It was a strange feeling, foreign and wrong. Something deep inside him churned, like gears grinding in a machine not built to hold them.
But then... the pain hit.
It was sudden and overwhelming like his entire body was being mashed in a hydraulic press, bones and flesh compressed beyond recognition.
His nerves screamed, fire lancing through every vein as if his blood had turned to molten metal.
Ren collapsed to the floor, teeth clenched so tight they nearly cracked. His vision blurred. His muscles convulsed. It wasn't just pain, it was transformation. A violent rebirth.
And through it all, the core's energy roared inside him, reshaping him from the inside out.
He gritted his teeth, breath hitching as his fingers dug into the concrete floor. His back arched unnaturally as a wave of heat surged through his spine, like fire licking up his nerves. Veins bulged beneath his skin, glowing faintly for a moment—sickly blue with a pulse that didn't feel like his own.
He wanted to scream but forced it down, knowing the others were just outside the room. He couldn't let them hear. Not yet.
His Bones creaked and shifted.
His Muscles tightened, stretched, and tore before knitting themselves back together.
His Heart thundered, not with fear, but with something else… something else more..
Then, just as quickly as it began, the pain ebbed. The world slowed. His ragged breathing filled the room, sweat dripping from his jaw as he stared at his trembling hands.
He could feel it now, his body was different. Stronger. Sharper.
The once faint thrum of the core had vanished. It was no longer inside his pocket.
It was inside him.
Ren slowly rose to his feet, every movement smoother, more precise. He felt alive, dangerously so.
Like his body had finally caught up to the instincts he'd been forced to hone since the collapse of the world.
A quiet knock came at the door.
"Ren?" Claire's voice, soft, concerned. "You okay in there?"
He hesitated, his gaze still locked on his hands, then cleared his throat and forced calm into his voice.
"Yeah. Just needed a minute."
Outside, the storm was still coming. but now, he might just be ready for it.
Since afterall, He had reached it.
It was the early stage of peak human stage, Just before jumping in the stage of Transcendance.
He steadied, His Breathing; Each inhale deeper than the last, The pain had faded, but its echo still lingered in his bones, reminders of what he'd just become.
He flexed his fingers, watching the slight shimmer of power pulse beneath his skin before it vanished again. Control would come with time. For now, he had to keep moving.
He opened the door, eyes meeting Claire's.
She stepped back instinctively, her expression tightening as she studied him. "You look... different."
"Am I?" Ren replied with cheeky tone as smile could be seen in his mouth.
Brian stepped closer, eyes narrowing. "Yeah, you do. It feels like you got stronger or something. But that doesn't make sense, you were only in there for, what, an hour?"
Ren let out a quiet laugh, brushing past them. "Stronger? Come on. Maybe you two are just tired. Seeing things." with that comment, He walked away to check out the place they stay to.
Claire and Brian exchanged a glance as Ren moved away, his steps light but unnervingly silent. There was something off about him—more than just strength. A subtle shift in the way he carried himself. Controlled. Predatory.
Brian muttered under his breath, "Do I really just imagining things?" then a breath of sign and shake of a head as he chose to forgot about it, but he still felt something wrong..
Claire didn't answer, her eyes still following Ren as he surveyed the warehouse.
He ran his fingers along the cracked walls, tapped lightly on metal beams, checking the structure.
Every move was methodical, as if he were sensing more than just sight or sound.
Ren paused near a stack of crates, his head tilting slightly. "This place will hold, at least for a while," he said. "We'll rest here tonight."
Brian frowned. "You sure? That thing we saw earlier, what if it followed us?"
Ren turned, his expression unreadable. "If it comes, I'll handle it."
Something in his voice silenced further argument. Claire studied him carefully. His eyes didn't look tired.
They looked… clear. Like someone who had come out the other side of something terrible, and had made peace with it.
"Fine," she said softly. "We'll set up shifts. I'll take first watch."
Ren nodded. "Wake me if anything moves."
With that, he headed to a corner of the warehouse, crouching down and resting his back against the wall. But he didn't close his eyes. Not yet. He stared out through a sliver in the boarded-up window, watching the darkened street. Listening.
Because he could hear more now, footsteps several blocks away, a flutter of wings overhead, the distant scraping of something metal on stone.
His senses were sharper. The world was louder, clearer, like a veil had been lifted.
Whatever came next, he was no longer just surviving it.
He was evolving into something ready to confront the future.
And in that moment, This wasn't the end of his transformation.
He would grow stronger than before, than his past life. He would be one of the pillar of humanity.
This was the beginning.