The world ended quietly.
No meteor, no scream just a single pulse of light that rolled across the earth like a second sunrise.
For three minutes, every piece of technology on the planet went dark.
And when the lights came back on nothing was the same.
Two Weeks Later
Ava Kane sat at the edge of a ruined rooftop in what was once Berlin. Below her, the city flickered with unstable power grids and smoke. The ReGenesis Pulse had rewritten more than data it had rewritten people.
Half the world's population now carried fragments of the Eden genome. Some developed heightened senses, reflexes, or bioluminescent skin. Others didn't survive the transformation.
And those who did were hunted.
Ava's reflection shimmered faintly in a shard of glass beside her. Her veins pulsed softly with blue light, like lightning under skin. No matter how she tried to hide it, the glow always found her a reminder of what she was and what she'd done.
Footsteps echoed behind her.
"Still watching the graveyard?" Adrian's voice was low, calm. He set down a pack of rations beside her. His own body bore the marks of survival a scar across his temple, a stiffness in his left hand where nanite burns had refused to heal.
"Someone has to," Ava murmured. "They said Berlin was one of the safe zones. But the Pureborn militia wiped out an entire sector last night."
Adrian crouched beside her, eyes scanning the horizon. "The world's splitting faster than we thought."
"Pureborns versus Evolved." Ava's voice was bitter. "I created both."
"No," Adrian said. "You revealed both. The Pulse didn't change humanity. It showed what was already inside us."
Ava glanced at him, searching his expression. "Do you believe that?"
He hesitated. "Most days."
THE WORLD AFTER THE PULSE
The news feeds what was left of them called it The Evolved Divide.
Governments had fractured. The United Nations dissolved. Corporations and private armies carved out territories. New factions rose in the chaos:
The Pureborn Front humans who rejected genetic alteration, led by former military officials and technocrats.
The Ascendants Evolved radicals who believed they were the next step in human evolution.
The Shadow Directive what remained of Eden's internal council, now hiding and weaponizing the serum's fragments.
And at the heart of it all Ava Kane, wanted by every side.
To the Pureborn, she was the virus.
To the Ascendants, she was the Prophet.
To the Directive, she was unfinished property.
To Adrian, she was simply herself.
They moved through the ruins at dusk, slipping between abandoned streets. Ava wore a hood pulled low, her hands covered with tactical gloves to hide the faint glow.
A drone buzzed overhead. Adrian yanked her beneath an overpass, pressing her back to the concrete as the machine swept its scanner beam through the smoke.
The red light grazed her shoulder. She held her breath.
Then silence.
The drone drifted away.
Ava exhaled shakily. "They're getting smarter."
"They're getting desperate," Adrian said. "Every faction wants the same thing control of the code."
He handed her a small drive old, scratched, barely holding together. "Your father's last encryption layer. I think it's a location."
She frowned, studying the holographic coordinates that flickered above the device.
"Latitude 64°N that's near the Arctic Circle."
"Exactly where Eden first began," Adrian said. "If there's a cure or a reset it'll be there."
Ava looked up, the cold wind tangling her hair. "And if there isn't?"
He met her gaze. "Then we make one."
THE ASCENDANTS' ARRIVAL
Night fell hard and fast. They found shelter inside an old cathedral, its stained glass shattered and the pews reduced to splinters. Ava lit a small fire in a steel barrel while Adrian checked the perimeter.
It almost felt normal two ghosts haunting the end of the world.
Until she heard the footsteps.
"Adrian," she whispered.
He was already moving. His weapon came up just as three figures stepped from the shadows cloaked, unarmed, their eyes faintly glowing.
"Don't shoot," the leader said, raising her hands. "We're not here to fight."
Ava's eyes widened. "You're Evolved."
The woman nodded. "We are the Ascendants. You're the reason we exist."
Adrian stiffened. "We didn't summon you."
"No," the woman said, her voice low, reverent. "But the world did. You triggered the next phase and now, humanity has a choice."
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small crystalline shard, pulsing with energy that looked eerily like Ava's own.
"What is that?" Ava asked.
"The seed," the woman replied. "The Pulse didn't just rewrite DNA it awakened something ancient. Your father found its source, buried beneath the Arctic ice. That's why you must return."
Ava's heart pounded. "He wanted me to find it."
"Yes," the Ascendant leader said softly. "And finish what he started."
Before Ava could respond, the cathedral windows shattered bullets ripping through the air.
Pureborn drones swarmed overhead, floodlights cutting through the smoke.
Adrian dove forward, dragging Ava behind the altar. "We've been tracked!"
The Ascendants fought back, unleashing bursts of kinetic energy that tore through the air. The cathedral glowed with chaos glass, light, and screams colliding in one terrible symphony.
Ava felt the serum in her blood surge. Her vision sharpened, her pulse syncing with the sound of the drones.
Instinct took over.
She raised her hand and the light obeyed.
A shockwave burst outward, slicing the drones from the sky in a single flash.
Silence followed.
When the smoke cleared, every eye in the room was on her Ascendant and Pureborn alike.
Adrian lowered his weapon slowly. "Ava what did you just do?"
Her voice trembled. "I didn't mean to. It just"
"It means the code is evolving again," said the Ascendant leader, awe in her tone. "You're not just human anymore."
Ava stared at her trembling hands, light pulsing beneath the skin.
"No," she whispered. "I'm not."
THE SYMBOL AND THE SHADOW
By morning, the Pureborns had retreated. The Ascendants vanished into the mist, leaving only the message burned into the cathedral wall:
"North is where it began. North is where it ends."
Adrian and Ava stood in the cold light filtering through the ruins.
He touched her arm gently. "You okay?"
She nodded faintly. "I don't think anyone's okay anymore."
He smiled without humor. "Then let's make it count."
Ava turned toward the horizon where the sky bled orange and gold.
The journey ahead was uncertain, but one thing was clear: the next chapter of evolution would be written in the ice.