Kael had always known he was different, though he had never understood why. While the children in the village laughed and worried about school or chores, Kael's world was quieter, sharper. He noticed things others didn't: the way wind bent the leaves, faint vibrations under his feet, the subtle pulse of life all around him. He could sense details in the smallest movements, as if the world spoke in a language only he could hear. Each heartbeat, each breath of the villagers, even the fluttering of birds overhead carried meaning. It was as though the world itself had layers of rhythm, and he was attuned to all of them.
His foster parents were loving but simple folk. They never explained why he healed faster than anyone else, why he could lift boulders that no adult could move, or why he seemed to thrive under the sun far beyond any ordinary human. Kael had learned to hide it. He never questioned it, because he had no reason to. These were the only rules he had ever known. And yet, a quiet part of him—the part he never admitted even to himself—wondered if there was something more, some truth buried deep beneath his instincts and strength.
By seventeen, Kael moved through the village like a shadow, alert but unnoticed, sparring occasionally with wandering martial artists without ever revealing how effortlessly he outperformed them. Even in training, there was a strange precision to his movements, a natural flow that required no thought. He had no name for the power inside him, no idea where it came from. It was simply… there. At night, he would sit under the stars, feeling a faint pull he could not explain. It whispered to him, restless and subtle, like something waiting. He had no memory of what it wanted, only the awareness that he did not quite belong to this quiet, ordinary world. He sometimes wondered if the stars themselves knew him, if they called to him across the vast emptiness of the cosmos.
One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, the ground trembled beneath his feet. Kael froze, the hairs on his arms standing on end. From the sky above, a streak of fire cut through the heavens, falling with terrifying speed. The villagers screamed and scattered, pointing at the sky. Kael's eyes narrowed. He didn't know why, but his heart thumped harder than ever. Something about this felt… familiar. His instincts screamed at him, urging him forward, even as his mind tried to grasp what was happening.
The pod hit the ground with a deafening crash, throwing up dirt, smoke, and shards of splintered wood. Kael ran toward it instinctively, heart hammering, senses flaring. Every nerve in his body was alive, his muscles coiled and ready. He had never seen anything like this before. The heat from the impact made the air shimmer, and the acrid scent of burning metal and earth filled his nose.
From the hatch emerged a towering figure, muscles tense, hair wild, a scouter blinking over his eye. Raditz scanned the area and locked onto a man working in the barn—Kael's adoptive father. The man froze, trembling. His power level read only 5 on Raditz's scouter, weak enough to be crushed instantly. Kael felt a rush of fear, anger, and protectiveness intertwining like fire in his chest.
"You're too weak. Die!" Raditz growled, raising his hand to strike.
Kael's chest tightened. His father? The man who had raised him, who had taught him the small things in life, was about to be killed. Panic surged, but instinct and fury came first. Every fiber of his being screamed that he had to act, had to protect this man at all costs. He felt an unfamiliar heat rising from within, a surge of raw power that seemed to originate not from thought, but from something older and deeper, as if his body itself remembered the battles of ancestors long gone.
"No!" Kael shouted. Before he could even think, his body moved, placing himself between Raditz and the man. Time seemed to slow for a heartbeat; he could feel the air pressure shift around him, the sound of Raditz's scouter beeping amplified in his ears.
Raditz's eyes narrowed in surprise. "And who are you?"
"I'm not going to let you hurt him!" Kael's voice trembled, a mix of fear and determination, but the words were backed by a surge of energy that made the air around him ripple. As soon as he spoke, a faint golden aura ignited around his body, the blazing sun encircled by a golden tail pulsing faintly on his chest. Kael's mind reeled at the sensation of power coursing through him—strength, speed, reflexes—all heightened beyond any limits he had ever known.
Raditz touched his scouter, eyes widening. "Impossible… You're a Saiyan. There's no doubt about it. But your power… it's extraordinary. Different."
Kael stumbled, confusion written across his face. "Saiyan? What… what is that?"
"You'll learn soon enough," Raditz said, smirking cruelly. "But first, let's see how strong you really are."
Raditz vanished, striking at Kael with blinding speed. Kael's body reacted instinctively, catching the attack mid-air. The impact sent a shockwave through the barn, splintering wood and shaking the ground. Kael could feel his own strength, raw and overwhelming, flowing through him in ways he couldn't yet explain. Heat prickled his skin, his hair lifted slightly from the static energy surrounding him, and every muscle in his body tingled as if awake for the first time.
Raditz's eyes narrowed, lips curling in a grim smile. "You're not like any Saiyan I've met. What… what are you?"
Kael's fists clenched, his mind racing, instincts guiding him with precision beyond conscious thought. "I don't know who I am," he said, "but I won't let you hurt him!"
Raditz's expression darkened, but a flicker of unease appeared. "Interesting… very interesting. You're stronger than you should be. Maybe… maybe you really are something new."
The first clash erupted in the fields outside the village, energy and speed colliding like a storm. Kael's body moved with perfect instinct, adapting to every strike, countering with a precision that Raditz hadn't expected. He could feel the sun's energy thrumming through him, every movement amplified, every impact absorbed by his body effortlessly. The weak man he had intended to kill, power level only 5, was now safe—protected by a force far beyond anything the Saiyan had imagined.
Kael's eyes glimmered with faint gold light, his body alive with energy he couldn't yet name. Thoughts collided with instinct: Who am I? Where did this come from? Why can I feel the energy of the sun itself coursing through me? But no answer came—only certainty that he could not fail.
Raditz hovered above, brow furrowed, trying to make sense of what he had just faced. He didn't recognize this power, didn't understand why a seemingly ordinary boy could move, react, and strike with such precision and strength. All he knew was that this was no ordinary Saiyan.
Kael's gaze hardened, body coiled like a spring, ready for whatever would come next. The quiet village he had called home, and the people he had sworn to protect, depended on him. And in that moment, he understood one undeniable truth: his life had changed forever, and nothing would ever be the same again.