Chapter 14: The Awakened
The clinical precision of high finance vanished, replaced by the chaotic urgency of a hospital delivery room.
The scene was a flurry of flashing lights and concerned faces. A young woman named **Yolanda** lay on the bed, struggling to breathe. Nurses hustled around her, trying to combat the impossible: her body temperature was spiking, climbing rapidly toward **115 degrees Fahrenheit**.
"Breathe, Yolanda, breathe!" a nurse coached, wiping a cloth over the woman's forehead.
Yolanda was sweating profusely, yet the beads of moisture instantly evaporated, creating a shimmering, smoking mist around her body. Despite the dangerous heat, the fetal monitor showed the child was strong and stable. Yolanda, though clearly in distress, seemed determined.
With a final, agonizing push, she gave birth. The room instantly cooled down several degrees.
The newborn was a baby girl, perfectly normal in every way—except for her distinct **red hair** and eyes, and a palpable, internal warmth that made her skin feel like it was perpetually fresh from a warm bath. They had just witnessed the first birth of a generation.
Similar strange changes were happening across the globe. Children were being born with impossible, unexplainable physical traits that night. These were consequences that neither **Carter** nor **Earth** knew about, but they would find out very soon.
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Back in his motel room, Carter was already on edge from the financial frenzy of the past twenty-four hours. He was finalizing the acquisition of his shell company when the System, still linked to the news, pulled up a new, unprecedented report.
The screen switched from stock charts to a news anchor with a grave expression.
"We have an update on the phenomena occurring across the globe tonight," the anchor stated. "In a series of inexplicable medical cases from London to Los Angeles, babies are being born with distinct genetic abnormalities. Physicians are baffled, but the common factor appears to be the presence of impossible hair colors."
Carter looked up from his screen.
"We are calling these children **'The Awakened,'**" the anchor continued. "They have been documented with hair of six distinct colors: **blue, red, green, yellow, white, and a very dark shade of black**."
When the news anchor said that, a cold dread seized Carter. He knew those colors. Those were the **six magical affinities**—the precise colors of the six magical affinities, the foundation of all known magic in the universe.
The chilling realization hit him: his chaotic arrival hadn't just brought magic back; it had **rewritten the DNA** of newborn humans, giving them the potential for magic from birth.
Carter stared at the TV screen, the casual mention of elemental colors stripping the amusement and financial ambition right out of him. He looked down at his own black-and-white dreadlocks, the symbol of his dual, volatile power, and suddenly felt a profound, terrifying connection to the fragile, newly-born children.
He was **scared shitless**
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