"So… my brother is dead?"
The words cut through the silence like a blade. General Garran Halveth stood still, hands clasped behind his back, his towering presence casting a long shadow across the war table.
"Yes, General," the Adapter soldier said, voice tight with caution.
Garran's gaze dropped to the floor for a heartbeat, unreadable. Then his eyes slowly lifted... once cold, now burning with barely contained fury.
"Who?" he asked, his voice low and sharp.
The soldier hesitated. "An Adapter, sir… one who was working as a slave. At Cindertide Fortress."
Garran's fists tightened behind him.
"A slave?" he repeated, the word venomous on his tongue.
"You're right, sir," the soldier replied, swallowing hard. "And it turns out… he's not an ordinary Adapter. He's a Double Force user."
The words hung heavy in the air.
Garran's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, there was silence... so deep it felt like the world itself had stopped breathing.
"A slave…" he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. "And a Double Force user."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"Prepare a full report," he said coldly, turning away. "I want everything... his name, his origin, how he slipped through our system."
He paused, then added with a voice like grinding steel,
"And ready my unit. We're headed to Cindertide."
Meanwhile...
In the lands of Dawnlight Fortress, a forest shimmered under the golden hue of early evening, where light filtered through thick canopies and danced across the moss-covered ground.
A lone figure moved unsteadily between the trees, his breaths shallow, each step slower than the last.
It was Kael.
The uncontrolled burst of G Force had caused his core to pulse irregularly within, like a dying star collapsing in on itself. Every breath was laced with pain that burned through his chest— invisible and relentless.
"I… need… a place… to hide…" he whispered, clutching his side.
Then, without warning, his strength gave out.
He collapsed against the base of a wide-rooted tree, body limp, eyes dim. The forest around him was quiet, save for the soft rustling of leaves and the hum of life unaware of the anomaly now lying among them.
Moments later, a shadow moved swiftly between the trees... light-footed, precise.
Shiori Tseng-Yao, reconnaissance commander of the Fifth Intelligence Division, emerged from the underbrush, her eyes scanning the ground with casual alertness. She paused, spotting a figure slumped near the roots.
"Huh…?" she muttered. "Is that a civilian?"
She approached, cautious but curious, and knelt beside the stranger. There were no wounds. No signs of attack. But his face was pale, and every exhale trembled with internal strain. She noticed it instantly... this wasn't exhaustion. It was collapse.
Her expression softened.
"Hey…" she whispered, reaching into her pouch for a nutrient vial. "You're in bad shape, huh?"
Then she rushed Kael to a nearby village fortress for treatment.
When the sun rose, Kael woke up.
His eyes fluttered open to the scent of bitter herbs and antiseptic. The ceiling above him was wooden, aged but clean. Shelves lined the walls around him, cluttered with bottles, gauze, and glowing vials. He lay on a firm cot, a thin blanket draped over his frame, warmth gently pressing against his aching body.
A soft creak echoed from the door as an old man stepped inside... stooped but sharp-eyed, dressed in the simple robes of a village healer.
"Oh… so you're awake," the old man said with a half-smile. "You're lucky. There's still Prion energy flickering in your core. Another hour or two, and you might've shut down entirely."
Kael blinked slowly, still dazed.
The old man chuckled, setting down a glowing blue vial on the bedside table. "You're not from around here, are you?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
"Back before The Great Explosion, 'prion' was just a word in dusty textbooks... some little protein that could rot a brain. Harmless to most. Forgotten by time," he began, voice soft, as if reciting an old tale. "But after the sky burned and the world changed, that word meant something else."
Kael's gaze drifted toward the window, where faint light broke through the trees.
"Now, when we say 'Prion,' we speak of fate… not illness."
The healer pulled up a stool beside him, folding his hands calmly.
"Prion is the essence that the Light left behind... a strange energy that twisted the laws of nature. It clung to the wind, soaked the soil, even settled in our bones. Most who breathed it lost their minds. Became beasts. But a few… they adapted."
The old man tapped a finger gently against Kael's chest.
"And in those few, something began to grow. Not a heart. Not a lung. But a Prion Core... a crystalline force lodged at the center of the body. It pulses with power, but it feeds on pain. It turns the chosen into Adapters… and the Adapters into weapons."
Kael's jaw clenched faintly. He already knew this… but hearing it spoken so gently felt strange.
"The Four Forces," the man continued. "Gravity. Electricity. Strength of the atom. The beauty of decay. Only one per soul... or it breaks you."
Kael's eyes widened, curiosity cutting through his exhaustion.
"What do you mean?" he asked, voice rough.
The old man glanced over from the shelf where he was arranging bottles. "About what?"
"Only one per soul," Kael repeated. "What does that mean?"
The old man paused, then let out a soft breath. "Ah. So you really don't know."
He stayed where he was, not moving closer, his back still half-turned. "Every Adapter can only use one type of force. That's how it works. That's how it has to work."
"Why?" Kael asked, tone sharpening.
The old man glanced over his shoulder, his expression darkening.
"Because if you try to control more than one… the energy inside you turns on you. First your thoughts. Then your body. It breaks you from the inside."
Kael's fingers tightened slightly beneath the blanket.
"And if someone… didn't break?"
The old man paused, then slowly put the final bottle back on the shelf.
"Then they're not just an Adapter," he said quietly. "They're a danger to everyone."
He turned to the door, then added with a gentler tone, "I've got some things to tend to in the back. Rest up. You'll need it."
With that, he stepped out, closing the door softly behind him.
Kael stared up at the wooden ceiling, heart pounding... not from fear, but from the quiet weight of truth settling over him.
He had already crossed that line.
Danger to everyone…
The words echoed.
He remembered Drayven's face crushed under his fist. The blood. The screaming. The way his body moved on instinct. The way power flooded through him... cold, sharp, alive.
And in the middle of all that chaos…
He hadn't felt fear.
He hadn't felt guilt.
What he felt… was something else.
It sat deep in his chest, coiled and hot.
That feeling back then…
Wasn't just rage.
His fingers twitched.
It was pleasure.
And now that he knew… he couldn't forget it.
The room was quiet again, but Kael couldn't stay still. Something inside him stirred... not panic, not fear… just a need to move. To breathe. He pushed himself up, muscles still sore, and stepped outside.
The sunlight hit him gently. It wasn't the harsh, burning light of the mines. This was softer. Real. For a moment, he let it warm his face.
"Look who's up."
A voice cut through the still air. Kael turned his head.
A girl stood nearby, arms crossed, a playful smirk on her lips.
"So you healed faster, huh?" she teased, as if they'd known each other forever.
Kael stared at her hand. Her energy was strange—not aggressive, but persistent. He wasn't used to kindness... especially not from strangers.
He didn't answer. Just watched her.
"Anyway," she continued, "I'm Shiori Tseng-Yao. Commander of Intelligence, Fifth Division."
She held out a hand to shake, her tone light. "Nice to meet you."
Kael stared at the hand, then at her face. Still, he said nothing.
Shiori blinked, then let out an exaggerated gasp. "How rude!" she said, clutching her chest like a dramatic child. "That's how you greet the person who saved your life?"
Still no response.
But the corner of Kael's mouth twitched... just barely.
She noticed. And smiled wider.
Shiori tilted her head, eyes narrowing playfully.
"Oh? Did I just see that?" she said, stepping closer. "Was that… a smile?"
Kael turned his head away. "No."
"Yes," she said, grinning. "That was definitely the beginning of a smile. Don't try to act all stone-faced on me now."
Kael sighed. "You talk too much."
Shiori let out a short laugh. "You're not the first to say that. But most of them didn't have near-death injuries and a death glare to match."
She walked a few steps ahead of him, then turned around and walked backwards, facing him with her hands behind her back.
"So… what's your name?" she asked.
Kael hesitated for a moment. "…Kael."
"Kael." She repeated it thoughtfully, like testing the weight of it. "No last name?"
"Don't need one," he replied flatly.
"Edgy," she said, nodding in mock approval. "You must be popular with the girls."
"I'm not here to make friends."
Her smile softened just slightly. "Good. I'm not either."
There was a pause. A calm breeze rustled the leaves above them.
Shiori stopped walking and turned to face him fully, her tone lowering just a bit.
"Look, I don't know what your story is. But when I found you out there, alone, half-conscious and barely breathing... I didn't leave you behind."
Kael stared at her.
"Not because I'm a commander," she added. "But because you didn't look like someone who wanted to die. You looked like someone still holding on."
Kael looked away, jaw tense.
Shiori smiled again, but gentler this time. "So… whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me for now."
Kael didn't respond. But this time, he didn't walk away either.
And for Shiori, that was more than enough.
Kael stared at her for a moment, the quiet between them stretching. Then finally, he spoke.
"…What do you want?"
Shiori blinked, then smiled as if she'd been waiting for that question.
"Me?" she said, turning as she walked away slowly. "I want you to rest."
Kael frowned slightly.
She looked over her shoulder, flashing a quick wink. "Tomorrow, I'll be back. And by then, you'd better be fully healed."
Her voice was light, but there was something firm in it... like she wasn't asking. She was making a promise.
Then, with a wave of her hand, she disappeared around the path, leaving Kael alone in the fading light, unsure whether he felt more confused… or curious.
Meanwhile, in the scorched remains of Cindertide Fortress...
The air was thick with smoke and silence. The ground was broken... cracked and cratered by a force far beyond anything the Southern Command had seen before.
General Garran stood at the center of it all, boots planted in one of the craters left behind by the one they were now hunting.
"So," he said, voice low, sharp. "Any update?"
A soldier approached, holding out a tablet with both hands, his face tense. "Sir. We've detected two points emitting the same gravitational wave frequency."
Garran's gaze didn't shift from the shattered earth. "The first point?"
"Here, sir. In Cindertide. Right beneath where you're standing."
"And the second one?" Garran asked, calm... but his voice carried a quiet fury, like a blade just before the draw.
The soldier straightened. "Near the Dawnlight Fortress territory, sir."
Garran finally looked up, his eyes gleaming with something dangerous.
"Prepare the units," he said. "We'll investigate both points. Start at the borders."
His voice was quiet.
But every soldier who heard it felt the weight of war pressing in.