Zayen's legs burned as he sprinted toward Rhea. The beast was almost on her now, its insectoid limbs clicking across the shattered pavement, its mouth dripping a thick black fluid that sizzled where it landed.
"Move, damn it!" Zayen shouted, voice cracking with panic.
Rhea turned her head, wide-eyed, unable to pull free from the crushed hoverbike trapping her leg.
The creature lunged.
Zayen didn't think.
He threw himself between them, arms outstretched, bracing for the impact—for the tearing pain, for the end.
But the pain never came.
Time slowed.
In that heartbeat, something ancient inside him stirred. Something not human. It surged up from his chest—raw, wild, electric.
And then—
BOOM.
A shockwave erupted from Zayen's body. Pure energy, violet and black, rippled outward in a sphere, blasting the beast backward like a ragdoll. It hit a concrete wall with enough force to crater it, then slumped, unmoving.
Zayen stood there, panting, surrounded by a faint, flickering aura. Cracks of violet lightning danced across his skin and vanished just as fast. His glasses were half-melted, the left lens shattered. His hoodie had torn at the sleeves.
Rhea stared at him, speechless.
"…Z-Zayen?" she whispered.
He turned toward her, equally stunned. "I… I don't know what just happened."
From the rooftops above, several shadowy invaders paused, watching the boy with new eyes. One of them muttered in an ancient tongue:
"He has awakened."
---
Far away, beneath the world...
In a dark throne room made of obsidian and bone, Queen Ashtara sat forward. Her eyes, burning like twin moons, shimmered with interest.
She touched the edge of her armrest, where a translucent orb swirled with visions of Seoul's chaos—and at the center of it: Zayen.
"He's not supposed to awaken yet," one of her guards whispered.
The Queen smiled.
"He's mine now."
---