Kairo didn't sleep that night.
They gave him a small temporary room inside Sigma's underground complex — metal walls, glowing strips of soft white light, a narrow bed, and a glass panel that displayed real-time readings of his vitals. Every few minutes, the stabilizer cuff on his wrist pulsed gently, monitoring him.
He lay awake staring at the ceiling, feeling electricity roll under his skin like restless waves. It didn't hurt — not exactly. It was more like his blood had turned warm and alive, humming with something that didn't belong to this world.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the lightning again.
Striking.
Burning.
Becoming him.
What am I turning into?
At 5:12 a.m., his door slid open with a soft chime.
Agent Lira Hensley stepped inside.
"Kairo," she said in a quiet voice, "Director Voss wants to begin your evaluation."
Kairo sat up slowly.
"Is it… dangerous?"
Hensley hesitated.
"That depends on how honest you are with yourself." Those words unsettled him more than any warning.
The Training Hall
She led him down a long corridor that pulsed with faint blue lights. Sigma guards in smooth white armor watched him from behind black visors. Some stared too long. Others stepped back as he passed.
Kairo kept his eyes forward.
The training hall was huge — a circular chamber with a domed ceiling, lined with reinforced alloy panels that hummed with containment currents. Floating screens displayed data streams. High-tech platforms rose from the floor like metal islands.
Waiting at the center was a young man around Kairo's age — maybe seventeen — with short black hair and a scar across his right eyebrow. He wore a sleek black Sigma trainee suit.
He stared at Kairo with cold interest.
"This is Eryn Vale," Agent Hensley said.
"Sigma's top-ranked trainee. You'll be working together." Eryn crossed his arms.
"So he's the blackout kid. Doesn't look like much." Kairo bristled, surprising even himself.
"I didn't ask to be here."
Eryn smirked.
"No one does."
Director Voss's Test
Director Seraphine Voss entered the chamber with her hands clasped behind her back. Her presence made the air itself tighten. "Kairo," she said. "We need to understand what you are capable of. Today's goal is simple: controlled discharge." "Controlled… what?"
"You will release electricity on command," she said. "Safely. Without harming yourself or the facility."
Kairo's chest tightened.
"I can't control it. I barely understand it."
"That's why we're here," Voss replied sharply.
"Your power isn't random. It responds to emotion. To instinct. To danger. So we must teach you to do the opposite — to use logic, not fear."
Eryn stepped forward.
"I'll demonstrate," he said with a cocky grin.
He held out his hand.
The air shimmered.
A burst of pressure rippled from his palm, pushing Kairo's hair back.
Telekinesis. Kairo stared.
"You can move things with your mind?"
"Only things that don't talk back," Eryn replied. Voss nodded.
"Kairo. Step to the line."
A glowing circle appeared on the floor.
Kairo swallowed hard and stepped inside it.
"Now," Voss said, "call the energy."
"I don't know how." "You do," she said. "You've already done it. You panic — you release. Your fear opens the floodgates. Your job now is to open them without panic." Kairo closed his eyes.
He thought of the storm.
The fence.
The lightning in his veins.
The whispers.
The fear.
He reached into the static inside him.
A spark flickered across his fingertips.
His breath trembled.
His heart sped up.
The air vibrated.
"That's it…" Hensley whispered.
But something was wrong.
The spark grew too fast — too bright — too hot.
A surge of electricity shot up his arm like a wave of fire. Kairo gasped.
"I—I can't hold it—" "Control it," Voss barked. "I'm trying!"
His vision blurred white.
The stabilizer cuff flashed red.
Eryn stepped back.
"Uh—Director—"
Lightning exploded from Kairo's hands.
A brilliant arc of blue light shot across the chamber, slamming into the metal containment wall. The entire room shook. Alarms blared. Guards rushed toward the entrance.
Kairo fell to his knees, gasping, fingers smoking. The floor was scorched where he'd stood.
Hensley rushed to him.
"Kairo! Are you hurt?"
He shook his head weakly, though his hands burned like he'd touched a live wire. Director Voss approached, her expression unreadable.
"You nearly overloaded the chamber," she said quietly.
"I—I told you… I can't control it," Kairo whispered.
"No," Voss said, kneeling so her eyes met his.
"You can. You just don't know why you have this power." Kairo looked up, trembling.
"What does that mean?"
Voss stood slowly.
"It means someone gave it to you." The room fell silent. "What? Who?!"
Voss turned away, hands behind her back. "That is what we intend to find out." Eryn stared wide-eyed at Kairo now — not with arrogance, but with a flicker of fear.
"Director," a guard interrupted. "We've detected the same energy signature again. East Sector. It's moving."
Voss's gaze sharpened.
"Kairo," she said, "you're not the only one with this ability."
"But… I thought the lightning hit only me." "No," Voss said. "It chose you. And someone else."
Kairo's blood ran cold.
"Who is it?" he whispered.
Voss's voice dropped into a tone colder than the storm that created him.
"We don't know yet. But whatever it is… it's looking for you."