500 years had passed since the Great Awakening.
The world no longer belonged solely to humans, yet humanity had not been erased. Instead, it endured—protected by those who had awakened to power beyond ordinary limits. The warriors stood at the frontlines, carving out territories, sealing portals, and establishing massive Safe Zones where ordinary humans could live, work, and prosper.
Thanks to them, civilization survived.
And more than that—it evolved. The awakening didn't bring only disaster it also brought change. Humans discovered the abilities they could never fathom. Science that would sound ridiculous. A new dimension of reality has opened to humans.
And they were no longer fragile. Exposure to the altered world had strengthened their bodies generation by generation. Bones were denser, reflexes sharper, endurance higher.
This was a harsher world.
But it was also a stronger one.
⸻
The Eastern Vanguard Youth Training Camp 5H – lay within the outer ring of Safe Zone E5, surrounded by reinforced walls and automated defense towers. It was here that the future of humanity's warriors was forged—not through comfort, but through discipline.
Inside the barracks, rows of metal-framed beds filled the long room.
On one of them lay Cadet Sandy Wills, fast asleep.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
In his dream, the sky was burning red.
Wind screamed past his ears as a figure fell from above—a woman with tattered clothes fluttering like torn wings. Her face was pale, streaked with blood, her eyes filled with something Sandy could never understand no matter how many times he dreamed it.
Pain? Regret? Love?
She was falling endlessly.
As she reached out, her lips moved.
Only one word reached him.
"Live."
Sandy's eyes snapped open.
He sucked in a sharp breath, his body drenched in sweat, heart pounding violently against his ribs. The dream faded quickly, as it always did, leaving behind only that single word echoing in his mind.
Live.
He had no memory of his parents.
No faces. No names.
He had grown up in an orphanage, one of the alliance-managed institutes that raised children orphaned by portal disasters and monster incursions. From a young age, Sandy had learned one truth—if you wanted to survive in this world, you needed strength.
He clenched his fists, breathing slowly until his heartbeat steadied.
"I won't just live," he muttered quietly. "I'll thrive."
A sharp bell rang through the barracks.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Morning wake-up.
A mechanical voice followed, emotionless and precise.
"Cadets, you have thirty minutes. Prepare for morning drills."
Around him, beds creaked as other boys stirred, groaning and stretching. These were teenagers around fifteen years old—still unawakened, still ordinary by the world's standards.
At sixteen, awakening would begin.
And when it did, their lives would change forever.
Sandy swung his legs off the bed, his eyes calm and resolute.
Another day of training had begun.
And somewhere beyond the walls, the world was waiting to test them.