Silence.
Not the peaceful kind—the kind that follows something that shouldn't exist.
The street lay still, dust drifting through the faint morning light, the crater cooling at the center like a wound trying to remember how it was made.
Kayden stood at the edge of it.
His breath unsteady.
His pulse too sharp.
The Combat Awareness still flickering behind his vision like an afterimage he couldn't blink away.
Then—
A wave hit him.
Not physical.
Not sound.
A reverberation.
Like the anomaly had left behind a faint echo, and now that echo was crawling through the world… searching for him.
APEX spoke before he could react.
"Commander… residual anomaly frequency detected.""Aftershock event active."
Kayden's jaw tightened.
Aftershock.
He could feel it—a distortion under the surface of reality, pulsing in irregular beats, like the world was still settling from the impact.
Phineas stood three steps behind him, unable to tear his eyes away from the cracked pavement.
His voice was low, shaky."…It's over, right?"
Kayden didn't answer.
Because he could feel it wasn't.
Something had changed in the air—a faint static, brushing against his skin like cold fingertips.
Combat Awareness pulsed again, uninvited—
AFTERSHOCK PATTERN — DETECTEDVibration Class: MinorResidual Effect: TrackingThreat Probability: Unknown
His eyes narrowed.
Tracking.
Not an attack.
Not a breach.
A signal.
The anomaly had left a mark on reality, and Kayden was standing in the center of it.
APEX's voice sharpened.
"Commander—your presence is stabilizing the zone.Do not move yet."
Kayden forced a slow breath, stabilizing his stance.
The cracked pavement beneath him throbbed with faint, invisible threads—like the anomaly was tugging on reality's seams, testing them.
Phineas finally stepped closer.
"Kayden… talk to me. What's happening?"
Kayden looked at him for only a moment, but it was enough for Phineas to see it:
The awareness behind Kayden's eyes.The tension in his shoulders.The focus that didn't belong to an ordinary student.
"…The anomaly didn't disappear cleanly," Kayden said. "There's a residual shockwave."
Phineas stared at the ground.
"A shockwave that doesn't make sound… that doesn't move anything… that only you can sense?"
Kayden didn't deny it.
Phineas exhaled slowly.
"Right. Of course."
Another pulse rippled through Kayden's skull.
Subtle. Sharp.Like a pulse of pressure echoing from every direction at once.
AFTERSHOCK INTENSITY RISINGCognitive Load: 12% → 27%Stability Risk: Low
Kayden winced.
APEX immediately reacted.
"Commander—close your eyes.Let the system filter the signal."
He obeyed.
Darkness settled.
But in that darkness—lines unfolded.
Not visual.Not sensory.
Structural.
Thin strands of spatial vibration forming a web around the crater, each line pulsing with the same unnatural rhythm.
APEX mapped them instantly.
AFTERSHOCK MODEL — COMPLETEEpicenter Offset: 0.3 metersHarmonic Range: ExpandingPrimary Target: Commander Kayden Voss Arclight
His chest tightened.
It was tracking him.
Kayden opened his eyes.
Phineas watched him carefully, searching his expression for something—answers, reassurance, sanity.
Kayden gave him none.
His voice was quiet.
"…We need to leave. Now."
Phineas blinked. "Why? The thing's gone, right?"
Kayden shook his head.
"It's not gone. It's just… listening."
Phineas stared at him.
Then, unexpectedly—
"…Okay."
Kayden paused.
Phineas stepped beside him, eyes still on the street, but his voice steady.
"I don't understand any of this. But I know you're not lying.So if you say we move, we move."
Kayden swallowed the instinctive tension rising in his chest.
For the first time, Phineas wasn't questioning him.He was trusting him.
APEX broke the moment.
"Commander. Aftershock weakening.Zone stabilizing."
Kayden exhaled slowly, shoulders lowering as the invisible pressure faded enough for him to breathe normally again.
The vibrations dissolved.The crackling static faded.The lines in his vision unthreaded.
But the feeling didn't leave him.
The anomaly had touched something in him—recognized something.
And the Aftershock felt less like a side-effect…and more like a message.
APEX offered quiet confirmation.
"Commander…whatever was observing you—it now knows your signature."
Kayden closed his eyes.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Just a cold, sharp awareness settling into him like a new truth.
Phineas broke the silence with a whisper:
"Kayden…what did that thing want?"
Kayden opened his eyes.
"…Me."
The ruined street lay behind them, quiet and unaware.
But everything had changed.
Everything.