Nico woke before dawn, not to the hum of the city or the occasional shudder of a mag-rail passing underground, but to the deep, steady rhythm of his own heartbeat echoing in his skull. T
he strange vitality from the gene evaluation hadn't faded overnight. If anything, it had settled into him, like his body had been quietly rewiring itself in the dark.
He rolled out of bed, stretching until his joints cracked, and realised something strange — no stiffness, no lingering soreness from catching a falling crate that could have killed him yesterday.
His body felt… rebuilt. Not in an exaggerated, fantastical way, but in a steady, unshakable way, like a fortress with walls thicker than they looked.
Padding quietly to the kitchenette in Lex's apartment, he poured a glass of water and caught sight of himself in the reflection of the window.
Same face. Same hair.
But his eyes — there was a new faint ring of silver just inside the iris, and his skin seemed subtly healthier, as if lit from within.
"You're up early," Lex's voice came from the doorway. She was in sweatpants and a loose shirt, hair a mess but eyes sharp, scanning him like she was checking for cracks in glass.
"Couldn't sleep," Nico admitted.
"You didn't sleep," she corrected, stepping into the kitchen. "And you're not tired, are you?"
He hesitated. "No."
Her gaze narrowed. "That's not just Aquila Strength or Helios Adaptation. What else came online?"
For a second, Nico thought about lying. But she'd know. She always knew. "Thanatos Regeneration," he said.
Lex froze, then let out a short, incredulous laugh. "You're joking."
"I'm not."
"That gene is supposed to be… rare to the point of being unconfirmed," she said quietly. "It's not just healing, Nico. It's cellular reset. There's a reason people call it the 'death cheat' gene."
"I didn't ask for it," he said. "It just… happened."
Lex paced, running a hand through her hair. "You don't understand what this means. People like you get noticed fast. And not just by the Council or the Bureau. You've heard of the Black Dawn?"
"Yeah," Nico said. Everyone had. The Black Dawn was the shadow under every news report — a terrorist network operating outside national lines, specialising in assassinations, sabotage, and targeted strikes. Their goal was simple: bleed a nation's talent pool until it collapsed from within.
"They have spotters in every evaluation centre," Lex said. "You think that drone incident yesterday was an accident?
No. That was a test. They push a crisis in public, see who reacts in ways normal people can't. Now they know exactly what you can do."
Nico swallowed hard. He'd felt the eyes in the crowd.
"That's why we can't leave you floating out here," Lex continued. "You need structure. Protection. Training. And the only place you'll get that without disappearing into some underground bunker is the Helios National Gene Academy. They recruit for talent — and they defend their own."
Nico had heard of Helios. It wasn't just a school. It was the country's primary forge for high-tier gene wielders, a blend of military academy and research institute.
"You're coming with me," Lex added. "I've already been offered a peer slot for the winter intake. If you're in my squad, I can keep an eye on you."
Nico smirked faintly. "You mean I can keep an eye on you."
"Sure," she said, deadpan, but the corner of her mouth twitched.
That afternoon, their application transport skimmed over the silver-and-green sprawl of Helios Academy's campus — a self-contained city built around towering training domes, beast-hunting arenas, and research spires.
From above, the central plaza formed a twelve-pointed star, each arm representing one of the known gene levels.
As the transport descended, Nico felt the hum in his blood again. His three active genes — Aquila, Helios, Nyx — had settled into a kind of rhythm. But Thanatos was different. Quiet, patient, almost like it was… waiting.
Waiting for what, he didn't know.
That night, as the first-year recruits filed into the dorm wings, a figure in the crowd paused just long enough to send a silent message on a hidden transmitter.
Target acquired. Black Dawn priority. Initiate phase one: elimination before first field deployment.
The induction hall was a cathedral of glass and steel, sunlight pouring through the domed roof and catching on the banners of twelve shimmering gene levels that hung from the rafters.
Rows of new recruits stood at attention, the air thick with a cocktail of nerves, ambition, and the faint tang of the Academy's sterilisation fields.
Nico stood in the middle of it all, hands at his sides, eyes flicking from face to face. Everyone here radiated potential — some more openly than others. Lex was a steady presence beside him, unreadable as always.
A tall instructor with the posture of a steel beam strode to the podium at the far end of the hall. "Recruits," she said, her voice carrying like a blade through the air, "you have been chosen because you possess the capacity to serve this nation in its most critical defense.