The city was on edge.
After the blast, Nova City's newsfeeds overflowed with chaos. "Unknown energy detonation." "Possible alien tech leak." "Terrorist suspects at large." All lies wrapped in panic, fed by grainy footage and half-truths.
But down in the underground, far below the surface of it all, Jalen Kane was still breathing.
The junkyard wasn't just scrap metal—it was cover. Hidden beneath the wreckage was an old subway tunnel, sealed off after the big quake ten years ago. No one used it. No one except the forgotten.
And one of them just saved his life.
"You're lucky I found you before they did," said the girl crouched over him. "Energy burns that bad? You could've gone nuclear."
Jalen blinked. Her voice was sharp, but calm. Eyes focused. A strange scar ran down her jawline, half-covered by black microbraids. Her hoodie was stitched with symbols he didn't recognize.
"Who... who are you?" he croaked.
"Name's Reyka. I run with the Wires. Underground crew. We sniff out energy surges, salvage tech, stay alive."
She handed him water. He gulped it down like it was gold.
"You lit up half the damn sky, Kane."
"How do you know my name?"
She held up his old courier ID. "Your bag survived. Barely."
Great. His bag makes it through the apocalypse, but he almost explodes.
"I didn't mean to. I opened this case and—"
Reyka cut him off. "The Ember Core. I figured. That kind of power? It's not from here. It's older than the city. Older than this planet."
"You're talking like I'm some chosen one."
She stared at him, dead serious. "You are."
---
Later, they sat by an old fusebox wired into flickering lights. Jalen's fingers twitched with leftover sparks. Reyka studied him like a puzzle. Every few minutes she'd scribble something in a cracked notebook filled with diagrams and alien symbols.
"Most people would be freaking out," he said.
"I've seen freakier," she replied. "There are worse things than glowing hands."
"Like?"
She flipped a page. "The Crimson Fold. Cult that worships the eclipse. Think it's a god. Been quiet for years—until you lit the sky."
Jalen exhaled. "So I'm a cosmic beacon now."
"No," she said. "You're a fuse. Something bigger's about to blow."
---
Hours passed.
Jalen slept for the first time in two days, curled under metal sheets, body aching. Dreams haunted him—of fire, stars collapsing, a voice that whispered his name from inside the eclipse.
And across the city, things moved.
In an underground lab, Dr. Veyl assembled his lieutenants. Their names were lost to history—only their code designations remained:
Null. Vector. Khaos.
He played the footage of Jalen's transformation on repeat.
"The Ember Core activated," he said. "The Subject survived. We proceed to Phase Zero. Begin the hunt."
"What about the prophecy?" Vector asked.
Veyl's machine eyes narrowed.
"We don't fear myths. We end them."
---
Back in the tunnel, Jalen woke to Reyka tossing him a cracked datapad.
"Time to train, Kane."
He blinked. "Train? Like... superhero training?"
"Like not exploding next time you sneeze. First step—control."
He looked at his hands. The glow had faded, but he could feel it—under the skin, in his blood, like a sleeping storm.
"What's step two?" he asked.
Reyka smiled, grim and electric.
"Step two is war."
---
Chapter Three will take us into Jalen's training, his first serious power use in combat, and the moment he learns that someone from his past is tied to the Crimson Fold.