San Vicente, Tarlac City, Philippines — March 3, 2020
The silence in the hospital room weighed heavy, like fog thick enough to choke on. Athena sat beside Eloisa, her best friend, her only tether to something normal in a world unraveling by the second. Eloisa remained motionless, her chest rising and falling with the shallow rhythm of her struggling breath. The steady beep of the heart monitor echoed through the sterile space, each tone a cruel reminder of time slipping away.
Outside, the world had changed overnight. The government had imposed Martial Law. No one was allowed to leave their homes without clearance. Soldiers patrolled streets, cities were locked down, and fear was a currency. Rumors spread like wildfire of lightning survivors awakening with powers that defied science. Hospitals were the new war zones. And this one, tucked in a quiet corner of Tarlac, had become a fortress.
Athena had refused to leave Eloisa's side since the day she was admitted. Her own parents had tried to pull her home, to safety, but nothing could convince her to abandon the girl who had once dragged her out of her own darkness.
"You're going to wake up," Athena whispered, her voice cracking. She reached out and brushed a damp strand of hair from Eloisa's pale forehead. "Everyone else is waking up. You have to come back to me."
The monitor pulsed on.
Slow.
Slower.
And then, it stopped.
The long, unbroken tone sliced through Athena's heart.
"No. No, no, no." Her fingers scrambled for the call button, pressing it over and over. Panic surged like electricity through her limbs. "Don't do this. Don't leave me."
The door burst open. Two soldiers rushed in, weapons drawn, their faces hardened by days of chaos. They froze at the sight of the flatlined monitor, then exchanged grim looks.
"She's gone," one of them muttered, lowering his gun.
Athena turned on them, eyes full of fury and despair. "She's not gone. You have to do something!"
But before either could respond, the air in the room shimmered.
It began at the edges of Athena's vision. A ripple, as if the walls themselves had turned liquid. The lights above dimmed and warped. For a moment, the world felt like it held its breath.
Then, Eloisa vanished.
No sound. No warning. One moment her body lay lifeless on the bed. The next, there was nothing but tangled sheets and a blinking monitor still reading zero.
The soldiers stumbled back in alarm, shouting into their radios. Athena screamed, rushing to the bed, grasping at the air where her friend had just been.
They thought it was a phenomenon. Maybe another side effect of the lightning event. But they were wrong.
Eloisa had not phased into another dimension.
She had been taken.
---
Geneva's eyes were sharp, but her body bore the cost of her gift. Her joints ached. Her skin felt too loose on her bones, and each breath reminded her she was pushing the limits of her power. Still, she pressed forward. She had to.
Her old sedan grumbled down the highway heading north. The roads were lined with makeshift checkpoints. Soldiers inspected every car. She had prepared a forged government ID and played the part of an aging epidemiologist on emergency duty. But it was her eyes that got her through. They had seen too much, and the soldiers recognized it, even if they didn't understand it.
She had heard Kayoko again last night. Clearer this time. The girl from Osaka was getting stronger. But it was the vision of Eloisa that had sealed her resolve. Geneva knew without a doubt, this girl was important. She didn't know how or why yet, but her instincts never lied.
Arriving at the hospital in San Vicente, she parked in an alley nearby. She wouldn't use the front entrance. That would mean confrontation, delay, exposure.
Instead, she reached into herself and pulled the thread of time.
The world slowed.
Cars blurred into smears of color. Voices stretched into long, haunting moans. The moment around her slowed to a crawl. She walked through it as if gliding through molasses, undetected and untouched.
Inside the hospital, nurses were caught mid-step. A tray hung suspended in the air, its contents frozen mid-fall. Geneva weaved through it all with practiced precision.
Eloisa's room was on the third floor. The moment Geneva stepped inside, she felt it. A static in the air. Like the space itself was resisting her.
Eloisa lay on the bed, frail and fragile. Her chest barely moved. The monitor beside her showed a flatline.
"You don't belong here anymore," Geneva whispered, stepping close.
She reached into her coat and performed CPR. She can only do it this instant.
Revived.
Geneva brushed her fingers near Eloisa's temple but did not touch. "You're more than you know. More than any of them could ever imagine."
With one hand, she touched Eloisa's wrist and closed her eyes.
The room became still. Time froze completely within her radius.
Not slow.
Not crawling.
Frozen.
She whispered the words that had come to her in her darkest hour. Words that grounded her. Words that always worked.
"Preserve the light."
There was no sound, no flash. Just a subtle pull, like air being inhaled, and the two of them were gone.
---
Unknown Location — March 3, 2020
Eloisa gasped and sat up. The room she awoke in was dim, wooden, and foreign. A flickering bulb hung from the ceiling, casting long shadows against the walls. She was on a small bed with thin sheets. Geneva knelt nearby, clutching her side, breathing heavily.
"Who… who are you?" Eloisa asked, voice dry and cracking.
"Geneva," the woman replied. "I'm like you. But we don't have time for long introductions."
Eloisa's vision swam, but she forced herself to sit upright. "Where am I?"
"Safe. For now. But it won't last."
"I think I died," Eloisa whispered. "I remember… flatlining. Athena was there…"
Geneva looked up, her eyes full of clarity and purpose. "You were seconds away. I intervened. You're not dead. But you're changed."
Eloisa stared at her trembling hands. They looked the same, but something inside felt different. "Changed how?"
Geneva reached into her coat and pulled out a folded cloth. She offered it gently to Eloisa. "Wipe your tears. And listen carefully."
"Why me?"
"Because you're a key. One of many. You're not alone, Eloisa. The others are awakening. The storm marked you for something greater. And soon, the world will come looking."
Eloisa clutched the cloth in her hand. "Athena… she's still there. She saw me disappear."
"I'll go back for her," Geneva said. "But right now, you need to understand. Everything is changing. And you're part of it."
Eloisa nodded slowly, the weight of it all sinking in. "What happens next?"
Geneva stood and moved to the window. Outside, there was nothing but forest and mist. "Next, we gather the others."