Altamira Academy of Solaria Island – Ground Floor, Wing C – Science, Health & Technology Club Laboratory
The corridor lights flickered with a faint hum as Sophia slipped along the wall, crouched low, clutching her jacket tightly to her chest as if it could somehow shield her from him.
Zephyr Blackthorn.
The name alone had frozen her blood. She didn't know how—or why—he knew about her. But one thing was certain... he was looking for her.
Sophia (mental):"Why me? What did I do? What does he want? I'm nothing special. I'm not Jake. I'm not a star duelist. I just want to get out of this alive."
She ran to the end of the security hallway. The metallic door of the Science, Health & Technology Club remained sealed… until she held up her temporary assistant badge—granted weeks ago for a project she'd never completed.Beep. Access granted.
She entered.
And the door whispered shut behind her—soft, final.
Inside, the lab felt like another world entirely. A white gloom illuminated by suspended screens. The hum of generators was almost soothing. The air smelled of ionized metals, polymers, and tempered glass. There was moisture too, as if the machines themselves were breathing.
She knew no one would be in here. Only machines. And maybe... that was for the best.
Sophia (mental):"Zephyr never enters these places. He has no interest in what he can't destroy. Here… here I can think."
She slumped beside a powered-down console, trying to catch her breath. That's when she noticed it: a half-opened containment case, like someone had left in a hurry. Inside: translucent prisms hovering over delicate mounts. These weren't ordinary stones—each had a core pulsing gently, like a heartbeat.
She stepped closer, cautiously. A nearby tablet was still glowing, displaying a freshly accessed document, digitally signed:
Personal Log – Aria Stephen (apprentice)
Prototype CEES – Synthetic Stellar Energy ChannelersCEES units are designed to capture, compress, and stabilize latent stellar radiation particles through layers of resonant silicon and synthetic lithium-trion cores.
The core principle: energy pressure.
Just as matter pressure forces atoms into a compact space, here we compress raw stellar energy into a subatomic matrix that can only be released when bonded to a compatible organic receptor.
The human body can't contain stellar energy on its own—but the CEES acts as a catalytic valve, releasing controlled doses into the nervous, muscular, and lymphatic systems.
In short: the CEES turns its user into a vector for channeled radiation.
A biological weapon, yes. But only if the user survives adaptation.
Warning: Unauthorized use may induce neural collapse, mitochondrial failure, or spontaneous cellular destruction.
Sophia swallowed hard. She took a step back... but something stirred inside her.A thought.A possibility.A voice.
Sophia (mental):"What if… this is exactly what I need?Not to fight. Not to win.Just to stop running."
Her eyes scanned the prisms. One of them, dimmer than the rest, began to glow as she approached. A thin blue beam scanned her face.
The containment unit's screen flickered:
Spontaneous Synchronization Detected.Viable organic candidate: SOPHIA JOHNSONCellular adaptability: 88.2%Suggested test charge: 1.5 microcycles
The case opened.And the CEES floated toward her—like it knew her.
Sophia reached out.Touched it.
And felt it enter.
Not physically.It was as if something slipped through her nerves, down her spine, through her core. A vibration. Then pressure. Then an explosion of light in her mind.
Sophia (gasping, nearly collapsing):—AHHHH!
The console beeped furiously.Screens blinked to life.
Biotech Adaptation in Progress.Initial energy saturation stabilized.Energy matrix: active.
Sophia dropped to her knees.Her body trembled. Her vision warped.But strangely... there was no pain.There was more.
More speed in her pulse.More clarity in her thoughts.More sharpness in her senses.Like the universe had turned up its volume.
Sophia (mental, eyes tearing):"Is this… what it feels like to not be afraid?"
One final line blinked on the screen, like Aria's parting signature:
"If you've made it this far… you're not running anymore. You're awakening."
And for the first time in days, Sophia smiled.
Not from joy.But from certainty.
Because in that hidden lab on the ground floor, away from the most dangerous villain in the universe, she had found the one weapon that was neither sword nor technique nor armor.
She had found her channel.
And now...there was only one thing left to do.
When she activated the sequence from the console, the CEES began to vibrate in harmony—each one modulating a specific frequency, as if responding to a hidden pattern within Sophia's body. A field of radiant particles projected from each prism, fracturing the air into streams of stellar code. The light didn't blind—it revealed. The entire lab seemed to hold its breath.
Sophia first felt a tingling at the back of her neck, then a pulse beneath her sternum—as if her body recognized the devices before her mind did.