The world didn't stay quiet for long.
Reports multiplied overnight.
Not explosions.
Not battles.
Glitches.
— The First Incident —
A market district, mid-morning.
People moved as usual.
Vendors shouting.
Coins exchanging hands.
Then—
A man froze mid-step.
His body twitched.
Light flickered from his fingertips.
Weak.
Unstable.
"…What… is this—"
It burst outward.
Not like Juvy's light.
Not controlled.
Chaotic.
Stalls shattered.
Glass exploded.
People screamed.
Then—
It stopped.
The man collapsed.
Unconscious.
Silence followed.
— The Pattern —
Back at the Resistance base—
Screens lit up with similar cases.
Different cities.
Same symptoms.
Untrained individuals.
Sudden power bursts.
Immediate collapse.
Eli leaned forward.
"…They're not Significants."
Mara nodded.
"…No control. No structure."
A pause.
"…These are fragments."
Juvy watched quietly.
"…Echoes of what we lost…"
Mara looked at her.
"…Or pieces of something bigger."
— Juvy —
Juvy arrived at the market.
Too late to stop the damage.
Emergency crews moved fast.
Civilians shaken.
The man from earlier lay on the ground.
Alive.
But barely conscious.
Juvy knelt beside him.
"…Hey."
His eyes opened slightly.
"…It hurt…"
Juvy's expression softened.
"…I know."
He grabbed her sleeve weakly.
"…It felt like… something inside me broke…"
Juvy froze.
"…Broke…?"
Before she could respond—
A faint flicker.
From his chest.
A spark of light.
Small.
But real.
Juvy's eyes widened.
"…There it is…"
— Maxruell —
Lower zones.
Dark alleys.
No law.
Only survival.
Maxruell stood in front of three armed men.
They circled him slowly.
"…You picked the wrong place," one of them said.
Maxruell sighed.
"…Yeah?"
A pause.
"…Feels like I've been hearing that a lot."
One of them lunged.
Knife aimed straight for his chest.
Maxruell moved.
Not fast like before.
But enough.
He dodged.
Grabbed the attacker's wrist.
Twisted.
Bone cracked.
The others rushed him.
Maxruell fought.
No powers.
Just instinct.
Experience.
Brutal efficiency.
It wasn't clean.
He took hits.
Got cut.
But in the end—
They fell.
Maxruell stood over them.
Breathing heavier.
"…Tch…"
He wiped blood from his lip.
"…This is annoying."
Then—
Something moved.
The shadows beneath the fallen men—
Shifted.
Maxruell froze.
"…What…"
They weren't his.
But they reacted to him.
Just slightly.
"…So you're still there…"
— The Truth Expands —
Back at the base—
Juvy stood in the med room.
Watching the unconscious man.
That faint spark of light still flickering.
"…It didn't disappear," she said.
Mara crossed her arms.
"…No."
Eli added:
"…It broke apart."
Juvy looked at her hands again.
"…Then we didn't lose our power…"
A pause.
"…We lost control of it."
Far away—
In a dark, abandoned structure—
Something pulsed.
That same fragment from before.
Growing.
Shadows gathered around it.
Light flickered within it.
Unstable.
Incomplete.
A shape began to form.
Not fully human.
Not fully real.
A voice echoed faintly—
"…more…"
"…need… more…"