Dawn spread across the sky like liquid gold, pouring light over the blue curve of the planet. From far above, Ikaris watched the sun ignite oceans and cities, felt the atmosphere brush against his skin like breath. The world pulsed beneath him — alive, loud, strange.
He drifted lower, cutting through thin cloud banks, leaving faint streaks of light in his wake. The city below shimmered beside the sea — towers and skybridges gleaming like crystal veins. It was not the world he remembered. Humanity had climbed far, reshaping its weakness into spectacle.
But beneath all that brilliance, he could sense the deeper hum — the molecular rhythm that linked every living thing.The Cosmic Gene.Sersi's touch, still echoing across millennia.
He landed soundlessly atop a tower, cloaking his energy until he was no more than a shadow. Below, the streets roared with motion — lights, voices, laughter. Humans in bright uniforms darted through the morning air, wielding powers that warped physics with ease.
Fire burst from palms. Water curled midair. A child hovered above a crosswalk, carried by invisible threads.
They had made peace with the unnatural. They had built their culture upon it.
From his vantage point, Ikaris studied them, his golden eyes unblinking. Power was everywhere here — not hidden, not feared, but celebrated. Advertisements screamed names of heroes. News screens replayed their victories. Schools trained children to fight disasters and villains born from the same evolutionary gift.
He could almost hear the Celestials' judgment: a world untamed.
To Ikaris, it felt fragile — as if one wrong push could unravel the balance that held it together.
A tremor broke the calm. Somewhere below, a transport vehicle shuddered violently — its engine sparking blue light. In seconds, it tilted off the elevated roadway. The crowd screamed.
He moved without thought.
A streak of gold split the air, faster than lightning. He caught the falling transport with his bare hands, suspending it effortlessly before it could crush the street below. The impact sent a shockwave through the air — light and dust scattering around him like embers.
And then, before anyone could see his face, he vanished.
The vehicle rested safely on the ground, unharmed.
People gathered in confusion. Phones pointed skyward. A dozen voices asked the same question:"What hero was that?"
Far above, Ikaris hovered silently in the clouds, watching them regroup. Gratitude filled their faces, even in ignorance. They didn't need to know who he was. Saving them had been enough.
For a moment, he remembered Sersi's words — soft, defiant, echoing through the ages:"They remember kindness longer than fear."
He stayed aloft for hours after, observing the living map of the city as daylight deepened. To his sight, every being glowed faintly — the rhythm of molecular motion, the dance of the altered gene. Humanity had learned to wield power, but not yet to understand it.
By nightfall, he settled on a mountain ridge overlooking the coast. Below, the city pulsed with neon veins — a constellation trapped to the ground. The air shimmered with faint heat and sound, all part of the living vibration he could sense even from here.
And then — something shifted.
A pulse.Small, but distinct.
Not like the others.
Ikaris's eyes snapped open, golden light flickering briefly. Someone — something — had sensed him. Not an Eternal. Not a god. The signature was… human. But sharp. Focused. A mind trained to detect energy at the subatomic level.
He turned toward the source.
Far below, a man stood atop a neighboring skyscraper — tall, wrapped in a black coat that rippled in the wind. His face was hidden beneath a mask, but his eyes glowed faintly crimson through the slits. Around him, the air distorted — a Quirk at work.
The man wasn't attacking. He was scanning.
Ikaris recognized the look — suspicion mixed with curiosity. He had seen it countless times in other species before first contact. The human was trying to read his energy and failing. No biological pattern, no molecular logic. What he was detecting didn't fit any known Quirk classification.
Their eyes met across the distance.
For a heartbeat, the world seemed to hold its breath.
The man raised one hand, palm outward — not a threat, but a signal.A wordless question: Who are you?
Ikaris didn't answer. He let his energy fade, his glow dimming to nothing. The crimson gaze lingered a moment longer, then vanished as the man dissolved into the darkness — disappearing with the silent precision of a professional.
Ikaris hovered there a while longer, thoughtful.
He had not expected to be noticed so soon. But this world was not blind. Humanity had grown more perceptive than he remembered. They watched their skies now. They measured anomalies. They feared the unknown.
He rose slowly, drifting higher until the wind carried the sound of the sea below him. The moonlight traced silver across his form as he looked down upon the glowing world.
"Even now," he murmured to the horizon, "you find a way to see beyond your reach."
The planet shimmered beneath him — restless, alive, dreaming of power.
And somewhere in that endless city, a human investigator replayed energy readings that defied every law he knew, his mind already calculating, hunting, wondering.
The encounter had been brief, but it was enough.
The world of Quirks had just glimpsed something that didn't belong to it.And curiosity was always the beginning of conflict.