The city didn't sleep that night. Sirens screamed, lights flashed, and confusion spread through the streets like wildfire. But inside a dim, cracked apartment on the fourth floor of a forgotten complex, one boy sat trembling in silence.
Arin could still hear it—the echo of that explosion, the deafening roar that split his world in two. He had run until his legs gave out, until the pounding of his heart drowned out everything else. But no matter how far he went, the image of his mother's face, frozen in that instant, refused to fade.
His fingers shook as he stared down at his hands. The same hands that had unleashed that impossible force. The same hands that had turned a gang of thugs into smoldering shadows in the alley.
"What… am I?" he whispered to himself.
The air around him shimmered faintly, almost responding. A thin current of static sparked between his fingertips, dancing like blue fireflies before fading. He swallowed hard, trying to steady his breathing. It wasn't just adrenaline anymore. There was something living under his skin, something vast and awake.
He stumbled toward the mirror on the wall. His reflection stared back, unfamiliar. His eyes, once brown, now glowed faintly with veins of silver threading through the iris. His pulse pulsed in time with the flicker of distant streetlights.
A sudden pounding at the door made him freeze."Arin! It's me, open up!"
It was Eli.
Arin rushed to unlock it, his breath shaky. Eli stumbled in, eyes wide, face pale."Dude… what the hell happened out there?" he said, voice trembling. "The whole block's gone. They're saying it was a gas main explosion but… people saw you. They said you were in it."
Arin swallowed. He wanted to explain, to tell his best friend everything. But how could he? How could he describe what it felt like to hold lightning in his veins?
"I don't know, Eli. I blacked out. I just remember the sound and then… nothing."
Eli frowned. "Nothing? Arin, people died. You don't just black out through that. You were the only one who walked out alive. That doesn't happen."
The silence between them stretched heavy, broken only by the faint hum of the city outside. Arin clenched his fists. Every heartbeat brought a new tremor of energy crawling up his arms.
"I can feel it," Arin said finally, his voice low. "Something's inside me. Like… it's alive."
Eli took a slow step back. "You mean like… some kind of mutation? Dude, we gotta tell someone."
"No!" Arin shouted before he could stop himself. The lights flickered, glass cracked, and a picture frame fell from the wall. The air buzzed like it was charged with electricity. Eli stumbled back, wide-eyed.
"What the— Arin!"
Arin forced himself to breathe, fighting to calm the storm building inside him. "I can't. If anyone finds out, they'll lock me up. You saw what happened. I could hurt someone. I already did…"
Eli's anger faded, replaced by fear and sympathy. He looked at his friend, at the tremor in his hands, and realized Arin wasn't just scared—he was broken.
"Then we figure it out ourselves," Eli said finally. "We find out what's happening to you. Together."
Arin looked up, a faint spark of gratitude breaking through the chaos. "You'd do that? After what I just did?"
Eli nodded. "You saved me once. I don't forget that. Besides…" He tried to smile. "You're basically a superhero now, right?"
Arin didn't smile back. "No," he said softly. "Not a hero."
Outside, the rain began to fall again, cold and steady. Somewhere in the distance, police drones hovered above the ruins, scanning for survivors. On one of the feeds, a still image appeared—grainy, half-obscured by smoke, but clear enough to see a boy standing in the firelight, eyes glowing silver.
A voice came through the comms. "Subject 07 located. Initiate retrieval protocol."