Chapter 2: Beneath the Surface
The marble-sized orb pulsed gently in Sam's hand, its glow fading as the energy within dissipated. He stared at it for a moment longer, then let it vanish back into dust, scattered by the forest wind. His breathing was heavy, but steady. He was starting to last longer.
Each successful creation came with less strain than the last. Each failure taught him something new — about efficiency, structure, or cost.
But he wasn't getting stronger fast enough. Not yet.
With academy trials just months away, Sam knew he couldn't afford to show up as "the anomaly." They'd either blacklist him… or dissect him.
He reached into his pouch and pulled out the shard — a fragment of the Awakening Stone that shattered during his ceremony. The officials hadn't noticed he kept one. No one dared touch the debris, let alone pocket a piece.
But Sam was drawn to it.
The shard thrummed faintly when near his chest, as if recognizing its master.
He had no idea what it truly was. But it felt... alive. And it responded to his thoughts, just like his power.
He knelt and placed it on the ground.
[Creation Module: Sync — External Core Detected.]
[Linking Shard… 13%]
[Stability: Low]
[Result: Failure — Power output exceeded physical limits]
The ground exploded with a light crack — no bigger than a pebble, but it was enough to blast Sam backward onto his elbows.
His right arm went numb for several seconds. A nosebleed dripped down his lip.
"Damn it…"
He wiped the blood on his sleeve. He was close. Too close to stop now.
But he'd need something more stable to progress — a way to store energy, stabilize the output, and ease the drain on his body.
Maybe I need a containment conduit, he thought.
An object that could absorb his excess output and let him channel at lower costs.
But he didn't know how to create something like that yet — not without a blueprint or reference model.
He would need help. Not from teachers. Not from the system.
From someone smart enough to keep a secret.
The Next Day – Darak Secondary
The school was a dome of light and noise. Students trained openly in the combat halls, their powers flaring with vibrant shows of strength. The top students flaunted their abilities like trophies: flaming arcs, sharpened sonic booms, spatial warps for lunchroom skipping.
Sam ignored them.
He sat in the far corner of the library's engineering wing — a space most students abandoned unless forced to attend class. He flipped through blueprints of weapon modules and energy dampeners, most of it well beyond his supposed level.
"Looking for something forbidden?" a soft voice asked.
He didn't look up. "If I said yes?"
Layla slid into the seat across from him. Her white sweater contrasted with the metal table, but her eyes were sharp, searching.
"You missed first period," she said.
"Power testing again?" he replied dryly.
She smiled. "You know that's not my thing."
Her fingers glowed faintly, gold lines dancing beneath her skin — the same passive glow people mistook for a light affinity.
But Sam knew the truth.
She was a healer. A rare one.
"You're hurting yourself again, aren't you?" she asked.
Sam didn't answer.
"I saw your fingers. They were shaking when you grabbed your tray."
He closed the blueprint in front of him.
"I need a stabilizer," he said. "Something small. Wearable. Built to redirect or store energy. You know where I can find a base schematic?"
Layla leaned back, thoughtful.
"I might," she said slowly. "But you'll owe me."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Owe you what?"
Her gaze narrowed.
"Answers."
-----------------------------
Layla didn't give him the blueprint that day.
She waited until evening, when the library was near empty and the AI monitors had long shut down for scheduled memory cleanouts.
She slipped a thin, encrypted holochip across the table, her expression unreadable.
"It's not complete," she whispered. "And it's not legal."
Sam took it anyway.
Later that night, in his room, he activated the chip. Diagrams flooded his lens interface — rotating renders of a Class-F conduit ring, originally designed for third-tier energy recyclers.
It wasn't made for his power. But it was close enough.
He spent the next hour redrawing it in his mind, tweaking the structure. Simplifying. Reinforcing.
By midnight, he was ready.
---
Forest Clearing — 2:13 AM
The stars were cold witnesses above the trees. Sam knelt at the center of the clearing, the holochip interface floating beside him in projection.
> [Creation Module: Active]
Input: "Modified Conduit Ring — Core Stabilizer Variant."
Alloy: Synth-titanium base.
Fuse ratio: 72:28.
Circuit type: Single-layer feedback loop.
> [Estimated Energy Output: 31%]
[Body Capacity: 36%]
[Proceed? Y/N]
"Yes," he breathed.
The pain came instantly.
It felt like someone was peeling the skin off his fingers and grinding his bones from the inside. He clenched his jaw, forcing his vision to focus.
Light twisted in front of him. Metal bent. Dust shimmered, compressing into dense alloy threads.
Then—silence.
A dull thud.
Sam fell backward, the ring clutched in his trembling hand.
It glowed faintly.
The pain in his limbs faded slowly, replaced by a steady warmth.
He'd done it.
A conduit ring — his first real artifact, built without guidance, born of pure instinct and study.
Sam stared up at the stars, the ring pulsing faintly on his chest like a heartbeat outside his own.
> [Artifact Bound — Signature: Sam Kairo]
[Compatibility: 92%]
[Passive Feedback Loop — Active]
[Strain Reduction: 28%]
A laugh escaped his lips.
Small. Quiet.
But real.
---
The Next Morning — Surveillance Tower 4
Inside a facility cloaked from public record, behind quantum firewalls and two layers of A-class spatial distortion, a group of men stood around a holographic table.
On screen: a recording.
Sam Kairo, kneeling in a forest, creating a ring of light from bare dirt and air.
The video paused. Zoomed. Analyzed.
"First artifact," one of the observers muttered. "Power-to-cost ratio is unnaturally stable for someone untrained."
The man at the center of the room — bald, lean, his eyes glassy with neural augments — said nothing.
He simply watched.
"Director Voss?" the analyst prompted.
Finally, the man spoke.
"Tag him. Threat Level Beta rising to Alpha if the next test confirms intelligence-use."
"Should we interfere?"
Voss turned away.
"Not yet. Let the boy dig his grave deeper."
---
Darak South – School Rooftop
Layla found Sam lying on the rooftop tiles, staring at the morning sky. The ring glowed softly under his shirt.
She sat beside him without a word.
He offered her the ring.
She didn't take it.
"You're going to burn yourself out," she said.
"I'd rather burn than stay blind," he replied.
"You think pushing yourself will fix everything?"
"I think hiding won't."
They sat in silence for a moment.
Then she asked, "Why me?"
Sam blinked. "What?"
"You could've asked anyone for help. Ethan. That nerd Daire. Even Drake."
He smiled faintly. "They wouldn't understand. Ethan's stuck on glory. Daire would sell it. Drake's too perfect. But you…"
She tilted her head. "Me?"
"You see everything… and pretend not to."
Layla looked away, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I hate how you talk like that."
"I know."
---
Chapter End Hook
In the shadowed corner of the school gym, a figure stood silently, a tracker embedded behind their iris lens. Watching. Listening.
Not for orders.
But for opportunity.
Sam had just entered the path of Creation.
And not everyone wanted to see him survive it.