward. “We don’t need your people interfering. This is AZO territory.”

Aiden smirked. “C’mon, don’t be grumpy, Bro. You know what they say—When in Cape Town, steal the mission.”

Without warning, his subordinates attacked.

Three of The Order lunged at the AZO, blades and relics in hand. Ava moved first, throwing up a spiritual wall.

 Keith barked orders.

Helena and Evan struck back with coordinated precision.

 Maya vanished—then reappeared between the two groups, teleporting to redirect blasts of spiritual energy.

Helena’s boots hovered inches above the ground as she summoned translucent platforms beneath her. With a graceful leap, she vaulted into the air, flipping over an incoming blade. She landed on a floating platform, spinning to deflect a spiritual essence projectile with the shimmering surface.

“Maya, left flank!” she called, stepping mid-air to intercept another strike.

Maya blinked, vanishing mid-slash, reappearing behind two Order agents. She redirected a volley of energy away from Keith, sending their attacks into the Camps Bay sea.

Helena and Maya moved like a single entity. Platforms twisted under Helena’s feet as Maya teleported around them, forming a defensive triangle around the AZO agents. Sparks of spiritual energy collided against air-shields, and for a moment, the battlefield felt alive with light, motion, and chaos.

Amid the chaos, Aiden strolled forward… toward Jordan and Richard.

He examined them closely. “Well damn… the Order wasn’t lying. These two really did awaken.”

The Order pressed harder, blades flashing, relics humming. Every strike Helena blocked, every teleport Maya executed, bought time—but the surge in the air was growing beyond them.

Then, Richard raised his crimson eye. A whisper of words, and the sky fell silent. A heavy, invisible curtain rippled outward. The Order froze mid-lunge. The air itself seemed to scream. And just like that… the battlefield went still.

“Aiden, Get back!” Keith shouted.

But it was too late.

Richard raised his left hand, placing it calmly over his left eye.

Then he whispered:

“Length, width, and height…”

The fighting stopped.

Everyone froze.

Ava’s eyes widened. “No way—”

Maya gasped. “That’s a Spiritual Volu—”

“Spiritual Volume: Evil Eye.”

The sky turned pitch black.

The sun and moon vanished. The eclipse was consumed.

Richard opened his crimson left eye—and a chilling force exploded across the mountaintop.

Those who looked into it were pulled out of their bodies. Their consciousness’s were yanked into the spirit realm, drifting helplessly through a cold, endless void.

Only the AZO were spared—thanks to Maya’s last-ditch teleportation.

But the Order?

Gone.

Except for Aiden, who stood several feet back, blinking. 

“Whoa. Okay. New rule—no eye contact with the edgy guy.”

He adjusted his collar and slowly stepped back, sweat now pouring down his face.

3 Order members made some last-minute incantations, murmuring under their breath, trying to block spiritual volume’s effect. They exchange confident glances, thinking they’ve bought themselves a margin of safety.

Jordan’s eyes flare, golden and steady. She whispers:

“Length. Width. Height”

Spiritual Volume – Sol the Beloved

A light erupts from her, spreading out like a sun bursting from her chest. The Order gasps, their barriers faltering.

The brightness sweeps across the mountaintop—and beyond. The 10 watch from afar, perceiving it as Cape Town itself bathed in an impossible radiance.

In the center of the light stands Sol, the Judge. Not observing actions, but hearts that harbour greed, lust, malice without love or remorse- will be judged.

Sol does not hesitate. The guilty are consumed, erased from existence.

A tremor passes through the Order—some members vanish mid-step, swallowed by judgment. Others collapse, blinded, hearts pounding in terror.

And Jordan, for a heartbeat, feels the weight of justice, of being the conduit between the spiritual realm and the physical world. She is both small, human, and immeasurably vast.

The celestial convergence had only just begun.

And the world would never be the same again.