THE AWAKENING
517 Words
The silver light exploded from the pendant like a miniature sun.
The force threw Ethan backward. He crashed into the muddy ground, his ears ringing as the forest trembled around him.
The soldiers stumbled, shielding their eyes.
"What is happening?" one of them shouted.
"It's activating!" another yelled in panic.
The hooded man took a step back for the first time.
"No..." he whispered. "It was never supposed to awaken."
Ethan's body burned with unbearable pain. Every muscle tightened as if electricity were racing through his veins. He screamed, clutching his head.
Then...
The memories came.
A white laboratory.
Children standing in rows.
Scientists wearing long white coats.
The symbol of a black phoenix painted on a steel wall.
A little boy...
That little boy was Ethan.
He saw needles longer than his forearm.
Machines surrounding him.
Doctors recording every heartbeat.
One scientist smiled.
"Subject E-17 is responding beyond expectations."
Another frowned.
"His energy levels are unstable."
A woman's voice suddenly echoed through the room.
"Stop this! He's only a child!"
The memory shattered.
Ethan gasped for air.
"No..."
He looked at his trembling hands.
"I remember..."
The hooded man raised his strange weapon.
"Kill him!"
Blue energy bolts ripped through the forest.
Ethan instinctively raised his arm.
A transparent silver shield burst into existence.
The bolts struck it and vanished.
Silence.
Every soldier froze.
The hooded man's eyes widened.
"He can already use it..."
One soldier nervously stepped backward.
"Sir... that's impossible."
"It doesn't matter!" the hooded man roared.
"Destroy him before he reaches full synchronization!"
More soldiers emerged from the darkness, surrounding Ethan from every direction.
Laser sights covered his chest.
Helicopters thundered overhead.
Spotlights pierced through the rain.
Ethan slowly stood.
He had no idea how the shield appeared.
He had no idea why the pendant obeyed him.
But one thing had become painfully clear.
They feared him.
The pendant pulsed again.
A calm voice echoed inside his mind.
Run.
Ethan looked around.
"Who's there?"
Run... before they unleash Protocol Zero.
His heartbeat quickened.
The voice wasn't coming from outside.
It was inside his head.
The hooded man smiled coldly.
"You heard it, didn't you?"
Ethan stared at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"The Guardian has chosen you."
For a brief moment, the hooded man looked almost disappointed.
"We spent twenty years trying to control its power."
He tightened his grip on his weapon.
"And it chose the one survivor we failed to kill."
The forest shook violently.
Birds burst from the trees.
A deafening roar echoed from beneath the ground.
The soldiers looked at each other in confusion.
"Sir..."
"What was that?"
Cracks spread across the earth beneath Ethan's feet.
The glowing pendant became hotter.
The mysterious voice spoke once more.
They're too late...
It's waking up.
Suddenly, a gigantic metallic hand burst through the ground, tearing apart rocks and trees as if they were paper.
The soldiers screamed.
The helicopters swerved wildly.
The hooded man's face turned pale for the first time.
"No..."
"Seal it!"
"Seal it now!"
The enormous hand opened slowly...
And something beneath the earth began to rise.
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