The chamber lights flickered.
Monitors began flashing faster. Neural spikes. Cognitive resonance.
Then—
[Subject Consciousness—ACTIVE]
[Breathing: STABILIZED]
[Muscle Response: NOMINAL]
Inside the pod, Haio's eyes snapped open.
Bright silver. Cold, but questioning.
His pupils dilated quickly as he took in the filtered green hue around him. Instinct surged—his hands clenched, twitching with unfamiliar power. A muffled voice echoed in his mind, repeating faint data strings from the Spec Archive Database.
> "Tissue Forge calibrated. Core charged. Quirkscope in passive scan mode..."
The fluid drained rapidly.
Mechanical arms descended, disconnecting IV lines, bio-feed cables, and neural sync needles. The chamber hissed open. Cold air met skin that hadn't touched open air in sixteen years.
Haio fell to his knees, coughing violently as he expelled the stasis residue from his lungs.
Dr. Nerion was already there, a thermal coat in hand, eyes wide.
> "Haio—easy. Breathe. You're safe."
The boy looked up, his chest rising and falling. His face was pale, angular, marked by faint luminescent veins glowing from the Spec integrations in his body.
He opened his mouth—and spoke for the first time.
> "...You're the one who made me."
Nerion flinched.
Not Father. Not Creator. Not Sir.
> "Yes," Nerion replied softly. "I am."
Haio stood, slightly shaky. "Why?"
> "Because this world is broken," Nerion said. "And you're the only one who can fix it."
Haio looked at his hands—at the faint golden shimmer that pulsed beneath the skin. He could feel the power in him. Each breath sang with suppressed force. A thousand instincts burned behind his eyes.
> "I feel... too much," Haio whispered. "Too many things... I don't understand them."
Nerion placed a hand on his shoulder. "They'll settle. You're newly awakened. Your mind is absorbing memories, skills, Specs, instincts. But what matters most—" he paused, looking the boy directly in the eye, "—is that you're not alone."
Haio stared for a long moment.
Then, something broke through his rigid expression.
Something human.
A small, shaky nod.
> "I... believe you."
The chamber lights dimmed.
For the first time in his life, Haio Starveil took a step forward—no longer submerged in liquid, no longer an idea in a tube. He was real now. Awake.
And as the world slept unaware, the strongest being on Earth had just taken his first breath.