Rheon woke up screaming.
Air tore into his lungs like knives. His body slammed upright on instinct, hands clawing at nothing as pain roared through every nerve.
Then—
Silence.
Not peaceful.
Empty.
He blinked hard.
The sky above him was wrong.
Too dark for dawn. Too bright for night. Clouds hung motionless, split by a faint, glowing scar that stretched across the heavens like the world had been wounded.
Rheon swallowed.
He wasn't dead.
Which somehow felt worse.
"—Rheon."
The voice snapped him fully awake.
He twisted—
Elara was kneeling beside him, her hands trembling where they hovered over his arm, afraid to touch. Her face was pale, eyes glassy, hair tangled with ash.
"You're alive," she whispered, like saying it too loudly might undo it.
Rheon sucked in a breath. "So are you."
The moment their eyes met—
Pain spiked.
Not physical.
Emotional.
Raw panic flooded him, sharp and choking.
Her fear.
Rheon hissed, clutching his chest. "What—what are you feeling right now?"
Elara flinched. "You."
Before he could respond, a shadow loomed.
Kael.
He stood a few steps away, shirt torn, blood drying along his ribs. His posture was relaxed—but Rheon felt the tension coiled beneath it, like a weapon barely holstered.
"You can feel each other too," Kael said quietly.
It wasn't a question.
Rheon looked at him. "You're… calmer."
Kael exhaled slowly. "Because if I don't stay calm, both of you panic."
Elara stared at him. "You're holding us together."
Kael's jaw tightened. "That wasn't a choice."
Rheon pushed himself to his feet, legs shaking.
They were standing in the wreckage of the aircraft—or what remained of it.
Metal lay twisted like melted bone. Crates were embedded halfway into the ground. The cockpit had been obliterated.
No bodies.
No pilots.
No signs anyone had ever been there.
"That thing," Rheon said slowly, "was flying at terminal velocity."
"And we didn't die," Elara whispered.
Rheon looked down at his hands.
Faint white symbols flickered across his skin—gone when he blinked, present again when his heart spiked.
"I think," he said, voice low, "we didn't just survive."
The ground shuddered.
All three froze.
A low hum rose from beneath their feet—deep, resonant, like the planet itself was responding.
Elara gasped, grabbing her head. "Something's coming. I—I can hear it."
Kael stepped in front of them without thinking.
From the shadows of the wreckage, figures emerged.
Not masked.
Armored.
Black exosuits marked with the same spiral insignia—now sharp, militarized.
Weapons raised.
A voice echoed from their helmets, cold and amplified.
"Chaosborn Nodes confirmed."
Rheon's stomach dropped. "You've got to be kidding me."
"You survived atmospheric impact," the voice continued. "That makes you assets."
"And if we refuse?" Kael asked calmly.
There was a pause.
Then—
"Then you become variables."
The soldiers opened fire.
Rheon reacted without thinking.
Time stretched.
Not slowed.
Bent.
The bullets screamed toward them—
—and veered.
Metal warped midair, dragged by an invisible force that snapped around Rheon's will.
"What—what am I doing?!" he shouted.
Elara cried out as a sharp tone tore from her chest—
a soundless wave that rippled outward, shattering visors, scrambling targeting systems.
Kael moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
He crossed the distance in seconds, disarming one soldier, slamming another into the ground hard enough to crack stone.
The battlefield fell silent.
Smoke drifted.
The remaining soldiers retreated, dragging their wounded, fear bleeding through their formation.
"Fall back," the voice snapped. "Report to command."
They vanished into the treeline.
Rheon stood frozen, heart hammering.
Elara stared at her hands, shaking. "I didn't mean to—"
Kael wiped blood from his knuckles. "You meant to protect us."
Rheon laughed once, breathless and shaky. "We just took on a black-ops unit."
"And won," Elara said faintly.
A new sound cut through the moment.
A ping.
All three of their devices—Rheon's laptop, Elara's tablet, Kael's phone—lit up at once.
Same message.
Same calm, inhuman tone.
TRINITY RESPONSE: SUCCESSFUL.
POWER EXPOSURE: CONFIRMED.
ESCALATION PROTOCOL: PHASE TWO.
Below it, a map unfolded.
A single location pulsed red.
Rheon stared at it. "They're not done with us."
Kael met his gaze. "Neither are we."
Elara swallowed, feeling their heartbeats align again—steady, dangerous, inevitable.
Somewhere far above them, the scar in the sky closed.
And the Spiral, satisfied with the outcome, began preparing the next test.