Silence was broken by the muffled sound of water… bubbles rising… tapping on glass.
Kaelen began to open his eyes. A bright light struck him, forcing them shut again. His body floated, as if submerged. Then came the avalanche: memories like knives — his death, his childhood, the pain, the screams, the woman, the blood… everything piercing through him like electric shock.
Something inside him broke.
In a burst of adrenaline, Kaelen shattered the capsule he was in. Water burst in all directions as he fell to his knees, arms bracing against the cold, metallic floor. His lungs gasped for air as if breathing for the first time. His naked, damp body, marked by freshly detached tubes, trembled in primal frenzy.
He stood, staggering. The environment around him looked like a nightmare of neon and steel — a laboratory with technology far too advanced to belong to this world. Beings observed him — some wearing masks, others dressed in black with hexagonal symbols. Yet none of them seemed surprised by the chaos.
Then came the guards. Black as pitch, wielding alien-looking weapons, they advanced with precision. But before fear could paralyze him, Kaelen heard it again:
— Run.
His heart exploded in his chest. Adrenaline poured into his veins like acid. His muscles swelled, his eyes burned with the intensity of a wounded beast. He stood and ran — toward a blinding light at the far end of the lab.
The light swallowed him.
And then, he fell.
From above, his eyes glimpsed the structure that seemed to hold up the very sky: a colossal, hexagonal tower, blinding white, stretching as far as sight could reach — The Hexagonal Tower.
Kaelen plummeted from it screaming — not in fear, but in raw energy. The wind slashed his skin like steel, and when he finally hit the ground, it was into a shallow pool of crystal-clear water.
Bones cracked. Blood gushed. But he was still breathing.
Kaelen staggered. One step. Another. His feet splashed through the water, leaving an uneven trail winding around the base of the tower. His body began to fail — lungs collapsing, blood spurting with each dry cough. His vision dimmed. Fragments of the past flashed before his eyes. Childhood. The alley. The knife. The final breath.
A misstep. A stumble.
And the world blacked out again.
Silence.Heat.
Kaelen woke to the sensation of his feet burning under a scorching sun. Light speared into his mind like a lance of reality. He was lying at the edge of a shelter draped with thin tents. Staggering, he stepped inside seeking shade. His body protested — wounds reopened, muscles on fire, bones failing.
The ground, in contrast to the pale walls like white marble, was packed earth. Kaelen knelt, touching the warm soil with instinctive, almost spiritual reverence.
It felt like experiencing the world again.
His chest heaved with ragged breaths. He looked at his body. Wounded, trembling — but alive.
— "Who… am I…?" — he whispered.
And like a silent thunder, images overlapped. His death. The woman. The blood. The knife. The shadow in the alley. The white mask. Dalion.
His head throbbed. Memories collided. Clashed.
— "Kaelen, isn't it?" — said a female voice. — "Interesting, the life you had before here…"
He turned. In the shelter's shadow stood a woman with a firm posture, wearing a white mask with sorrowful features — a face eternally crying.
— "Chill there, unless you want me to kill you," she said with infuriating calm.
Kaelen's eyes widened at the sound of his name. Something awoke, something ancient. An instinct.
— "Who are you…? And what is this place…?"
The woman sighed, arms crossed.
— "Weird… You're different from the other reborns. You seem afraid. I don't really know what that feels like, but from what I've heard, it's a thing for the weak. Shouldn't have even saved your useless life. You're not even good enough to toy with! Damn it! What a waste of time!"
He backed away, feet dragging over the dirt. Vulnerable, weak. And she didn't stop.
Until, in the blink of an eye, a blade sliced his arm. Blood ran hot.
— "Thinking of running, you cowardly piece of shit!? You're a berserker, and you're acting like some helpless little bitch!?"
Berserker…?
The word exploded in his mind like a blue flame. Instinct took over.His fists rose. Guard up. Eyes void of fear. Only fury.
— "WAIT! YOU'RE GONNA—?!"
Kaelen's punch landed with brutal force. The woman was thrown against the wall. Her mask cracked like porcelain. She collapsed.
Kaelen rushed to her, trembling. He removed what remained of the mask. The face beneath was disfigured — but still breathing. She was alive. The mask began to dissolve into dust, dancing in the air like ashes in the wind.
And then… she stopped moving.
Silence.
But not the same as before.It was a charged silence.The silence after the first roar.After the first instinct.