The elevator shot upward like a bullet, the hum of energy around it crackling with static. Caleb stood between Elara and Mira, both now in full Hero armor—sleek, matte-black suits embedded with reactive tech. His own outfit was still just a hoodie and the faint silver glow crawling across his arm.
"Shouldn't I have gear?" Caleb asked, glancing at Mira.
She checked her rifle and muttered, "Your blood is gear."
Elara didn't laugh. "Keep your guard up. If this breach is anything like what hit Sector 5 last month, it won't just be monsters. It'll be an infusion—something sentient, something from beyond the Rift. And if it's talking... then it's not just here to kill. It's here to recruit."
"Recruit?" Caleb repeated.
"They want you," Elara said flatly. "You're Riftborn. You're not just a target—you're an asset. Or a weapon."
The elevator doors slid open.
They stepped into chaos.
Sector 2 was burning.
The city block, once home to Hero housing and satellite tech centers, was now a warzone. Buildings were sliced clean through. Cars floated mid-air, pulled into the Rift gravity blooming above the streets. In the middle of it all stood a figure in a red coat, arms raised, hair white as snow.
Around him: creatures.
Dozens. Clawed. Warped. Half-shadow, half-metal. Their bodies flickered with Riftlight. They didn't roar. They didn't growl.
They waited.
Mira took cover behind a wrecked drone. Elara pulled out a scanner. Caleb stepped forward instinctively, eyes locked on the red-coated figure.
Then the man turned.
His eyes were glassy—mirror-like. No pupils, no iris. Just reflective voids. When he spoke, the air bent with the sound.
"Caleb Mark. The Echo. The key that shouldn't exist."
Elara froze. "He knows your name."
"You know me?" Caleb asked, fists clenched.
"I knew your father," the man said. "We opened the first Rift together. He betrayed me when he tried to seal it."
Caleb took a step closer. "Who are you?"
"My name is Lys. And I've come to finish what Marcus Calen could not. I'm offering you a choice, Caleb."
The monsters moved aside, clearing a path.
"Come with me. Embrace what you are. Or stay here... and die with people who will one day turn on you."
Caleb's veins sparked again. His mind raced. Elara's voice was in his ear, steady.
"Don't listen to him. He's a Class-S corrupter. He warps reality by touching minds. Don't let him into yours."
But Caleb had already heard too much.
He remembered the way Mira looked at him when his powers showed.
He remembered Elara's hesitation.
And now here stood someone claiming to know his father. Offering answers. A place. A purpose.
Caleb looked at Lys.
"You want me to join you?"
Lys smiled.
Caleb raised his hand.
Riftlight surged across his arm, forming a blade of pure energy.
"Come and take me."
Lys stopped smiling.
And the monsters charged.