In a district north of Manila, where concrete houses were packed close together and narrow roads led toward murky water channels, the afternoon heat hadn't lifted.
The area sat between the city proper and the coastline close enough to smell salt when the wind shifted, far enough to still hear chickens from backyard cages.
The oyster house sat at the corner of two tight streets. A low structure, patched metal roof, open sides half-covered with plastic sheets stained by smoke and salt. It was the kind of place families worked together shucking oysters, boiling shells, scraping meat into metal bowls. Heat stayed trapped inside, mixing with steam and the sharp smell of brine.
That day, the noises happening felt so wrong.
Metal clanged from something being knocked over followed by a wet thud then another.
Someone shouted, then stopped too suddenly. Inside, the steam kept rising, but no one stepped out.
A few minutes later, the street went quiet.
Two blocks away, in a cramped two-story house painted a fading green, Mela Cruz sat on the floor beside the bed, holding her phone with both hands. She was seventeen. Thin. Hair tied back tight because it was too hot to leave it loose.
She hadn't planned to be alone.
Her parents had left early that morning for work, like always. Her two older brothers had gone out not long after one to meet friends, the other to check on something near the market.
When the first screams echoed through the neighborhood, Maela had still been scrolling on her phone, watching videos lag and buffer, clips of smoke-filled streets in places she'd never been.
By the time she understood that the noise wasn't fireworks or protests, it was already too late to go outside.
Her grandmother lay on the bed in the next room, breathing shallowly, unmoving. Too weak to walk. Too weak to speak more than a few words. Maela checked on her every few minutes, touching her wrist, counting the seconds between breaths, whispering that everything was fine even though she didn't believe it herself.
Outside, something slammed into metal.
It didn't feel close but it wasn't far either.
Voices rose, sharp and frantic, then broke into screaming. The sound of running feet echoed through the narrow street, followed by something heavier dragging behind it.
Maela held her breath and stayed still, her phone clutched tight in her hand.
Her phone vibrated.
She flinched so hard she nearly dropped it.
The screen lit up, but not the way it should have. There was no notification, no app opening. Instead, something transparent layered itself over the display, faint enough that she could still see the room behind it.
For a moment, she thought it was her phone glitching.
Then the text shifted.
It showed a blue loading display which was Fading in and out...
[Initializing…]
The word pulsed once, then dimmed, like it was struggling to stay visible.
Her chest tightened.
Her heart felt like it was slammed so hard making her think it would give her away.
She tried to swipe it away but it stubbornly displayed on her screen. She tried locking her phone but it still stayed on.
[Rare Compatibility Confirmed]
The text flickered, bleeding past the edges of the display and into her vision.
It wasn't on the phone.....
The phone was just where her eyes were focused on.
Her head began to ache, a pressure building behind her eyes, as if something was unpacking itself inside her thoughts.
[Compatibility Scan — Incomplete]
[Mental State: Unstable]
She sucked in a breath, slow and shaky.
Clips flashed in her memory videos she'd watched earlier that day.
Mutants lifting cars. People bending steel. Comment sections arguing about evolution, about genetics, about lies,and systems.
No one had proof, it just felt like propaganda before.
The text jittered, broke apart, then reassembled.
[System Framework Upload: 17%]
Maela pressed her palm to her temple even with the pains in her head and eyes it still felt little tho as now she can think properly.
It felt wrong.
Like something cold sliding along the inside of her skull, testing connections.
Outside, something slammed into metal again. Closer this time.
A wet sound followed, Slow and Repetitive.
Her breathing turned shallow.
[Dual Path Detected]
[Precision Potential — Confirmed]
[Vital Support Potential — Confirmed]
The words didn't feel like an offer it felt like a diagnosis given to her after she went for a checkup.
The overlay fractured, lines branching out, half-formed silhouettes appearing and vanishing before she could focus on them.
Names surfaced, then blurred.
She understood instinctively she was supposed to choose.
She Focused trying to Anchor onto the feeling as she didn't even know what she was doing, or what she is supposed to do.
But her hands were shaking too badly. Her thoughts scattered every time another noise came from outside.
"What do I do?" she whispered.
The system didn't answer or did it give guidelines.
Instead, a warning pulsed faintly, almost lost under the static.
[Manual Selection Available — Limited Time]
She tried to concentrate, but her mind kept dragging her back to her grandmother's breathing. To her brothers not answering her calls. To the sound of chewing just beyond the walls.
The sounds and Seconds stretched as she struggled trying to concentrate.
The pressure in her head grew worse.
[Framework Upload: 31%]
A sudden scream erupted outside, close enough that she heard it through clenched teeth.
She flinched and her focus broke.
The text froze... Then it changed.
[Manual Selection Timeout]
[Auto-Stabilization Engaged]
"No—wait," she whispered.
Too late....
[Hybrid Selected Automatically]
[Tala's Echo — Ancestral Light Fragment]
[Orunmila's Fragment — Fate Insight Seed]
The screen dimmed, then brightened again.
[Warning: Early Growth Severely Restricted]
[Physical Enhancement: None]
[Sensory Enhancement: Minor]
[Healing Capacity: Stabilization Only]
She let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"So… that's it?" she murmured. "Is that all?"
No answer came....
The system wasn't finished.
She could feel it was still assembling, it felt like it was still incomplete.
[Framework Upload: 42%]
The world sharpened just a little.
Just… more defined making her feel her surroundings more and better adjusting to the reactions around her.
She noticed movement outside sooner. Heard footsteps before they reached the corner. Saw gaps in the mist where nothing moved, thin paths where survival might exist.
It made her feel more aware.
Her phone vibrated again, but this time she barely noticed.
She kept her focus on the screen in her vision.
[Threat Proximity Increasing]
[Recommended Action: Relocation]
She crept to the window and looked out.
The street was chaotic.
Figures moved through the low mist some running, some stumbling, some bent over bodies that didn't move anymore. Blood smeared the concrete. A tricycle lay on its side, its horn blaring weakly until something knocked into it and it went silent.
Maela's stomach twisted.
This wasn't a video.
This was here.
Her gaze shifted without her meaning it to tracking openings, counting seconds between movements, noting where the mist thinned.