The orphanage was built near the industrial border of the city. Freight lines ran behind it. Cooling towers stood like gray giants in the distance. It was not a place meant for comfort. It was a place meant for survival.
At sixteen, everyone had to do patrol duty.
It wasn't real combat. Just observation. Walk assigned routes. Report strange distortions. Never engage.
"Never engage" was repeated often.
Auren walked alone that day.
His assigned partner had fallen sick. The supervisor hesitated, then allowed it.
"Sector-12 is quiet," the supervisor said. "Just log anything unusual."
Auren nodded and left.
His Sync Rate sat at 11%.
Low. Stable. Normal.
That was how he preferred it.
The transit corridor was empty. Metal containers stacked on both sides. Old rails running down the center. Steam drifting from distant pipes.
He walked calmly, eyes scanning before trusting his wrist monitor.
Halfway down the route, something changed.
The air felt heavier.
He stopped.
Between two containers, the space shimmered slightly. Like heat rising from asphalt.
His monitor showed nothing.
But his instincts tightened.
12%.
He raised his wrist to report.
The shimmer split open.
Not loudly.
Not violently.
Just a thin tear in reality.
And something stepped out.
It looked human at first.
Then it moved.
Its arms were too long. Its joints bent strangely. Its surface reflected light like wet stone.
It didn't scream.
It stared.
Auren stepped back slowly.
"Retreat," he whispered to himself.
The creature tilted its head.
Then it disappeared.
He turned—
It was already in front of him.
The first hit came fast.
He barely blocked it with his training blade. The impact threw him against a metal container. Pain shot through his ribs.
13%.
He rolled just as the second strike cracked the pavement.
This wasn't a weak monster.
It was watching him.
Learning.
He attacked during a small opening.
The blade hit.
Nothing happened.
No damage.
The creature adjusted instantly.
14%.
He tried to steady his breathing.
Think.
Create distance.
Call for help.
He reached for his wrist device—
The creature moved again.
Faster this time.
The next blow hit his torso directly.
The world flipped.
He crashed onto the concrete. His vision blurred. He couldn't feel his left arm properly.
Something warm spread beneath him.
Blood.
16%.
The creature walked toward him slowly.
No rush.
It had already decided the outcome.
Auren tried to stand.
His body wouldn't respond.
The creature raised its arm. The edge sharpened unnaturally.
He understood.
This was the end.
There would be no backup in time.
No dramatic rescue.
Just calculation.
I'm going to die.
The strike came down.
And something inside him answered.
The world froze.
Sound disappeared.
Pain vanished.
Words appeared in his vision.
He didn't understand them fully.
But he understood one thing.
Something had activated.
The creature's blade stopped just before touching his chest.
Suspended.
Auren wasn't lying down anymore.
He was standing.
He didn't remember moving.
His mind felt clear. Sharper than ever before.
He could see the creature differently now. Not just its shape — but the rhythm of its movement. The slight delay before each attack. The pattern hidden beneath it.
He stepped forward.
The air around him shifted slightly.
For a brief moment, the creature's movement broke.
Just a fraction of a second.
Enough.
He drove his blade into its center.
This time, it worked.
The creature cracked apart like broken glass and dissolved into light.
Silence returned.
Then pain returned too.
His legs gave out.
He fell to one knee, breathing hard.
His Sync Rate flashed wildly.
28%
21%
19%
It didn't make sense.
He had never crossed 15% before.
Words flickered again in his vision.
Most disappeared too quickly to read.
One stayed longer.
Sovereign Fragment — Dormant
He didn't know what that meant.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
Too late.
He tried to stand.
Failed.
The adrenaline faded.
Cold weakness replaced it.
Footsteps approached. Voices shouted.
His vision darkened.
One final line appeared before everything went black.
Secondary signal detected.
Then nothing.
When he opened his eyes, the ceiling was white.
He smelled disinfectant.
He heard machines beeping softly beside him.
Hospital.
His ribs were tightly wrapped. His arm was secured. His body felt heavy.
He stayed still and thought.
His Sync Rate showed 17%.
Stable.
Higher than ever before.
He closed his eyes and replayed the fight.
The system hadn't awakened slowly.
It had triggered at the exact moment he was about to die.
Not growth.
Not training.
Something else.
It felt like permission.
Like something had been waiting.
He focused inward carefully.
Faint lines appeared again.
Core — Incomplete
Access — Denied
Incomplete.
That word stayed.
If something inside him was incomplete—
Then the rest of it existed somewhere.
The thought didn't scare him.
It bothered him.
Outside his room, someone paused briefly before walking away.
Watching.
Monitoring.
Auren stared at the ceiling.
The monster wasn't random.
The activation wasn't random.
And that final message—
Secondary signal.
Someone else had felt it.
He closed his eyes again.
Not to sleep.
To think.