Kael didn’t sleep.
He lay on the thin straw mat in his small wooden shack, staring at the ceiling as dawn crept slowly across the sky. The faint blue glow beneath his shirt pulsed softly, in rhythm with his heartbeat. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw it again—the crater, the fragment, the moment it sank into his chest like it belonged there.
Like it had always belonged there.
He lifted his hand in front of his face. It looked normal. The same rough skin. The same faint scars from years of labor. But it didn’t feel normal.
It felt… stronger.
He clenched his fist.
A faint ripple of air distorted around his knuckles.
Kael froze.
He hadn’t moved fast enough to cause that. He was sure of it.
His breathing quickened. Carefully, he swung his legs off the bed and stood. The moment his feet touched the floor, he felt it again—that strange connection. It was as if the world itself had become clearer. Sharper. He could hear the wind brushing against the trees outside. He could hear footsteps in the distance—someone walking nearly fifty meters away.
That shouldn’t have been possible.
“What happened to me…?” he whispered.
He stepped outside.
The morning air was cool, carrying the scent of pine and earth. Villagers were already beginning their daily routines—farmers carrying tools, merchants setting up stalls, children running through the dirt roads.
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Everything looked the same.
But Kael wasn’t.
He walked toward the edge of the village, his thoughts racing. He needed to test it. Needed to understand it.
His eyes landed on a large stone near the training grounds—a practice rock used by young martial apprentices. It was nearly half his height, its surface worn smooth from years of strikes.
Normally, Kael wouldn’t have been able to move it even slightly.
He hesitated.
Then, slowly, he placed his hand on the stone.
The moment his fingers touched it, the thing inside his chest stirred.
A warmth spread down his arm.
Kael pushed.
The stone didn’t just move.
It launched.
It flew several meters across the clearing, slamming into the ground with a deafening crack.
Kael stumbled backward, staring at his hand in shock.
“I… did that?”
His heart pounded violently.
That wasn’t human strength.
That was something else.
Something terrifying.
“Kael?!”
He turned sharply.
Three boys stood at the edge of the clearing. Village apprentices. Their leader, Rovan, stepped forward, his expression twisted with disbelief.
“You moved that?” Rovan demanded.
Kael hesitated. “I… don’t know.”
Rovan scoffed. “Don’t lie. You’re just a labor rat.”
The other boys laughed.
Normally, Kael would’ve stayed quiet. Avoided conflict. But something inside him burned now—not anger, but pressure. Energy. Like a storm waiting to break.
“Leave,” Kael said quietly.
Rovan’s smirk vanished.
“What did you say?”
“I said leave.”
For a moment, silence hung in the air.
Then Rovan lunged, throwing a punch toward Kael’s face.
Time slowed.
Kael saw everything.
The tightening of Rovan’s muscles. The shift of his weight. The exact path of his fist.
Without thinking, Kael moved.
His hand shot forward, catching Rovan’s fist mid-air.
The impact never came.
Rovan’s eyes widened.
Kael squeezed.
A faint crack echoed.
“AAAGH!” Rovan screamed, collapsing to his knees.
Kael released him immediately, horrified.
“I—I didn’t mean—”
The ground trembled.
Kael froze.
The warmth in his chest surged violently, spreading through his entire body.
His vision flickered.
The air around him distorted.
Wind spiraled outward, kicking up dust and debris.
The villagers stopped.
Everyone stared.
Kael’s eyes began to glow.
Not faintly.
Not subtly.
But with the unmistakable radiance of a star.
Inside his chest, the neutron fragment pulsed faster.
Hungry.
Alive.
And watching.
Far above the clouds, beyond the sky itself…
Something ancient stirred.
And it had just found him.
