The tunnel stretched like a serpent beneath the city dark, old, and half-collapsed in parts. Pipes ran along the ceiling, some hissing with steam, others long silent. Kael led the way with practiced steps, his senses stretched thin. His power hummed just under the surface, ready to ignite.
Behind him, Lira's breathing was uneven. Not panicked. Just shaken.
"You've used it before, haven't you?" Kael asked quietly, eyes scanning the darkness.
"My power?" she said. "No… Not really. I mean, sometimes… dreams. Or when I panic, things flicker. But that… back there? That wasn't me."
He stopped. Turned.
"It was you. You just didn't know how deep the well goes."
Lira swallowed hard, gaze shifting to the floor.
"Do you know what it is?"
Kael hesitated. "Not exactly. But I've seen… fragments like that. Once. Maybe twice. Your power—it's not like mine. Mine pulls weight. Energy. Fields. But yours... it bends something deeper."
He stepped closer.
"You made echoes. Of possibilities. Versions of yourself. Of space. Of time, maybe."
She looked horrified. "That's not possible."
"In our world," Kael said, "possible's just a word the Syndicate hasn't stolen yet."
They moved again, deeper into the tunnel until it opened into a small chamber with cracked tiles and a rusted door labeled Sub-Station 9C. Kael slammed the door shut behind them and dropped a magnetic lock. Then, he collapsed into a worn-out chair, wiping sweat from his brow.
Lira sat on the floor, pulling her knees to her chest. For the first time, Kael saw it: the weight settling in her shoulders. Not just fear.
Grief.
"You remember anything?" he asked after a long silence.
She shook her head slowly. "Bits. My name. A tall man with a badge. A bed with straps. I think I ran. I remember running. And then…"
Her voice broke.
"There were screams. But not mine."
Kael said nothing.
Because he knew that kind of memory.
The kind that didn't just come from trauma. The kind that came from awakening.
"You're a refraction type," he finally muttered. "One of the rarest. You don't just warp space. You reflect possibility. Time. Memory. Maybe even fate."
"That sounds... insane."
He nodded. "Most power is."
Outside, the tunnel rumbled faintly. They both tensed. Drones. Scanning the deeper layers of the city. Hunting.
"They won't stop," Lira whispered.
"No. But we can move before they tighten the net."
She glanced at him. "Where would we go?"
Kael stood, cracking his neck. "There's a place. Not far from here. An old zone no longer mapped on the Syndicate grid. Some of us, people like us hide there."
Lira blinked. "There are more?"
Kael gave a half-smile. "You didn't think you were the only freak in the world, did you?"
And then it hit her, what he meant. The static hum around his body. The subtle drag of gravity with every step he took. The way lightning danced between his fingers like it was alive.
"You're one of them."
Kael nodded. "One of the first."
Lira's eyes didn't waver. "What happened to the rest?"
Kael turned toward the door, eyes darkening.
"Some were taken," he said. "Some are in hiding. And some…"
A pause. A memory flickered in his gaze.
"Some didn't survive."