Morning light entered the hospital room slowly.
Auren was awake before the nurses arrived.
The ceiling above him was plain white. No screens. No system panels. Just quiet light and the steady rhythm of the heart monitor beside the bed.
His body still hurt.
The bandages across his ribs were tight, and moving too fast sent sharp reminders through his chest. But the pain was manageable.
Pain meant he was alive.
That was enough.
He turned his head slightly and looked toward the window. The city outside looked normal from this height. Clean streets. Calm traffic. No signs of fractures or monsters.
But Auren knew how quickly that calm could disappear.
The memory of the creature returned.
The corridor.
The pressure in the air.
The moment the system voice had interrupted reality itself.
Auren closed his eyes briefly.
Something about that moment felt unfinished.
Like a sentence cut in the middle.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
The door opened before he answered.
Three men entered the room.
Gray uniforms. Administrative badges.
No hunter insignia.
Auren immediately understood why they were here.
Behind them, near the door, Oran and Dylan stepped in quietly.
They stayed against the wall.
Observers.
The senior official stepped closer to the bed.
"Hunter candidate Auren Veyne," he said calmly.
Auren nodded once.
The official held a thin data pad.
"You were involved in last night's anomaly event in Sector 9."
"Yes."
"You engaged the entity alone."
"Yes."
The official looked down at the report.
"Detection systems classified the entity as a Level-Four escalation."
The room grew slightly quieter.
Level-Four monsters required trained hunters with stable Sync rates. Usually teams.
Auren's Sync Rate was nowhere near that level.
The official continued.
"At the time of engagement, your recorded Sync Rate was seventeen percent."
"Yes."
The man lifted his eyes.
"And yet you survived."
Auren did not respond immediately.
The second official stepped forward.
"Seventeen percent Sync cannot handle a Level-Four anomaly," he said. "Explain how you survived."
Auren looked at him calmly.
"It tried to kill me."
The official waited.
Auren added, "I didn't let it."
The answer was simple.
Too simple.
The officials exchanged a short glance.
The senior official tapped the report again.
"Our sensors detected a temporary disruption in the creature's movement pattern."
He looked back at Auren.
"It froze."
Auren remained still.
"That type of disruption does not occur at seventeen percent Sync."
Silence filled the room.
The second official spoke again.
"Did your system activate an additional ability?"
"No."
"Did another hunter assist you?"
"No."
"Did you experience external interference?"
"No."
Each answer came without hesitation.
The officials studied his face carefully.
Looking for uncertainty.
Looking for fear.
They found neither.
Behind them, Oran shifted slightly.
Dylan's arms remained crossed.
Both of them had seen what remained of the creature after they arrived.
The body had not looked like a normal Level-Four kill.
The damage pattern was wrong.
But they said nothing.
The senior official lowered the data pad.
"Your Sync Rate spiked briefly during the encounter," he said.
"Yes."
"Seventeen percent should not spike like that."
Auren's expression did not change.
"Maybe the system miscalculated."
The official stared at him.
"Systems do not miscalculate."
Auren answered quietly.
"Then something else did."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Finally the third official stepped forward.
"This is not a disciplinary review," he said. "It is an anomaly assessment."
Auren nodded once.
"You will be monitored."
"I understand."
"If another irregularity occurs, you will be transferred for evaluation."
The word evaluation carried weight.
Testing facilities.
Isolation.
Sometimes hunters never returned from them.
Auren did not react.
The senior official closed the report.
"That will be all."
The three men turned and left the room.
The door shut behind them.
The silence that followed felt heavier.
Dylan exhaled slowly.
"That went well," he muttered.
Auren glanced toward him.
Oran pushed himself away from the wall and walked closer to the bed.
"That thing wasn't Level-Four," he said.
Auren didn't answer.
Dylan nodded.
"We've fought Level-Four before," he added. "That creature felt different."
Stronger.
More unstable.
Auren looked at them both.
Oran studied his face carefully.
"What actually happened in that corridor?"
Auren looked back toward the ceiling.
"It hesitated."
"That's not what I mean."
"I know."
Another quiet pause.
Dylan rubbed the back of his neck.
"When we arrived, the body looked like something crushed it from inside."
Auren didn't respond.
Oran finally sighed.
"Whatever happened," he said, "Administration doesn't like things they can't explain."
"I know."
Dylan gave a short nod.
"We'll say we arrived after termination."
"That's the truth," Auren said.
Oran smiled slightly.
"Convenient truth."
They didn't ask further questions.
They knew Auren well enough to recognize when he wasn't going to explain something.
After a few more minutes, they left the room.
The door closed again.
Auren was alone.
He slowly focused inward.
The system interface appeared faintly in his vision.
Lines of text flickered.
Sync Rate — 17% (Stable)
Structural Repair — 34%
Archive Access — Locked
He waited.
Nothing else appeared.
The moment in the corridor replayed again in his mind.
The monster's claws.
The pressure.
The system interruption.
The sudden silence when the creature froze.
Then darkness.
Auren frowned slightly.
It hadn't felt like his power.
It felt like something had recognized him.
He whispered quietly.
"What are you?"
The system gave no response.
Only the steady interface remained.
Auren closed the system window.
For now, questions would remain unanswered.
Across the city, far above the upper districts, another man was reading the same report.
Director Kael stood inside his office.
The city lights stretched beneath him like distant stars.
The report on his desk displayed one name.
Auren Veyne.
Kael read it slowly.
Then he leaned back in his chair.
The surname was not unfamiliar.
Years ago, another man had carried it.
Elias Veyne.
Kael opened a hidden archive.
Old files appeared on the screen.
The Red Breach Incident.
Seventeen years earlier.
Thousands dead.
Among them—
Elias Veyne.
Kael remembered that night clearly.
Elias had been one of the few hunters strong enough to stand near the system fracture when it happened.
He had made a decision.
A dangerous one.
Kael closed the file.
Another document appeared automatically.
Survivor: Auren Veyne
Age at incident: 7
Probability of survival during extraction: extremely low.
Yet the boy survived.
Kael stood and walked toward the window.
Below him, the city continued its quiet routine.
The recent report repeated in his mind.
Seventeen percent Sync.
High-level anomaly.
Survived alone.
Kael knew exactly how unlikely that was.
He spoke quietly into the empty office.
"So it's starting again."
Not fear.
Not surprise.
Just recognition.
Elias had once believed the fragment could survive the collapse.
Kael had not been certain.
But now…
The system disturbance was too familiar.
He activated a secure communication line.
"Maintain observation on the subject," he said.
A pause.
"No direct interference."
The line disconnected.
Kael remained near the window.
If the fragment had truly resurfaced…
Then the future of the system itself might begin moving again.
And the boy carrying the Veyne name would be at the center of it.
Back in the hospital room, Auren stared quietly at the ceiling.
The city outside was calm.
But something inside him had changed.
The system had awakened once.
And next time…
It might not wait until the last second.
Auren slowly closed his eyes.
For now, seventeen percent was enough.
For now.