Shadow Born

Chapter Four: First Blood

The rooftop was silent.

Kairo stood at the edge of the building, the cool night wind brushing against his face. Thousands of lights stretched across Ebon City, each one marking a home, a business, or a life he never noticed before.

Then the Shadow Core spoke.

You are no longer alone.

Kairo frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Enemies. Four. Approaching from the east.

He turned sharply.

At first, he saw nothing.

Then four dark figures stepped onto neighboring rooftops, moving with impossible precision. They wore matte-black armor that reflected almost no light. Their helmets concealed their faces behind glowing red visors.

Each carried a weapon unlike anything Kairo had ever seen.

One of them raised an arm.

"Guardian," a robotic voice echoed through a speaker. "Surrender the Shadow Core."

Kairo's heart pounded.

"I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"You possess stolen property."

"It chose me!"

The soldiers didn't answer.

Instead, all four leaped into the air.

Their armor ignited with blue thrusters, carrying them across the gap between buildings.

They landed around Kairo, boxing him in.

The tallest stepped forward.

"I am Hunter One."

"My orders are simple."

"Capture you."

Kairo took a step back.

"I don't want to fight."

Hunter One tilted his head.

"That is irrelevant."

Without warning, a pulse cannon fired.

A brilliant blue blast tore across the rooftop.

Kairo threw himself aside as concrete exploded where he had been standing.

Dust filled the air.

Hunter Two fired next.

Then Hunter Three.

Energy bolts ripped through the rooftop, forcing Kairo to keep moving.

He barely understood how he was dodging.

Everything around him seemed slower.

The blasts crawled through the air.

His body reacted before his mind could.

He flipped over a broken ventilation unit just as another explosion shattered it.

"Shadow Core!"

Combat synchronization activated.

"What?"

Suddenly, information flooded his mind.

Angles.

Distances.

Enemy movements.

Weak points.

It felt as though someone had downloaded years of combat experience directly into his brain.

Hunter Four charged with an electrified blade.

Kairo instinctively caught the weapon with his bare hand.

The blade stopped inches from his face.

Blue-black energy wrapped around his fingers.

The metal cracked.

Then shattered into hundreds of glowing fragments.

Hunter Four stumbled backward.

"Impossible."

Kairo stared at his own hand in disbelief.

"I did that?"

Hunter One didn't hesitate.

"Full assault!"

All four attacked together.

Energy blasts rained across the rooftop.

Steel cables fired toward Kairo, wrapping around his arms and legs.

The cables tightened.

Electricity surged through them.

Kairo cried out in pain.

His knees hit the concrete.

Hunter One approached slowly.

"The Shadow Core belongs to Commander Voss."

"It never belonged to him," Kairo growled.

"You don't understand."

"Correct."

Hunter One aimed a glowing device at Kairo's chest.

"We will remove it."

The device activated.

A beam of crimson energy struck Kairo.

Agony exploded through his body.

It felt as though something inside him was being torn apart.

The Shadow Core spoke with urgency.

Host integrity failing.

"I can't..."

Fight.

Hunter One increased the machine's power.

Blue light began leaking from Kairo's chest.

The soldiers watched eagerly.

"We're extracting it!"

The pain became unbearable.

Kairo screamed.

The scream echoed across the city.

Then everything went silent.

A wave of darkness erupted from his body.

The rooftop vanished beneath a storm of black energy and blue lightning.

The shockwave blasted the Hunters backward.

Concrete cracked.

Windows shattered for blocks.

Cars below skidded to a stop as alarms screamed into the night.

Kairo slowly stood.

The restraints had disintegrated.

Dark energy flowed across his jacket like living smoke.

His eyes burned bright blue.

Hunter Two whispered,

"His power level..."

Hunter One interrupted.

"Retreat!"

It was too late.

Kairo raised one hand.

Not to attack.

To stop them.

Invisible force slammed into the Hunters, throwing them across the rooftop.

Their armored suits dented against concrete walls.

Hunter Three tried to stand.

Kairo looked toward him.

The soldier froze in place.

Gravity itself seemed to hold him down.

"What... are you?" Hunter Three gasped.

Kairo looked at his own glowing hands.

"I don't know."

The energy around him faded.

His knees suddenly buckled.

The power disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

Exhaustion hit him like a collapsing building.

He collapsed onto one knee.

Hunter One recovered first.

"He has reached his limit."

The commander raised another weapon.

Before he could fire, dozens of police sirens echoed below.

Searchlights swept across nearby buildings.

News helicopters approached from every direction.

Hunter One cursed.

"We've been exposed."

He activated a beacon on his wrist.

A stealth aircraft descended through the clouds.

The four Hunters leaped aboard.

Within seconds, the aircraft disappeared into the night.

Leaving Kairo alone.

He struggled to his feet just before police officers reached the rooftop.

He jumped.

Instead of falling...

He floated.

His eyes widened.

"I can fly?"

Limited gravitational control, the Shadow Core replied.

Kairo drifted across the skyline, barely avoiding rooftops and billboards as he learned to control the strange new ability.

Below, thousands of people watched a dark silhouette streak across the moonlit sky.

Phones recorded every second.

The legend of Shadow Born was no longer a rumor.

The whole city had seen him.

Deep beneath Ebon City, Commander Voss watched the failed mission in silence.

One by one, the Hunters removed their damaged helmets.

None dared speak first.

Finally, Voss looked at the cracked extraction device recovered from the battlefield.

"So..."

"He survived."

Hunter One lowered his head.

"Yes, Commander."

"And the Shadow Core?"

"It rejected extraction."

Voss's face hardened.

"I expected as much."

He turned toward a massive steel vault at the center of the chamber.

"Then we proceed to Phase Two."

The vault doors slowly opened with a thunderous groan.

Inside stood a towering figure suspended in a chamber of blue liquid.

Nearly eight feet tall.

Covered in ancient black armor.

Its eyes were closed.

Its chest bore the symbol of a broken star.

Voss smiled.

"If one Guardian stands in our way..."

The giant's eyes suddenly opened, glowing crimson.

"...we'll send another."

The chamber began to drain.