Elara didn't speak for a full minute. Her hands were clenched at her sides, her breathing shallow. Mira hadn't lowered her rifle.
Caleb didn't move.
The glowing veins on his arms were fading, but the damage had already been done. Everyone in the room had seen it. The Riftcore had reacted to him. Chosen him. Changed him.
Or maybe revealed what had been there all along.
"You said I was normal," Caleb said, voice low. "I've taken the tests. No pulse spikes. No anomaly waves. No Hero potential."
"Tests can be wrong," Elara replied. "Especially when someone wants them to be."
Mira glanced at her. "What are you saying?"
Elara turned to face them both. "I'm saying this wasn't a coincidence. That Riftborn voice—it didn't find him tonight. It's known about him for years. And someone... someone's been hiding the truth."
"Why would anyone hide that I have potential?" Caleb asked. "Everyone wants to be a Hero."
"Not if your bloodline is dangerous enough to wipe out a city."
She tapped a control panel near the Core chamber, and a holo-screen flickered to life. A series of sealed HeroUnion files streamed by, names flashing—classified lists of rogue Heroes, failed mutations, and forbidden lineages.
Then it stopped on one file.
Subject 09-A: Marcus Calen.
Caleb's heart skipped. The man in the photo looked just like him—older, sharper jaw, cold blue eyes.
"My... father?" he breathed.
Elara nodded. "He was an S-Rank. Not just any S-Rank—he was the first and only to ever command Rift energy without going mad. Until he did."
Mira lowered her weapon slightly. "Marcus Calen is dead. He vanished ten years ago during the Collapse."
"He didn't vanish," Elara said. "He opened the Rift."
The air in the chamber went still.
"Caleb," she continued, "your father broke the first Riftgate using his own body as a conduit. He turned against the HeroUnion, vanished before they could shut him down, and left behind a child no one could trace. Until now."
Caleb sat down hard on the floor, as if the truth had weight.
"So I'm a time bomb?"
"No," Elara said. "You're a key. They've been afraid of what you might unlock."
"Why tell me this now?"
"Because the voice you heard—that wasn't just the Rift speaking. It was a signal. A summons. And if you're hearing it... others like you will too."
Mira stepped forward. "Wait. You mean there are more?"
Elara nodded. "Children of S-Ranks. Offspring of forbidden Hero pairings. Quiet projects. Hidden legacies. The Union tried to erase them all, but power doesn't die—it hides. And when the Rifts opened again last week... they started waking up."
Caleb stood, fists clenched. "So what do I do now?"
"You learn fast. You get strong. And you stay alive."
Elara reached into a compartment and pulled out a thin bracelet—an old Hero training band lined with sensors and microblades.
"Put this on. If you really are Marcus Calen's son, you're going to need to learn how to control yourself before someone else decides to control you instead."
He slid the band onto his wrist. It locked with a hiss. The lights blinked red, then shifted to violet—an alert code reserved for unknown class types.
Caleb stared at the screen, heart pounding.
Unknown Class: Riftborn Alpha – Status: Awakening
Elara watched him closely.
"Welcome to the war, Caleb. You're not just in it now.
You are it.