Ash and snow. A filthy mix. But in the city of Winter Ray, it was just the air you breathed.
The sky hangs heavy with fumes of smoke, and the ground stays frozen year-round.
Fifty years since the gates opened. Fifty years of monsters, cities crumbled, silence swallowing the old world as a whole. No one flinched anymore. Change was expected when Survival became a second nature to everybody
The people inside the city walking around wore coats like armor. Layers upon layers. Some wear heat-reactive coats over their everyday clothes. Others? Just skin suits and attitude, then called it fashion.
The veins under naked flesh glowed faintly. That was a sign, a sign that they were one of the powerful beings on earth. heroes, soldiers of justice, to help and protect. But do those words after those 50 years still shape our society and the reality that we live in?
To us the situation was simple: either adapt or die trying. But again, no one bothered to ask someone like me or what people called us 'kinless' , a word to describe those who weren't gifted with powers.
I pass them. The snow was getting thicker under my foot. One step at a time, boots perforate the snow like teeth into the flesh of monster skin. My coat was too thick, stitched from scraps bits of ash, soaked in frost. Each step drags. Each breath stabs. Some eyes follow me in pity or amusement. Same difference.
My eyes caught the light—a faint white shimmering in the sky from the observation tower. I heard you could see the monsters looking lost in the fragment lands ahead of us. avoiding the walls of our city in fear, because humanity found hope. and that hope was called 'Isla Stone' .
I paused my steps in front of an old military station. One floor. Steel bones rusted by decades of abandonment. Before the gates, it guarded borders. Now it guarded ghosts. All thanks to the 'Isla stone' . No one was allowed to see what they looked like. because they fuel devices that protect each of the last 7 cities of humanity.
I knocked…nothing.
"Doctor Gem!!" I called this time, knocking again with force. I was already feeling cold and annoyed.
A hiss of gears clicking into each other mix with the creak of old hinges. The door opened, showing a man with a white beard. Bald. Eyes like rusted blades stare at my face full of arrogance. It was Gem.
"Everly, I said three, not one, for heaven's sake!"
I shrugged, stepping inside. "School ended early."
Heat hits my face. The old monitor hums as I tweak the settings. The warmth soothed my throat. I felt warm and at home at the same time.
He dragged his chair from the corner of the room and then sat. I could hear the chair groaning under his weight.
"Early, huh? You just want to skip after lesson practice, little Eve? Haha."
"Practice is useless. For someone like me."
Gem grunts, rubbing his temple. "Being kinless isn't shameful. But doing nothing about it is."
I flicked on the overhead light. It burns his features into clarity. Bags under the eyes. Coat too loose. He was aging faster than the city.
"You think I'm doing nothing?"
"I think you're stubborn. Like your brother. At least he was one of us ' kin users.'"
His word sits between us like a corpse. I could see his eyes in the monitor's reflection searching for something in my blue ones.
He leaned back, saying, "You heard about Dan? Cut off both arms. Got cybernetic limbs. Now he's on the front line. Stronger."
My hands clenched before I crumpled the trash in my fist and threw it into the bin.
"I'm not cutting off healthy limbs to play the hero, Gem."
He shrugged. "Didn't say you should. Just said he chose something."
"And I choose not to sell pieces of myself to feel useful."
His voice dropped. "One day, Everly, you'll have to give something up. For this city. For humanity or... family?"
"Screw humanity. Where were they when my brother vanished in Fragment Land? Missing list. That's all I got."
Silence. Just the hum of machines.
Gem tossed a coat at me. It smacks my face. I glare. He's already turned, typing.
"Border's colder. Wear it. Remember to be quick this time. the city alert in 2 hours "
I was aware of this alert. Every 10 years, the duration of the 'isla stone' of each city needed to change into a new one. The process took about 10 to 5 minutes only, but what could happen in those minutes is catastrophe. There will be nothing to protect the gates from opening or the monster that fears those stones from attacking us. But luckily nothing turned into that scenario before, which is a relief.
rolled my eyes at Gem "Yeah, yeah. I'm going."
"Passcode's still 212."
"I know."
I then left.
Outside, the wind howls. I wrapped my coat tighter, tablet hidden inside. Goggles down. Ash in the air made my lungs protest. I coughed but walked anyway.
I thought about asking for help from my friend as usual. But she stayed back. Said the lesson was important. Easy for someone born with Kin.
Then blinked, seeing a movement. Faint across the horizon. Black shapes in the white-gray fog blur.
I wipe my goggles to see clearly.
A military truck rumbles through the snow. Armor plating. Gun turret. Men in black battle suits. One jumps down. Blond. Sharp smile. And green eyes with a flicker of violet.
"Everly!" he calls, waving.
I wince. Heat rises to my cheeks, acting normal in front of him.
He lands in front of me. Messing my dark black hair more.
I slap his hand playfully away, asking
"How's the border?"
"Same. Monsters keep their distance. For now."
He eyes my gear. "Are you going alone?"
"Yeah. Gem asked for diagnostics just like every day"
"Doesn't your friend lu…la… Oh, right, Layla! usually tag along?"
"Busy." I murmured.
He rubs his temples. "You know an alert goes off in 2 hours, right?"
I shrugged. "If Gem sent me, it means it's fine. Zach"
"Seriously? You never know when the gate sensors fail."
"Then I'll move faster. The founder wants the log data after the reboot."
Zach sighed, saying, "Then I'm coming with you."
Before I protest, he waves his team off. The truck turns back toward the city.
"Let's go, shorty."
"Don't call me that."
He ruffles my hair from the snow. "Short and stubborn. Just like your brother Lewis."
I go still. For a second. I know that Zach blamed himself for what happened to my brother. I want to tell him that he shouldn't feel this way, but how would I? If I myself still believe he is alive somewhere in the fragmentland.
We walked. Snow biting at our ankles. Sometimes He pulls me free when I sink too deep.
We reach the first defense node. A row of ten black metal. Humanoid form. Eyes glowing red.
It scanned us head to toe. "IDENTITY: [Everly Adrion] Assistance human. [Soldier Zach]—Shifter Class."
I snort. "I'm still human."
He smirks. "Probably Gem's words."
I climb its giant arm and jack into the port with my tablet.
"Hurry," he says.
"Don't rush me."
The system beeps. Logs downloaded.
Then—a crack.
I frown, feeling the inside vibrate. The sky splinters.
A voice blares from the city speakers: "All citizens of winter ray , please seek shelter near active soldiers immediately..."
I heard Zach swears.
I froze when he grabbed me. Lifting me over his shoulder.
"We're leaving. Now."
"Put me down—"
His skin pulses. Veins glowing faint purple.
The robot shuddered .
"WARNING. AGATE PRESENCE DETECTED."
I twisted my head to look back. Snow fractures. Space breaks apart. A gate was opening.
At that moment, I knew the world would change into something I feared.