The sky was burning.
Kai's senses overload the moment he opened his eyes.
The acrid smell of scorched metal and corred flesh filled his nostrils.
Above the sun - if it could still be called that - hung behind a blood - red haze, bleeding light over a city that looked like it had lost a war it never had a chance to win.
His body felt heavy , sluggish , like he'd been dropped from a great height.
as he pushed himself up on shaky arms sharp pain lanced him was cracked concrete, littered with broken glass and twisted rebar
Where the hell am I?
The last thing kai remember was falling asleep at his computer, headphones still blasting music, textbook scattered around.
He'd been cramming for exams , another miserable night in his tiny, suffocating
Apartment.
And now...?
He staggered to his feet , trying to piece together the insanity around him.
the ruins of towering skyscrapers stretched asfar as he could see , their skeletal remains clawing at the sky .
black smoke coiled from massive craters in the earth, and in the distance, something mechanical let out a deep, gutturar roar .
Kai swallowed hard, heart hammering against his ribs.
Was this a dream?
Anightmare?
A sudden, mechanical click cut through the silence behind him.
Kai spun around -too fast - and stumbled.
Standing there was a figure, unlike anything he had ever seen .
She looked.... almost human .
Almost.
He hair was silver, shimmering unnaturally under the blood - red sky, and her skin was pale as moonlight.
He right arm , from shoulder to fingertips, was exposed metal and wire , intricate plating shifting subtly as she moved.
Her left eye glowed faintly blue, scanning him like a machine might.
She wore a torn combat uniform,
Reinforced with scraps of armor.and slung
Across her back was a weapon that looked like a cross between a rifle and a blade.
For a moment, the simply stared at each other.
Then she spoke, her voice cool , almost emotionless.
"You are not from here"
Kai opened his mouth, struggling for words.
"I...I don't know where he is"
She narrowed her eyes slightly. another one she muttered under her breath" just my luck".
Before he could ask anything, the girl reached into a pouch at her side and tossed something towards him.
Kai fumbled but managed to catch it.
It was a metallic hilt- heavy cold and inert.
There was no blade no activation button that he could see .
" What --?"
Before he could finish the air filled with a high - pitched screen.
Kai's head snapped up.
Descending from the broken sky were dark shapes - mechanical insect like drone their sleek black forms bristling with weaponry.
Red targeting lasers danced over the ruins as they scanned the survivals.
The girl didn't waste the time.
She drew her weapon a hybrid blade, rifle and with a fluid motion sliced through the air.
A burst of blue energy pulsed outward, severing a drone cleanly in half.
The remaining drone locked onto her
Instantly.
" Activate it" she shouted at kai, pointing at the hilt he still clutched in confusion.
" If you want to live!"
Panic and adrenaline flooded his system kai tightened his grip on the hilt, willing it to do something.
That's when it happened.
A cold mechanical voice echoed in his mind, sharp and inescapable:
[ Initialising survival system...]
[ Binding host: kai]
[Error Detected: Host is unregistered.
Compensation.... initiating Emergency
Combat mode.]
The hilt in his hand vibrated violently.
A brilliant blade of crackling blue energy
Erupted from it humming with raw power.
Kai barely had time to process it before one of the drone darted towards him twin blades spinning.
Instinct screamed at him to move.
Somehow whether by reflex instinct or the influence of the system he sidestepped the drone attack and swung the energy blade.
The weapon moved fast, slicing through the air with a whistle.
The blade connected with the drone carapace splitting it apart in a shower of sparks.