Darkness.
Not silence—something pulsed inside him. Not his heartbeat. Something else.
> ["Adaptation sequence… 72% complete."]
Flashes tore through Kael's head:
His sister's scream.
The sky splitting open.
Creatures walking through fire as if fire wasn't real.
He tried to move, but his body wasn't his. His nerves sparked, his ribs cracked, his blood felt like it was burning from the inside out.
And then—
He woke.
---
Cold light. Metal clamps around his wrists and ankles. Breath rattled in his chest like broken glass.
Doctors in hazard suits circled, whispering:
> "He survived the Core…"
"No—look at his vitals. That isn't survival. That's… something else."
Kael turned his head slowly. The reflection on the glass wall stared back.
Not his face. Not anymore.
Black irises. White pupils burning faintly.
Eyes that didn't look human—or safe.
His heart lurched. What did they do to me?
The straps groaned and bent, snapping like wet twigs.
Guards rushed in, rifles raised.
Gunfire cracked—
But the bullets froze midair.
Not blocked. Not stopped. Frozen, like time itself hesitated.
Kael's chest heaved. His hands trembled.
The bullets clattered uselessly to the floor.
The silence that followed was worse than the gunfire.
Every doctor stared.
So did he.
> "What did they turn me into…?"
---
The alarm shattered the silence.
Red lights strobed across the chamber. Sirens screamed overhead.
This wasn't another test.
Not another experiment gone wrong.
Something had entered orbit.
The signal wasn't coming.
It was already here.
---
[End of Chapter 3]