The alarms shrieked through Grimstone like the cry of a wounded titan.
Red emergency lights spun across the lab, painting everything in stuttering pulses of crimson.
Kai staggered to his feet, still reeling from the energy severance. His pulse was a wild drum, his breath a broken rhythm.
Zhao turned toward the security feed — but every monitor showed the same thing: static.
"No signal," Zhao muttered. "They're jamming the network."
Kai's eyes flicked to the message still hovering above his wrist-comm.
[There are others. And they're waking up.]
He felt a chill run through him.
"Zhao," he said slowly. "What if this isn't just a warning?"
Zhao glanced at him. "You think it's a trigger?"
Kai nodded grimly. "If I just severed my tether, maybe it… pinged something."
"Like a resonance," Zhao said, realization dawning. "If others share your pattern—"
"Then they'd feel it," Kai finished. "And maybe… start remembering."
The ground trembled. Somewhere deep in the academy, a power conduit exploded, rattling the lab's ceiling panels.
Zhao tapped the console, trying to reroute power. "This isn't a drill. Core containment's fluctuating."
Kai grimaced. "Translation?"
"Translation — if this keeps spreading, the academy could go dark."
Kai cracked a half-grin. "Hey, at least I'm making an impact."
Zhao gave him a withering look. "Not the time for humor."
"It's always time for humor," Kai said, shrugging. "Especially when we're probably going to die."
Zhao muttered something in Mandarin that definitely wasn't a compliment.
They rushed out of the lab and into the main corridor — and immediately froze.
Students stood motionless in the halls, their eyes glazed, their energy a shimmering distortion.
Some twitched. Others murmured nonsense.
A few wept without knowing why.
Kai's chest tightened. "It's spreading faster than we thought."
Zhao scanned the nearest student — a second-year cultivator named Brin — whose energy flow was flickering erratically.
"He's syncing," Zhao said. "Their bodies are trying to align to your freed pattern."
"Like… network propagation?" Kai asked.
"Exactly. You tore out your anchor. Now every latent subject with a similar signature is destabilizing."
Kai frowned. "You're saying they're like… me?"
Zhao hesitated. "In part. Not all as refined. Some may be incomplete prototypes. Failed stabilizations."
"Failed?" Kai's eyes widened. "You mean unstable."
Zhao nodded. "If their tethers break wrong — they'll collapse."
Kai clenched his fists. "Then we fix it."
Zhao grabbed his arm. "You can't stabilize them all."
Kai glared. "Watch me."
"Kai—"
"No." His voice was iron. "I spent my life being told I couldn't fix what's broken. Not this time."
He tore free from Zhao's grip and sprinted down the corridor.
Students turned as he passed, some snarling, some reaching for him with trembling hands.
The chaos in the air was palpable — thick with static energy and confusion.
Kai stopped before a girl convulsing near the stairwell. Her eyes flicked open — glowing with chaotic light.
"Help… me…" she whispered.
Kai knelt beside her. "Hey. You're okay. Just breathe with me."
She trembled. "It hurts—"
"I know." He touched her shoulder. "Listen to my flow. Match it."
He opened his Divergent channel just slightly — enough for her to feel his rhythm.
Her energy spasmed — then slowly, hesitantly — fell into sync.
Her breathing steadied. The glow in her eyes dimmed.
Zhao caught up, panting. "You… you did it."
Kai smirked faintly. "Told you. Chaos saves."
Zhao exhaled. "If I live through this, I'm putting that on a lab coat."
They stabilized three more students. But the pulse kept spreading — each flare lighting another pocket of the academy.
By the time they reached the courtyard, half the sky shimmered with distortion.
Valerie and Selena came running from the east wing, both disheveled and breathless.
Valerie's tone was half-shout, half-laugh. "Zore! What the hell did you do this time?"
"Long story," Kai said, brushing hair from his face. "Short version — I might've triggered a global awakening event."
Selena blinked. "You what?"
"Don't panic," Kai said.
"I'm already panicking!"
"Then panic efficiently," Kai replied, flashing a grin.
Zhao groaned. "This is why I drink."
Valerie crossed her arms. "Okay, so people are glowing, gravity's drunk, and the air tastes like lightning. What's the plan?"
Kai looked out at the chaos. "We anchor them."
Selena frowned. "Anchor them how?"
"By syncing their flows to mine," Kai said. "If I can stabilize one — maybe I can stabilize the network."
Zhao rubbed his temples. "You're talking about linking with dozens of unstable channels. You could fry your neural matrix."
Kai gave a half-smile. "Guess I'll find out."
Valerie stepped forward. "You're not doing this alone."
He looked at her. "Val—"
She cut him off. "Don't even start. We're Grimstone, remember? We break things together."
Selena raised a shaky hand. "I hate that this is our motto now."
They formed a circle in the courtyard, surrounded by flickering lights and trembling air.
Kai stood at the center, closing his eyes.
He could feel them — all of them — like distant echoes in a storm.
Each pulse was unique, but they all shared one fractured rhythm: his.
He reached inward, igniting the Divergent Flow.
The ground vibrated.
Wind whipped outward in a circular wave.
Energy strands leapt from his chest, weaving into glowing threads that shot toward every afflicted student.
Zhao monitored vitals from the edge. "Energy surge climbing. Kai, you're at 170%! Shut it down!"
Kai gritted his teeth. "Not… yet."
Selena and Valerie steadied him from either side, channeling their cultivation to buffer his flow.
The courtyard filled with light — every student caught in the resonance.
One by one, their spasms slowed.
Their eyes cleared.
Their breathing synced.
Then — silence.
Kai opened his eyes. A faint light still glowed around him, threads connecting him to everyone in sight.
It was more than power — it was connection. Shared consciousness. Collective flow.
He could feel them — their fear, their confusion, their memories flickering awake.
"We're linked," he whispered.
Valerie smiled weakly. "Congratulations. You started a cult."
Kai groaned. "Please never say that again."
Selena adjusted her glasses. "Kai, they're stabilizing. But some of them—" she hesitated, scanning the crowd— "some of them look like they remember you."
Kai turned — and froze.
Several students were staring at him not with confusion, but with recognition.
"Subject-01," one whispered.
"The prototype," another murmured.
"You woke us."
Kai's throat went dry. "I… didn't mean—"
They began to step forward.
Zhao tensed. "Kai. Back up."
But before Kai could move, one of the students — tall, lean, with scarred hands — lifted his gaze.
"We remember the lab," he said softly. "We remember them."
Kai's pulse spiked. "Who?"
The student smiled — not kindly. "The ones who made us."
Then, suddenly, his eyes flared bright white.
Zhao shouted, "Kai, get down!"
A shockwave burst outward, throwing Kai and the others across the courtyard.
The blast cracked stone, shattered glass, and sent energy rippling through the campus.
Smoke and dust filled the air.
Kai coughed, eyes stinging, struggling to rise.
Across the courtyard, the student who had exploded now hovered midair, energy spiraling around him like a storm.
Dozens of others began to flicker — some stabilizing, others trembling violently.
Selena gasped. "They're splitting! Some synced clean, others—"
"Others corrupted," Zhao finished grimly.
Kai staggered forward. "We can fix it—"
The airborne student's voice cut through the roar, mechanical and cold.
"You broke the leash. Now we break the world."
His eyes locked onto Kai.
"Wake the network."
The sky above Grimstone fractured like glass.
A web of light spread across the heavens — branching, pulsing, alive.
Each pulse was another awakening — another tether snapping.
Kai fell to his knees, staring up.
There are others. And they're waking up.
Zhao's voice trembled. "Kai… you didn't just free them. You activated them."
Kai whispered, "Then we'd better move fast."
As the sky burned white, a single word echoed across every comm channel:
"Protocol: RECLAMATION — ONLINE."
And then the world went dark.
Next: Chapter 28
"Protocol: Reclamation"
Where the truth deepens — and Kai learns that freedom always comes with a price.