Location: Vel Talem – Inner District
It started with a silence.
Not just quiet but a void.
Three elite scouts from the Academy had gone missing overnight. Their last assignment? Investigating flickers of unstable gravity anomalies on the city's edge.
By sunrise, all that remained of them was a blackened crater—smoking, distorted, and humming faintly with reverse gravity.
Scene: Kael's Perspective
Kael stood before the crater, eyes locked on the still-floating debris. Even the aura in the air felt wrong—off-balanced, like someone had tampered with gravity's very rules.
Behind him, Reina approached quietly.
"I heard the report," she said. "Three Class-A scouts. Gone. This wasn't a monster."
Kael didn't turn. "No. It was me."
Reina stiffened.
"What?"
"Not me me. But something... born from me."
He finally turned, face cold with restrained panic.
"It's using my powers. Not just copying—refining them. I felt the gravitational echo. The frequency was identical to mine... but colder."
Scene Shift: Elsewhere – Industrial Zone
The clone moved like fluid shadow, flickering in and out of sight as factory lights flickered above. Its body was identical to Kael's—but its eyes were an unnatural violet, glowing faintly beneath the hood it wore.
Before it stood a man in chains—a known Void-tech arms dealer who once experimented on orphans for energy harvesting.
The clone stared at him in silence. Then spoke with Kael's voice but hollow.
"You corrupted the weak. You deserve nothing."
The man laughed, spitting blood.
"You think you're a hero, Kael? You're just another freak with god syndrome."
The clone tilted its head.
"I'm not Kael."
And then it raised one finger. Gravity collapsed in a single point—so dense and sharp it sliced the man clean through. No scream. Just silence and blood mist.
The clone turned away, muttering to itself.
"I am what comes after the light."
Scene Shift: Academy War Room
News of the attack spread fast.
Two more disappearances. One student injured beyond recognition. The faculty on high alert.
Kael stood before the Academy heads, being accused.
"You expect us to believe it's not you, Kael?" one of the instructors barked. "Same power. Same signature. Same victims. If you've gone rogue—"
"I haven't," Kael snapped, sparks dancing at his fingertips. "And if you don't listen, more will die."
Dr. Saren stood by him.
"He's telling the truth," she said. "This thing isn't Kael—it's something born from his awakening. Maybe from the Voidborn incident. Maybe something older. But it's evolving. Fast."
A heavy silence filled the room.
"Then what do we do?" someone whispered.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"We hunt it."
Final Scene: The Clone – On a Rooftop
It stared down at the Academy towers, eyes glowing.
"Let him chase. Let him see."
The sky rumbled faintly with static as the clone clenched its hand, summoning a spear of compressed void-gravity.
"When the light dies... the true Kael will rise."