It was supposed to be a normal day.
Silverhart's towers gleamed under an overcast morning sky. Students were halfway through morning drills when alarms shattered the air.
"Breach detected. Alpha class monster incursion. Evacuate immediately."
The city below Velgrath was under siege.
A monster herd, thousands strong, erupted from underground. Creatures with carapaces harder than steel, beasts that emitted sonic pulses capable of liquefying organs, and a towering Alpha class that dwarfed skyscrapers covered in shifting void colored scales, with six golden eyes and a mouth that consumed light itself.
The academy was locked down, but students and faculty poured into the city to assist. Aeria, Zin, Mirae, and Harrow joined one of the first response teams.
It was chaos.
Buildings collapsed. Soldiers vaporized in screams. The Alpha let out a roar that sent shockwaves rippling for miles. Aeria threw up shields, forced her power to its limits, and kept healing everyone she could.
A small child, half buried under debris, cried as her mother lay dying beside her. Aeria sprinted through flames, vines parting rubble, and reached her.
She laid a glowing hand on the child and something snapped.
The burn healed. The broken bone shifted. And the mother dead moments ago gasped, her lungs drawing breath again.
"I... brought her back?" Aeria whispered.
The light on her hands pulsed brighter. Green and gold. Aeria didn't feel tired. She felt more alive.
"You're not just healing," Fayen said in awe. "You're reversing death."
That moment didn't last.
The Alpha noticed them. It turned, eyes locking onto Aeria. With a step, the entire boulevard cracked. Its maw opened, a sphere of anti-light forming.
Command declared evacuation impossible.
Nuclear authorization was issued.
The final order: "All civilians, fall back. All students, retreat to safe zones. This city is lost."
The Alpha screamed.
The bomb fell.
Aeria stood still she didn't run. Her body disintegrated in the first shockwave. And then... she was back.
Her body restored.
The fire around her blinked, then reversed. Time hadn't rewound she had regenerated through annihilation. She gasped, falling to her knees.
Perfect regeneration.
Even atomic death couldn't end her.
As the fallout settled and the battlefield lay in ruins, Aeria rose alone among the ashes. She wasn't burned. Not anymore.
But she was something new.
Immortal.
And very, very afraid.