Kael Rainer – Two Days After the Voidout
The land still trembled.
Even two days after the blast, the earth surrounding Central Knot pulsed with the memory of death. Kael Rainer had walked through warzones before. He'd seen fallout zones, rogue Timefall storms, even BT nests that stretched across an entire valley.
But nothing like this.
This wasn't just damage. This was a scar on the soul of the continent.
He moved carefully across the glassy black hills, charred remnants of cities fused with tar and bone. The Odradek on his shoulder spun without sound. Not a warning—just confusion. Even it couldn't decide what it was sensing.
Mire flickered beside him, drifting further than usual. She hadn't spoken since the glimpse of Samantha. Not that she ever truly spoke—but there had been presence in her movements before. A rhythm. A reaction.
Now she just floated, like her thoughts were elsewhere.
Kael adjusted the pod, feeling the subtle warmth of the child's presence. The girl inside stirred more often now—no cries, no panic, just soft motion. As if the proximity of the crater, and maybe the ghost who left that beacon, was waking her up.
Kael didn't know what to feel about that.
He wasn't ready to understand her.
Or himself.
---
The sun broke through a cloud layer for the first time since the Voidout. It didn't bring warmth. Just visibility.
Kael used the moment to rest near the shell of a twisted freight truck. Half-submerged in tar, its axles fused to the ground, the vehicle served as shelter and grave marker both. The interior was charred, but Kael spotted two decomposed delivery tags in the front seat—names long erased by acid rain.
He lowered himself beside the wreck, checked the pod, and ate a ration bar in silence.
Mire hovered above the truck, watching the distance.
She finally moved toward him.
And knelt beside the pod.
Her hand hovered above the glass dome but never touched it.
Kael stared. "You remember more every day."
No answer.
Just a slow nod.
He leaned back, trying to breathe normally.
"She saw me," he muttered. "Samantha. She was there. And she left something for me."
The pod pulsed softly.
Kael spoke slower now, like admitting it to himself was riskier than walking through BT zones unarmed.
"She's like me," he said. "Or… what I used to be. She's not walking for Bridges. Not anymore. She's walking for herself."
A long pause.
"She's the only one who's earned that."
Mire finally looked at him.
The wind stirred. Then the silence broke.
Odradek extended and snapped hard to the left.
Kael was on his feet in seconds. Mire vanished. The pod flared yellow.
BTs.
He turned just in time to see the air ripple.
Hands clawed from the tar beside the ruined truck. First one. Then four. Then a swarm. The terrain gave way like a rotting lung, wheezing tar up into the air. A form coalesced from blackness and scream.
Chiral lion, malformed. Fast.
Kael bolted.
The creature gave chase.
He sprinted over the ridge, breathing heavy but focused. The pod whined in alarm as the terrain warped. A building sank into the muck behind him. The BT pounced from rock to rock, each leap echoing with broken glass and distant howls.
Kael pulled the only vial of anti-BT fluid he had left.
He turned and threw.
The impact seared the BT's face, sending it tumbling—but only for seconds.
It rose. Angry. Loud.
He had only one option left.
Call her.
"Mire!"
Her form exploded from the hillside, a wave of spectral energy crashing into the BT. The beast recoiled, screeching. Kael turned to run, but stopped.
Mire wasn't attacking to destroy it.
She was holding it down.
Taming it.
Her glow merged with the tar. The lion BT convulsed, then… stilled. Like its tether had been severed. Like she had claimed it.
It faded into chiral dust.
The rain stopped.
Kael stared at her as she reappeared—now standing. Fully formed. Breathing, almost. Not flickering. Not broken.
Different.
"Mire… what are you becoming?"
She looked over her shoulder at him.
And smiled.
---
Kael didn't sleep that night.
Instead, he watched the pod.
The child inside moved again—only this time, her hand pressed against the glass.
Like she wanted to walk too.
---