The cave was silent except for the soft drip of water echoing off the stone. Kai pressed himself against the boulder, his breath shallow, his body still humming from the fight—and now from the shock of what he'd just seen.
Grin is a girl.
His mind raced. But—the mask, the gloves, the way they—she—never spoke. Was it all just to hide?
Then—
His boot shifted. A jagged rock cracked under his weight.
"Sh—"
The sound bounced off the cavern walls, sharp and unmistakable.
Grin's head snapped toward the noise. For a heartbeat, they both froze. Then her hand flicked up—and her mutation activated.
Glass Vein
Thin, translucent threads erupted from her fingertips, spreading through the air like spider silk catching sunlight. The strands pulsed faintly, refracting the dim glow of the cave into prismatic shards.
Neuro-sensory threads functioned as an optic radar, bending light particles to scan through solid matter. It derived from a Rift creature called the Spectraleel, a predator that hunted by seeing through stone.
The threads reached through the boulder—and in an instant, Grin saw him.
Kai's wide eyes. His flushed face. The way his breath hitched as he realized—she knew.
Her golden eyes narrowed.
"You... saw—?" Her voice was low, dangerous. "How long were you watching?"
Before Kai could answer, she snatched her coat from the rock and yanked it on, movements sharp with barely contained fury. The mask followed, the cracked porcelain settling over her face like a second skin. Then she was striding toward him, boots splashing through the shallows.
Kai scrambled back, hands raised.
"I didn't—I wasn't—"
She stopped inches away, her presence suddenly immense.
"Explain."
Kai swallowed hard.
"I was just—resting by the lake. Then I saw a shadow in the water, and I thought it might be a Rift creature, so I looked, and—" He gestured vaguely, face burning. "I didn't know it was you. I didn't know Grin was... you."
Her mask tilted slightly. "You thought I was a man."
"I—well—" Kai floundered. "The mask, the hood, and the way you never talk. I just assumed—"
"Assumed wrong."
"Yeah, clearly."
A beat of silence. Then—
"Did you look long?"
Kai's soul briefly left his body.
"No! I mean—I saw enough to realize it was you, and then I hid. That's it." He dragged a hand through his hair. "I wasn't—I didn't—linger."
Grin's fingers twitched. The threads of her mutation still hovered in the air, shimmering faintly.
"One word about this," she said softly, "and I'll have your spinal cord folded into origami."
Kai nodded rapidly. "Understood."
Another pause. Then Grin exhaled sharply, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.
They sat by the lake, the awkwardness thick enough to choke on. Grin had her knees drawn up, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Kai stared resolutely at the water, as if it held the secrets of the universe.
Finally, Grin spoke.
"No one can know. Not even Sylvie or the whole band."
Kai glanced at her. "Secret's safe, I swear."
She tilted her head, studying him. "Why?"
"Because it's yours to tell, not mine."
Something in her posture eased, just slightly.
The silence that followed wasn't comfortable—but it wasn't hostile either.
Kai risked a small smile.
"For what it's worth... the whole 'mysterious masked enigma' thing still works."
Grin didn't laugh. But her fingers unclenched, just a little.
Then, Kai's portable receiver crackled to life, the air above it shimmering as Marin's holographic interface flickered into existence.
The projection was grainy, distorted by Rift interference, but her sharp features were unmistakable—glasses reflecting the glow of multiple data streams, lips pressed into a thin line of concentration.
Her eyes snapped to Kai first, then to Grin standing stiffly beside him.
"Kai?! Finally—" A pause. "Oh, and you're with Grin? That's... honestly great."
There was no time for questions. Marin's fingers danced across an unseen console, and the hologram expanded, projecting a three-dimensional map of the Rift's subterranean layers around them.
"Listen carefully. We don't have much time."
The hologram zoomed in on their position—a pulsing red dot in what looked like a network of caverns and tunnels.
"You're underground—lower Rift strata. Biofeedback shows a unique Gemstone signal less than half a klick from your position."
The projection shifted, highlighting a chamber deep within the rock.
"We cross-referenced the readings. There's something guarding it."
A rotating model of a crystalline structure appeared—jagged, multifaceted, its core glowing an eerie violet.
"Gemstones anchor the Rift's dimensional lock. Destroying them collapses the zone and ejects anything inside back to Earth-space."
The hologram flickered, emphasizing the core's outer layers.
"This one's a Type-B Core. More resilien and more shielded than normal ones."
The projection dissolved into static before reforming into a blurry thermal outline—something massive, its heat signature erratic.
"Unidentified. It has high thermal and pheromone emissions—possibly psychic traits."
The map reappeared, this time highlighting a cluster of bulbous, root-like structures near their path.
"To reach the chamber, you'll need to restore power to the Bio-Conduction Locks. That means rerouting energy from old Rift Fungal Roots nearby."
Marin adjusted her glasses, the hologram distorting further as Rift static worsened.
"This Rift's unstable. The longer we stay, the more hostile it'll get." Her gaze locked onto Kai. "Watch your parasite loads and mutations."
Grin's mask turned toward Kai.
No words were needed. They had work to do.
---
The cavern stretched before them, its walls lined with towering mushrooms that pulsed a faint, ghostly blue.
Thick root structures arched overhead like the ribs of some long-dead beast, their surfaces etched with strange, vein-like patterns that shimmered when touched by the spores drifting through the air.
The ground was uneven—shattered stone mixed with patches of soft, spongy growth that yielded underfoot with a quiet squelch.
Kai stepped carefully, his boots sinking slightly into the damp earth. Beside him, Grin walked in silence, her usual masked presence replaced by something... looser.
Then, without warning, she reached up and pulled back her hood. Then the mask.
Kai nearly tripped over a root.
Grin's face was sharp—high cheekbones, a slightly upturned nose, lips pressed into a neutral line. Her violet-pink hair, now free of the hood, fell in loose waves around her shoulders. But it was her eyes that caught him—golden, slit-pupiled, glowing faintly in the dim light.
She caught him staring and arched a brow.
"Problem?"
Kai coughed. "No, just... wasn't expecting that."
Grin snorted. "Yeah, that's the point."
They walked a few more steps before she spoke again, quieter this time.
"I wear the mask because they never took girls seriously in the earlier Institutes." A pause.
Kai glanced at her. "That's crazy."
"Yeah. It is." She shrugged.
Kai smirked. "And here I thought you were just really into theater."
Grin elbowed him—hard—but there was no real heat behind it. "Shut up."
A long beat of silence, then Kai exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Look, about earlier—"
"Don't." Grin cut him off. "It's done."
"I just... I feel like I should apologize or explain. Or—"
"Or stop talking before you make it worse?"
Kai groaned. "Yeah. That."
Grin shook her head, but there was the faintest twitch at the corner of her mouth. "You're really bad at this."
"At what?"
"Talking to girls."
Kai's face burned. "I—what—that's not—"
Grin laughed—a short, sharp sound that echoed off the cavern walls. "You're blushing."
"I am not."
"You are. It's adorable."
Kai groaned again, louder this time. "I regret everything."
---
As they walked, Kai tapped the device Marin had given him, pulling up the interface. The hologram flickered to life, displaying Sekh's genetic classification in glowing text.
[SEKH - GENETIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM]
Name: Sekh
Origin: GeneDevourer Parasite (Class: Lineage)
Status: Bonded (Instinct Layer)
Lineage Tag: Vogel Line
Gene Fragments: Neural Storage Core, Adaptive Gene Canal, Host-Bound Consciousness, Gene Devourer Ability
Note: Last Registered Activation - 3 Years Ago
Kai's breath caught.
Vogel Line and three years ago.
The raid, the fire and his parents' bodies in the wreckage. And now this—this thing inside him, carrying their name like a brand.
"You are mine now..." The whisper echoed in his skull, older than he'd realized.
It wasn't just some freak accident. It was waiting for me.
Grin noticed his stillness. "What's wrong?"
Kai exhaled slowly. "Nothing. Just... parasite stuff."
She studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Ask."
"What are GeneDevourers?"
Grin tilted her head. "People with parasites. That's why it's called Gene—because the parasites rewrite DNA. They grant abilities, but they're not just tools. They have their own evolution paths based on their species."
"Alright..." Kai pulled up his interface again, scrolling to the primary mutation log.
So what's my parasite's main ability?
[PRIMARY MUTATION - SEKH]
[Primary Mutation: Gene Devourer
Ability: Adaptive Gene Consumption
Effect: Enables the host to consume, analyze, and integrate genetic material from any organic species.
Status: Core mutation — forms the foundation of all symbiote evolution.]
WHAT!? Devouring genes is my main ability?
The thought slammed into Kai like a fist to the gut. He stopped walking. His breath hitched. The weight of it, the implications—it all hit at once, too fast to process.
I thought that was just what all GeneDevourers did...
He felt his heart pounding, hands twitching slightly at his sides. His gaze flicked toward the flickering edge of Marin's faded hologram, as if hoping her words had glitched. As if this wasn't what she had meant to say.
But deep down, he knew it was true.
"It's what they call themselves, not their abilities," Sekh said, her voice curling into his mind like smoke drifting into cracks. "GeneDevourer is just a title—a mantle. A name born of function. But yours... yours is different. This ability to devour genes so deeply—it comes from the Vogel Lineage, and it's not the same as what the others do."
Kai blinked hard, thoughts jumbled.
Really...? That's convenient. I don't even know if I trust you right now.
He clenched his jaw. Something about the way Sekh said it—soft, unhurried—made it feel rehearsed. But also inevitable.
"Think of it like this," Sekh continued before he could push back. "Batman took on the traits of a bat—his tools, his methods, his image—but the name itself was just a symbol, not a descriptor of his biology. In the same way, most GeneDevourers may use genes from parasites, but they don't embody what they consume the way you do."
Kai's mouth opened slightly, but he didn't speak.
I... I never thought about it like that.
I thought I was just like them—just another GeneDevourer trying to survive. But if what it's saying is true, then I'm not copying traits. I'm absorbing them and I can use them in future battles.
He felt suddenly small beneath the weight of it.
My parasite isn't just a tool.
It's a key. And my blood—my lineage—might be the lock it was meant to fit.
Sekh's presence swirled gently at the edge of his thoughts, saying nothing more.
The silence left space for something else to rise: not fear, not awe—just a terrible, quiet understanding.