Chapter Seven: The Awakening Within
Alex's POV
Brooklyn – 5:48 AM
The house was quiet in that soft, early-morning way—Mia still asleep, Diana moving lightly somewhere down the hall, the world beyond our walls barely waking. I had already made my decision.
No school today.
Not when today mattered more than anything the classroom could offer me.
I closed my bedroom door gently, sat on the floor with my legs crossed, and exhaled.
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
Cultivation.
A path I'd learned only long after the apocalypse destroyed everything—a path that had belonged not to governments, secret organizations, or elite task forces, but to a handful of ancient Chinese families whose bloodlines carried forgotten power. Unlike the exaggerated fantasy stories, these cultivators weren't flying on swords or punching through planets. Their strength was grounded, terrifyingly real.
Their techniques pushed the human body up to ten times its natural potential—strength, speed, endurance, mental sharpness—everything increased in perfect balance. Some reached elemental abilities, others awakened psychic talents, but all of it came from absorbing qi that had existed long before the apocalypse.
Only a tiny number of people in the old world had ever known.
I only learned because I became close with one of them during the apocalypse. He shared his method with me—useless back then, because the System's arrival had wiped out most of the qi on Earth. But I had studied it anyway, even modified it later to absorb mana.
But right now… I only needed the base form.
Any advantage was worth bleeding for.
I straightened my posture.
"Calm the mind. Slow the breath. Draw energy inward."
Simple words. Brutal execution.
I closed my eyes and began.
6:57 AMFailure.
Again.
My breathing kept slipping. My mind wandered. The energy I hoped to feel remained stubbornly still, like trying to grasp mist with clenched fists.
A pulse throbbed in my temples. My muscles were stiff.
"Damn it…"
But stopping wasn't an option.
Fifteen years of surviving the apocalypse had burned the truth into me:
only the prepared lived long.
If I wanted to dominate the new world—protect Mia, Janet, and Diana—this was the first step.
I reset my stance.
And tried again.
8:03 AMMy mind finally loosened, falling into a strange stillness.
The world around me softened—the distant traffic, the ticking clock, the faint creak of pipes in the walls. Everything faded.
Then I felt it.
A spark.
A warm thread sliding beneath my skin.
Slow. Delicate. Real.
My breath caught.
It worked.
The moment the energy pooled inside my center—
DING.
The sound wasn't external.
It echoed inside my skull.
Then a cold, emotionless voice followed:
"Detecting high-quality energy… System awakening… 3%."
My eyes flew open.
What?
Another line appeared, flat and mechanical:
"Host must evolve to fully awaken System."
Then silence.
I stayed frozen, pulse quickening. For a split second, fear scratched at me—had the apocalypse begun earlier? I darted to the window. The neighborhood was normal. The sky unchanged. No monsters. No screams.
This message was for me alone.
I steadied my breath.
"System?" I whispered.
Nothing.
A faint blue panel floated in front of me—a loading bar stuck at 3%, the same text beneath it:
Host must evolve to fully awaken System.
"Can you hear me?"
Silence. Not even static.
Not sentient.
Not awake.
Just… beginnings.
A partial activation.
But even so—
A System inside me?
This changed everything.
10:06 AMI stood slowly, flexing my fingers. Qi still moved faintly in my body—weak but present—yet the System bar hadn't moved. Not even a fraction.
So cultivating alone wasn't enough.
To evolve… I needed to level up.
To level up… I needed kills.
Monsters.
Zombies.
Mutants.
But none of those existed yet.
Only humans.
And humans granted experience too.
But I wasn't about to start slaughtering innocents.
No—there were others.
Gangs. Predators. Parasites who fed on neighborhoods like this one.
People worse than monsters.
I knew exactly where to find them.
My mind sharpened instantly:
Weapons.
A hideout.
Targets.
Escape routes.
Clean-up plans.
And one more thing—I had to leave home. I would not bring danger to Mia, Janet, or Diana. Not again. Not ever.
I grabbed my phone.
There was only one person I trusted with this next step.
Mike.
I called.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Yo, Alex? What's—"
"Meet me after school," I said quietly. "We need to talk."
A pause.
"…Alright. Where?"
"I'll text you."
"Cool. See you then."
I hung up.
10:09 AMThe door opened softly.
Diana stepped inside holding a laundry basket, pausing when she saw me—fully awake, fully dressed, absolutely not preparing for school.
She must just have returned from dropping Mia off at school but isn't she suppose to be at work at the hospital.
"Alex?" she asked, puzzled. "Why aren't you at school?"
Of course she'd notice.
She always did.
Sunlight touched her hair, turning the dark strands warm. Something protective tightened in my chest.
I kept my expression calm and steady.
"I'm staying home today."
Worry sharpened her features. "Are you sick?"
"No," I said gently. "Just need time for myself."
She studied me a moment longer, almost reading the weight behind my eyes. Something in my tone made her soften.
"If you need anything," she murmured, "I'm here. Don't lock yourself away all day, okay?"
I nodded, warm but controlled—enough to ease her concern without revealing the storm brewing inside me.
"Why aren't you at work?" I asked and she paused before answering.
"Just taking a break" she replied with a sigh.
"Are you okay?" I asked concern evident in my voice.
I saw her face twisted into puzzlement, probably surprised I asked her that, cause I had never showed concern for anyone wellbeing before.
"Yeah, thanks I guess" she replied a little awkward.
She lingered for a second, then stepped out, leaving me alone again.
I exhaled.
The System's cold whisper still echoed faintly in my mind.
Three percent.
The beginning.
My real preparations start today.
The world didn't know it yet…
But everything was about to change.