Chapter 1 The Night the World Changed
At 11:47 p.m., every clock in the city stopped. Kael Veyran noticed because the cheap clock above his desk had been irritating him for twenty minutes. The second hand froze between two marks. Outside, rain hung motionless above the street. A car stopped beneath a streetlamp. A bird remained suspended in the darkness. For three seconds, the world forgot how to move. Then everything returned at once. Rain struck the glass. The bird dropped. A horn screamed. Every screen in Kael's apartment turned black. A white circle appeared. Then three words.
EVOLUTION HAS BEGUN.
Kael stared at his phone. Emergency alerts multiplied. The network died. The television filled with static. Then someone screamed outside. He went to the window. A dog ran across the street. Halfway through the intersection, its body convulsed. Dark ridges rose beneath its fur. Its limbs lengthened. Its eyes became silver. Kael stepped away from the glass.
Something struck his apartment door. Once. Twice. Then the metal bent inward. He grabbed his backpack and ran for the stairs.
The creature followed.
Kael reached the lobby and escaped through a broken side entrance. The city had become chaos. Cars collided. Smoke climbed between towers. Trees pushed through asphalt as if they had been waiting beneath the roads for centuries.
He entered an alley.
Silence.
He turned. Nothing.
“Did I lose it?”
“Yes.”
The voice came from behind him.
A young woman stood beneath a broken streetlamp. Long black hair framed a pale face. Her dark clothes were untouched by rain or dust.
Kael backed away. “Who are you?”
“That is not the important question.”
Her eyes moved to his hand. A thin cut crossed his palm. Her expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“I don't know.”
A roar shook the buildings. The woman looked toward the sky. The clouds were rotating around a vast black opening.
Kael's phone vibrated.
[Evolutionary compatibility detected.]
Another message appeared.
[Unknown Bloodline attempting to awaken.]
The woman whispered, “Impossible.”
“What?”
She looked at him. “That bloodline was supposed to be extinct.”
Something landed on the roof.
The woman raised one hand. Black energy gathered around her fingers.
“Stay behind me.”
Kael stared. “You can use powers?”
“I am not human.”
The creature dropped into the alley.
The woman's eyes turned crimson.
“Remember my name.”
She stepped forward.
“Seraphine.”
Kael's wounded palm suddenly burned.
[First Blood recognized.]
The world became red.
