A/N: Well, first chapter done. Fingers crossed no one at work reads this...though I doubt they will. Famous last words, though. Let the chaos begin!

Chapter 1: Shattered Path

"I swear, if Ethan sends us on another wild goose chase…I don't know what I'll do, but it'll be bad"

Weihan Liang looked at his ranting team leader with amusement. It was true that their supervisor had already sent the two of them on several dead-ends, but he supposed he still had to answer to the Council. However, as it stood, Team 31 had been 'on call' for quite a few 'goose chases'…and it seemed as though they were going to be off schedule for yet another day. Pulling down on the stretchy orange material of his work uniform, the Asian man smiled and looked at his team leader.

"Could be worse, Bri." He chuckled. "We could be doing the car park hedges again."

At 39, he reckoned he hadn't changed much since his youth. Sure, his hair was greying, he had a few more wrinkles, and his skin was tanned, but his mind was still active. So, yes, he hadn't changed all that much since High School or his year of Hotel Management. Well, that was what he projected to the outside world, anyway. A year of karate in early 2003 had given him some measure of self-control and discipline; that was sorely needed after the incident that had strained his mind. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just about make out words…on the other hand, he had to concentrate on the person next to him.

"No," the young woman shook her head and fixed him with a mock-angry glare. "Don't jinx us, Wei, we don't need something like that happening so soon."

Stifling a chuckle, he looked out the window at the greenery around him. After a rather tumultuous few years, he was finally settling into his own skin and was working in a job he was comfortable in. Sure, his life had taken a few twists and turns…as well as a massive dip in 2021, but he was getting over that as much as possible. His team leader, Briana Scarlet, was another perk of the job. There had been some light flirting between them but, as she was happily married, he didn't think anything would come about from it.

There was another reason nothing would happen…and it all had to do with her older sister, Jacqui Apple. Sometime in 2018, she had entered his life rather unexpectedly. He had been coming off yet another brief hookup with her sister, Bree, when she had dragged him into her life. As a former reporter, Jacqui, or AJ as he called her, had regaled him with several hundred stories of her life over five months. A whirlwind courtship later and he had, rather poorly, proposed. He was head over heels for AJ and, at the time, it seemed she felt the same way.

And then it all changed. On January 21, 2021, he had been left waiting at the altar; abandoned and forgotten by the woman he had given his all to. His life imploded after that, though he was supported by friends and family. It was during that time that he had been formally diagnosed with ADHD and autism - something that had allowed things to fit into place for once in his life. Pulling everything back to a semblance of normality, he had started a horticulture course in early 2022 and, eventually, landed a job at Skyways Landscape.

And then he had been placed with AJ's youngest sister as her helper. They had walked on eggshells around each other for the first few weeks, which was something he wasn't proud of. Everything had finally come to a head during a sudden downpour. Sitting in the work ute with not much to do had her apologising for AJ. It wasn't Bri's fault, though. It had helped bridge the gap, however. What did make no sense was why her parents had named their youngest child so similarly to their middle child. The number of times he had listened to Bree gripe about that was, surely, in the hundreds by now. On the other hand, it helped immensely that Bri went by her full name outside of work.

"I mean, it could happen," he teased. "We're the only ones looking after Victoria Park and it's looking great. I'm not sure who did them last time but they look as amazing as the person, I'd bet."

Bri ducked her head and laughed, a light blush spreading across her face. She hadn't been all that confident about the Asian man working with her, though she knew he had been intertwined with her family for years. Her older sister, Bree, had been involved several relationships with him, the first starting in 2003 in the Hotel Management school they had attended together. And then there was the disastrous experience with AJ. Shaking her brown hair out of her ponytail, she marvelled at his resilience. If she had to face a betrayal like that, and then work with a family member of the person…she would have quit on the spot.

She was lucky she hadn't had to go through an experience like that. She had met her husband, Joshua, early on and they had eloped soon after. A part of her mourned for not having a 'fairytale wedding' experience. On the other hand, this was the real world and there were no such things as true soulmates. That notion had been all but destroyed after seeing Weihan's humiliation. There was a small part of her that felt attracted to him…if only she hadn't married so young; that was all but a fantasy. Still, harmless flirting wouldn't really hurt as long as they both knew it was harmless.

"Stop it, you." She laughed. "If anything, we'll be fine just hedging the Murraya up near the tank"

"All right," he said, conceding 'defeat' for now. "Let's just finish-"

A rumble of thunder overhead made him bit the words off as a stab of pain lanced through his mind. Weihan had a strange feeling there was a storm on the horizon, even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With a sense of nagging familiarity, he opened the door and stepped outside, looking around at the surroundings with fresh eyes. People milled about, smoking on benches, eating at the tables, chatting on their phones, and, going about their lives. No one looked like they had heard the thunder so what…

"Ah! Fresh meat!"

The gravelly voice ripped through the air as people stopped in their tracks. Weihan squinted at the figure and furrowed his brow. No…it couldn't be. He rubbed his eyes as his jaw slowly dropped open. Unbidden, descriptive words sprang to the forefront of his mind: roar of rage muffled under its helmet, unearthly fury and pain, arms on its left side. His breathing quickened as he tried, desperately, to reconcile the monster walking toward him with the words he had written down all those years ago. Try as he might, however, he could not deny the sight.

Apollonia the Destroyer was in front of him.

And there was nothing that could be done, except wait for the end.