Chapter 5: The Bronze Eagle Tower

The Bronze Eagle Tower locks the Two Sisters in the depths of spring. Once a palace of feasts, it was now a fortress. Blue granite walls, steel-plated, loomed high. Carter’s elite Tiger and Wolf Brigade huddled inside, patrolling day and night, guarding every inch. But in their eyes, I saw only fear—fear of this world.

I rode to the gate, bat on my back, knife in my mouth, and scaled the wall, ready for blood. But the Tiger and Wolf Brigade—once unstoppable—shrunk away, letting me storm the palace alone. I realized why. They were still human. Not a single one in the tower was possessed.

I shoved past the last guards and burst into the main hall. Carter was holding a dancing girl, feasting, drinking, and looked up bleary-eyed at the noise. He squinted at me. “It’s Derek… Come, drink, drink.”

Was this the legendary leader? I frowned, grabbed a whiskey bottle, and splashed him awake. Carter steadied himself, saw I was muddy but sane, and his eyes lit up. “Hell, maybe with you here we got a shot. Or maybe we’re just screwed slower.”

But his hope faded fast. “What’s the use… This world-ending mess is too much for anyone.”

As he talked, I understood what he’d gone through. Carter had been among the first to sense things were wrong and tried to stop it.

“At first, only a few got possessed. I raised troops to fight back, but… Billy’s worthless son got possessed overnight, tore Dan and Chuck to pieces, slaughtered three thousand armored men!”

“More and more turned. A million soldiers gone, all devoured at the Great Divide…”

“I led the Tiger and Wolf Brigade to save the President, lost most in Washington, and finally made it to New York…”

“Everywhere’s demon land now. We got nowhere left, so we just drink and wait for the end.”

I shouted, “Don’t you see? You and your men haven’t been possessed—not once. Lawson’s army is all monsters now, not a single soul left!”

“What?” Carter shot up, sober now. “That’s right. The Southern Faction leaders are all possessed—John and Charlie were resurrected and tore Sam apart, Danny broke out at the cost of his life, but only a few messages got out.”

He looked at his son Pete and the others, then at the President on the dais, and stared at me.

[Rule Three: The President’s side is absolutely safe. He is the only hope.]

I recited the rule, then said, “There’s still hope! I need your help to find the Presidential Seal and light the Seven-Star Lamp Calvin set up. He’s already trapped the demon army at Devil’s Bridge. If we unite the lamp and the Seal, we can cleanse the world and set it right.”

“Good!” Carter drew his sword, swept the table clear, fire in his eyes. “With your help, I’ll stand with the country!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, but nodded solemnly. Suddenly, a scream rang out.

“The tower gate is broken! The demons are in!”

The room spun with motion—soldiers scrambling for rifles, boots thumping on marble floors, old oil portraits rattling on the walls. For a split second, the air reeked of gunpowder and spilled whiskey. Carter’s battered face looked more alive than ever, eyes blazing with wild hope. The President, silent and solemn, seemed to glow with a strange light—maybe the last true human left at the end of America. I caught sight of a mural of American presidents on the wall, now defaced, their eyes gouged out, and a fresh wave of grief and anger washed over me.