The world outside was still burning.
Even after the great war against the Darkness, humanity's future was fragile — rebuilding from ashes, barely standing on crumbling ruins.
Deep inside an old, hidden safehouse, under Echo's protection, Lia Wong lay in a narrow, sterile hospital bed.
Sweat beaded her forehead.
Her breaths were ragged and fast.
Beside her, gripping her hand tightly, was Kairo — scarred, worn, but still holding onto hope with trembling fingers.
The world outside screamed.
But here, in this tiny room, something new was about to begin.
Hours passed.
The pain was unbearable.
Doctors and Echo medics worked fast but carefully — this was no ordinary child.
This was Kaela —
The daughter of two legendary warriors, born of human blood and something deeper, something touched by Genesis itself.
And when the cry finally rang out, sharp and clear...
Lia's tears spilled down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Kairo fell to his knees, overwhelmed.
The doctor gently wrapped the tiny newborn girl in a threadbare blanket, her small body glowing faintly — not with unnatural power, but with an overwhelming life-force, pure and stubborn.
Kaela Wong.
Their daughter.
A fragile, beautiful miracle in a world that had forgotten how to hope.
But there was no time for peace.
Even as Lia held Kaela to her chest, feeling the warmth of her tiny heartbeat, the alarms in the base howled.
Enemies were moving again.
Factions fighting over the ruins.
Hollowborn remnants still lurking.
Whispers spread through Echo:
"The child of Wong and Kairo..."
"A target."
"If captured, she could be turned into a weapon."
"We have to hide her, or she will never survive."
From the moment she was born, Kaela would not be allowed a normal life.
Later, when Lia sat alone, cradling her sleeping baby, she spoke softly:
"I'm sorry...
You don't deserve the burden we gave you, little one.
You deserve sunlight, not shadow.
Laughter, not war.
But this world..."
"...this world will never let you go."
She kissed Kaela's forehead gently.
"So you'll have to become stronger than any of us ever were."
And in the shadows of the base, soldiers whispered of a future:
Where Kaela might be hunted.
Where her friends might betray her.
Where she would have to rise, alone, again and again, through blood and fire.
The small heartbeat under Lia's hand beat steady and sure, unaware.
For now.