Chapter 2: The Spark Within
The white walls of the hospital erupted in chaos.
"Run!" Seraphine shouted.
Kael didn't need to be told twice.
Alarms blared overhead as the white tiles beneath his feet lit up red with every step he took. Behind him, Executor Jalen surged forward like a shadow cast by thunder—sient and fast.
Kael turned a sharp corner, nearly colliding with a medical drone that hovered too low. The thing beeped in alarm and veered upward, narrowly missing his head. He didn't look back. He couldn't look back.
The air sizzled behind him—a hum followed by a snap.
A bolt of blue energy shot past his cheek, exploding into the wall beside him in a burst of sparks and smoke. Kael ducked instinctively, adrenaline pushing him forward even as his heart threatened to burst from his chest.
"Target is mobile," Jalen's distorted voice echoed through the hallway. "Deploy suppression fields."
Kael's mind reeled. Suppression fields. He remembered the stories. Fields of artificial mana that disrupted an Etherion's powers. If they activated one, he was done.
He sprinted harder, boots pounding the floor. To his left, a set of reinforced glass doors loomed. Beyond them, a steep ramp curved downward into the hospital's underground parking bay.
Kael didn't slow.
With a burst of strength he didn't know he had, he rammed his shoulder into the doors. They shattered with a crackling burst of mana, blue arcs of energy crackled around his body like lightning. The impact should have knocked him off his feet—but it didn't. He barely even stumbled.
For a moment, Kael stared at his hands. That strength… it wasn't normal, he grinned "so this is how it feels huh".
Another shot bolted past, snapping him back to reality.
He dove down the ramp, legs pumping, heart racing. The air grew heavier, humming with artificial energy. A net of faintly glowing lines spread across the garage floor—suppression runes.
"No, no, no—"
Kael veered to the right. The runes flared as they sensed his presence, but he was already past them, sliding across the floor behind a parked security transport. The glowing lines faded.
He grinned for a brief second, adrenaline mixing with something deeper—joy.
He was fast.
Faster than he'd ever been in his life.
Before he could think about it further, the wall behind him erupted as Jalen crashed through it like a missile. His cloak flared outward as he landed in a crouch, cracking the concrete beneath his feet.
Jalen straightened. "You're adjusting quickly."
Kael raised both hands, mana still flickering across his fingertips. "i know right why would you want to kill a quick learner like me." Kael said in a laughing tone
"I don't need you dead," Jalen replied. "Just contained."
Then he lunged.
Kael didn't even think. His body moved—dodging to the side as Jalen's armored fist smashed into the truck behind him, denting its side with a thunderous boom. Kael countered with a wild punch. It missed—but not entirely. His fist grazed Jalen's arm, sending a small pulse of energy into the Executor's armor.
Jalen staggered. Just slightly.
Kael took the chance and ran—vaulting over the truck's hood, sliding down the other side, and bolting for the far end of the garage.
The emergency exit loomed—steel doors marked with yellow hazard stripes. He didn't know where they led, but anywhere was better than here.
Behind him, Jalen gave chase, footsteps like thunderclaps. Faster. Stronger. Relentless.
Kael reached the doors and slammed into the bar. They burst open, revealing a narrow maintenance corridor lined with flickering lights. Pipes ran along the ceiling, leaking steam. The floor was slick with oil and grime.
Kael sprinted inside.
He ducked a low-hanging pipe, leapt over a loose grate, and used the wall to propel himself around a corner—his body reacting with an instinct he'd never had before. Every breath drew in mana from the air. He could feel the structure of the corridor—hear Jalen's boots echoing behind him—sense the flickering circuits embedded in the walls.
It was as if the world had been painted over in invisible lines before—and now he could see them.
"Why do I feel this alive?" he whispered under his breath, even as his lungs burned.
His body, once average, sluggish, and human, now moved like a predator in motion.
He was no longer running out of fear.
He was running because he could.
He burst into another stairwell, took the steps two at a time, then three, until he was sprinting vertically. The building trembled behind him. Somewhere below, Jalen followed—unrelenting, unstoppable.
Kael slammed through another door and emerged into the open air.
Rooftop.
Wind rushed against him, city lights spread like constellations in the distance. Towers of steel and mana-reactive crystal pulsed in the horizon. Floating skycars zipped past. Above, defense drones hovered silently, scanning.
Kael ran to the edge of the roof, skidding to a halt as the vast drop yawned before him. Thirty stories down.
His pulse thudded in his ears.
"End of the road," Jalen said, stepping out behind him.
Kael turned slowly. The Executor was unscathed, his armor glowing with pulsing lines of synthetic mana. His visor gleamed with electric light.
Kael took a shaky breath. "If you're going to kill me, do it already."
Jalen didn't raise his weapon. "ive already told you I don't need you dead."
Kael didn't understand what he meant.
But he did understand what he had to do.
He backed up until his heels touched the edge. The wind howled behind him, promising death—or freedom.
"See you at the bottom," he muttered.
And he jumped.
Jalen lunged forward too late. Kael's body fell into open air, spinning, diving, the lights of Lumora reflecting in his wide eyes. Mana surged from within him—coating his skin….
His scream was swallowed by the wind.
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