The sky hadn't always looked like it was about to break apart.Kai remembered when it used to be just… blue.
Now it stretched overhead like a shattered mirror, split by enormous glowing cracks that bled a sickly violet light from one end of the horizon to the other. The rifts pulsed slowly, like wounds that refused to close, throbbing with an eerie rhythm that made it feel as if the heavens themselves were alive—and in pain. From those fractures descended nightmares. Creatures wrapped in chitin and shadow crawled into the world, dragging too many limbs across shattered streets. Eyes burned like embers in twisted skulls. Their roars shook skyscrapers into rubble and turned crowded avenues into graveyards of mangled steel and broken concrete.
Humanity survived through something people called Awakening—a miracle, a curse… maybe both. Ordinary people gained extraordinary abilities. Some controlled fire. Others bent ice, lightning, metal, gravity. The Awakened became hunters, and hunters became heroes. Their battles played on every screen, their victories edited with triumphant music and slow-motion finishes. Children memorized their names. Brands sponsored their weapons. Entire cities slept because they stood guard.
But power came with a cruel truth.
If you didn't Awaken… you didn't matter.
And Kai Verdan stood right at the center of that reality.
Thin. Quiet. Forgettable.
He stared at the fractured sky while sirens wailed endlessly in the distance. Smoke stung his nose. The air always smelled like something had burned recently. The apocalypse wasn't some dramatic event people talked about in past tense. It was routine. It followed him to school, crept into his dreams, and waited for him every morning like an unwanted shadow.
The National Awakening Hall rose like a monument to hope, all steel and glass and towering digital screens. Battle footage looped endlessly—hunters slicing through monsters, explosions blooming like fireworks, commentators shouting with excitement. It should've felt inspiring.
Instead, the pressure in the massive examination chamber was suffocating.
Thousands of students filled the hall, their nervous whispers blending with the low hum of scanning machines. The sharp scent of antiseptic lingered in the air. At the chamber's center stood a glowing testing circle formed by crystalline pillars that projected sheets of scanning light.
One by one, students stepped forward.
Sometimes the chamber erupted in cheers as brilliant energy flared—elements swirling, weapons forming, symbols blazing overhead. Officials rushed to record rankings while the newly Awakened walked off with stunned smiles.
Other times… nothing happened.
The lights dimmed. Silence fell. And another student walked away branded with a single humiliating classification:
Untalented.
Kai's fingers dug into his palms. Each cheer made his heart pound harder. The line grew shorter. His turn crept closer.
Then it came.
"Kai Verdan."
The announcement echoed through the chamber.
Conversations died instantly. Hundreds of eyes turned toward him.
Judging. Measuring. Waiting.
He swallowed and forced his legs forward. Each step felt heavy, like he was walking through deep water. Old memories surfaced without permission—childhood afternoons watching hunters soar across news broadcasts, promising himself he'd become one of them someday.
He wanted to protect people.To matter.To make his parents proud.
Those dreams felt painfully fragile now.
The crystalline pillars lit up as he stepped into the circle. White light washed over him, scanning every inch of his body. Threads of energy traced intricate patterns across his skin.
The chamber held its breath.
Kai did too.
Come on… please…
The glow flickered.
Weakened.
Then sputtered out completely.
A faint hiss filled the air as the machines powered down.
Silence crashed over the chamber.
The central screen flickered, and gray letters appeared like a death sentence.
UNTALENTED
The word burned into his vision.
At first came whispers. Then snickers. Then open laughter.
Kai lowered his head and walked out of the circle, heat crawling up his neck as humiliation twisted in his chest. Every step felt heavier than the last. He didn't look at anyone, but he could feel their stares.
He didn't need powers to know what they were thinking.
Pathetic.
The ridicule only grew after the exam.
By the time classes resumed, the hallways felt like arenas built for his humiliation. Someone had vandalized his locker. Thick paint dripped down the metal surface, spelling one word in cruel strokes:
Trash
Laughter echoed behind him. Phones recorded. No one stepped in.
Kai kept his head down and endured it. What else could he do? Fighting back without power was like punching a mountain. All you did was hurt yourself.
When the final bell rang, he tried to leave quietly.
He didn't get far.
A group of senior students blocked his path near the abandoned transit sector, an area still under reconstruction after repeated monster attacks. Their hunter-brand gear gleamed under the fading sunlight. Expensive. Polished. Untouchable.
Their leader grinned. "Hey, look. It's the guy who failed at being useful."
Mock applause followed.
Kai tried to step around them.
A hand shoved him hard.
His back slammed into a rusted railing.
Pain exploded through his ribs before the first punch even landed.
Blows rained down relentlessly. His stomach twisted. Air refused to enter his lungs. Laughter rang in his ears, sharp and merciless.
"Waste of space."
"Shouldn't they recycle people like you?"
His vision blurred. The taste of iron filled his mouth.
Then hands grabbed him.
Dragged him.
And tossed him through a broken section of fencing.
He hit cracked asphalt hard and rolled onto his side, groaning.
Beyond the fence lay quarantined ruins—zones abandoned after heavy monster incursions.
No patrols.No rescue teams.No law.
Only silence… and distant, inhuman howls.
Kai forced himself upright, every muscle screaming in protest. Ash drifted through the stagnant air. Collapsed buildings loomed like gravestones beneath a dim crimson sky. Burned-out vehicles rusted along fractured roads.
Warning signs hung from crumbling barricades.
DANGER — RESTRICTED ZONE
His chest tightened.
They hadn't just beaten him.
They'd thrown him away.
A low growl rumbled through the street ahead.
Kai froze.
Gravel trembled near his feet.
From swirling dust emerged a massive silhouette—an abomination shaped like a fusion of reptile and insect. Armor-like plates covered swollen limbs. Jagged mandibles dripped corrosive fluid that hissed against the pavement.
Multiple glowing eyes locked onto him.
Predatory. Hungry.
His mind went blank.
He'd seen creatures like this on the news.
Civilians never survived encounters.
The monster crouched—
A thunderous crack split the air.
A beam of condensed energy tore through the creature's torso from somewhere above. The impact detonated in a blinding flash. Shockwaves rippled down the street.
The monster shrieked.
Dark fluid sprayed across the pavement as its colossal body collapsed, cracking the asphalt beneath it.
Kai stared, trembling.
On distant rooftops, armored figures moved swiftly—hunters retreating after the kill, unaware of the powerless boy below.
They vanished within seconds.
Silence returned.
But something felt… strange.
Kai's gaze drifted back to the fallen monster.
Its massive body twitched weakly. A foul stench filled the air as dark liquid pooled beneath it. Yet instead of pure terror, he felt something else.
A pull.
A strange pressure brushed against his skin, like invisible threads tugging him closer.
He should run.
Every instinct screamed it.
But his feet moved forward anyway.
Step by hesitant step.
One remaining eye flickered weakly on the creature's head. For the first time, it didn't look unstoppable.
It looked… dying.
Fragile.
Like him.
Without fully understanding why, Kai extended a trembling hand. Stories floated through his memory—hunters extracting energy cores from monsters.
But he had no tools. No training.
Just an overwhelming compulsion.
The instant his fingers touched its blood-slick armor—
Something surged into him.
Not pain.
Something deeper.
A violent tide of sensation flooded his nerves. The ruined city vanished. Sound disappeared. Darkness swallowed everything.
He floated in an endless void.
No sky.No ground.Only emptiness.
Then lights appeared.
Countless pale motes drifted around him like ghostly embers, moving slowly at first before spiraling faster, forming a radiant vortex. Faint whispers brushed his consciousness—fragments of emotion, memory, something older than language.
Panic clawed at him.
And then—
A presence.
Vast. Ancient. Watching.
Pressure crushed down on him from all directions. Lines of glowing symbols formed in the darkness, assembling into shifting panels of light like system interfaces—but far more complex. Alive. Breathing.
He couldn't understand them.
But he felt it clearly.
Something incomprehensible was examining him.
Measuring him.
Judging his worth.
A voice echoed through the void.
Not heard—but felt.
Cold. Mechanical. Absolute.
Compatible Host Found…Installing System…