The silence in the training room stretched on. Kai's breath was still heavy, his pulse slowing but his mind racing. He wasn't sure what had just happened—only that for a brief moment, he had felt something crack open inside him.
And the President had smiled.
The reinforced doors slid open with a hiss, and the President, stepped inside. The combat instructor remained still, his eyes locked onto Kai with something unreadable—was it fear? No, not quite. More like… understanding.
"Kai," the President said, her voice smooth, measured. "Walk with me."
Kai hesitated, glancing at the instructor, then at the observation window where the scientists were scrambling to analyze whatever had just happened. His mind told him to demand answers, but something about Cross' tone told him that he'd get them if he just followed.
So he did.
She led him through a winding corridor, the walls lined with thick steel doors and small security cameras in every corner. The air smelled sterile, like cold metal and artificial cleanliness.
Finally, they stopped in front of a heavy door with a biometric scanner. The President pressed her hand to it, and the door unlocked with a soft click.
Inside was a dark conference room. A massive screen took up the far wall, and a long table filled the space in the center. Papers and documents were scattered across it.
Kai stepped inside cautiously, the door shutting behind them.
"You felt it, didn't you?" Cross said. She walked over to the table, picking up a tablet and swiping through a file.
Kai exhaled sharply. "You mean the whatever-that-was back in the training room?" He crossed his arms. "Yeah, I felt it. What the hell was that?"
Graves turned the tablet toward him. On the screen was a grainy image of a frozen battlefield—massive icicles jutting from the ground, bodies trapped mid-motion, an entire landscape turned to frost and ruin.
Kai's stomach twisted.
"This is from three weeks ago," Cross said. "A classified incident that occurred in northern Canada. A village was found completely frozen over. No survivors."
Kai frowned. "What does that have to do with—"
She swiped again, showing another image. This one was clearer. The frozen ground was shattered in some places, and deep claw marks lined the landscape. As if something had broken out.
Something big.
Kai felt a chill—not from his powers, but from something else.
"This energy signature," Cross continued, "is identical to the one you just emitted in the training room."
Kai's breath caught in his throat.
His mind raced.
That feeling—whatever had surged through him—was the same thing that had frozen over an entire village?
He looked up at the President, searching for answers. "Are you saying that… I did this?"
"No," Cross said simply. "But something like you did."
The room felt colder.
Kai took a step back, shaking his head. "I—no. That doesn't make sense. I've been frozen in ice for years. I don't remember anything like this—"
"We know," Cross interrupted. "And yet, here we are."
She turned back to the table and tapped a button. The screen zoomed in on a particular section of the image.
Kai's blood ran cold.
A frozen corpse, partially shattered. But that wasn't what caught his attention.
It was the symbol on its armor.
A beetle.
The same as the one from all those years ago.
Kai's hands clenched into fists.
Cross watched him carefully. "We don't know how or why, but something related to that monster survived. And now, it's active. Stronger. We thought the Flagbearers had taken care of it."
She turned to him fully.
"But now, we're starting to believe that they only killed part of it."
Kai's heart pounded.
That thing—the creature that had taken everything from him, that had forced him into years of isolation—wasn't just a relic of the past.
It was still out there.
And it was still alive.
Cross stepped closer. "You're connected to it, Kai. Whether you like it or not."
Kai exhaled slowly, his fingers trembling slightly. He wanted to deny it, to push back—but deep down, he knew. He had felt something stir inside of him today, something he hadn't felt since the day he was frozen.
And it terrified him.
"What… what do you want me to do?" he finally asked.
Cross smiled faintly.
"Simple," she said.
"You're going to help us hunt it down."