Kael didn't know how long he'd been walking.
The world beyond GenCore was endless. Red sand stretched in every direction, broken only by black cliffs, twisted metal ruins, and strange bone-like trees that swayed in the wind without moving. Each step burned his feet. His legs ached. The Spiral inside him was quiet.
Too quiet.
Sometimes, he thought he could still feel its heartbeat, just a faint thump behind his ribs. But it was fading. And with it, the strength that had once lifted him beyond human limits.
Now… he was just Kael.
Seventeen. Tired. Half-starved.
And still being hunted.
He stayed low, cutting across narrow valleys and staying out of sight of the sky. Drones still buzzed overhead at times, scanning with silent blue light. He couldn't risk being seen again.
He remembered what Dr. Vex had said before helping him escape.
"Your Spiral is rare, ancient… but unstable. If it breaks entirely, you won't just lose your powers. It could kill you."
He clenched his fists.
"I won't die out here," he muttered.
But the wind answered only with silence.
By nightfall, the sky turned purple. Strange birds circled high above. In the distance, Kael spotted faint lights, flickering orange fires. A camp?
He crawled closer, keeping to the rocks.
There were people. Maybe six of them. Dirty, armed, and laughing too loud.
Scavengers.
The kind that picked off strays like him.
Kael backed away, slow and careful.
Too late.
"Oi!" someone shouted.
Kael bolted.
A gunshot cracked behind him. A plasma bolt struck the rocks beside his head. Sparks burst in the dark. He ducked, ran, and didn't stop.
His Spiral flared weakly, just enough to boost his speed. Just enough to save him.
For now.
An hour later, he collapsed beneath a jagged cliffside, lungs burning. He'd escaped, for now, but the Spiral's glow was gone again.
He looked up at the stars.
In the far distance, past the Wastes, he could see the faint shimmer of a towering storm wall, the energy field that marked the edge of the Riftspire.
It looked like lightning frozen in the sky, cutting through clouds and mountain.
A gate to another world.
A world where he might heal.
A world where he might belong.
He stared at it, bleeding from his arm, dust in his mouth.
And swore to reach it.
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End of Chapter 2 of volume 2