Chapter 1: The Resonance
The world had never been the same after the Resonance Event.
It happened on a quiet night, a night like any other, until the sky cracked open. The stars bled into one another, and the very fabric of reality twisted. No one saw it coming, and no one could understand it. The SCP Foundation, that shadowy organization dedicated to containing the unexplainable, had always whispered about the coming cataclysm. But even they weren't ready for this. No one was.
Kael Amon was never supposed to survive that night.
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The air was thick with static, the ground beneath Kael's boots trembling as the colossal form of SCP-L9129 ("The Black Titan") loomed before him. Its massive obsidian body reflected the dim glow of the fires raging across the cityscape. The Titan's crimson eyes locked onto Kael with chilling precision, as if the beast knew him—knew what he was. A survivor.
A weapon.
"You shouldn't be here," Kael muttered under his breath. His voice was hoarse, cracked from hours of screaming orders, fighting, running, but most of all, surviving. He wasn't supposed to be a survivor. Not after the explosion, not after the Leviathan tore through the containment facility. The black titan had killed everyone. Everyone except Kael.
His right arm trembled, an eerie, pulsating glow running along the veins of his skin. It was the Symbiotic Core. The Paragon that had saved him. Kael had no idea how it had happened. One moment he was lying, bloodied, broken, barely clinging to life. The next, the Core had embedded itself within him, the crystalline formation grafting into his flesh like a parasite, a fusion of human and anomaly.
Pain surged through him as his senses sharpened. The Titan roared, shaking the ground with its every step. He didn't have much time. The Symbiotic Core was waking up inside him, an entity of unknown origin and purpose, and he could feel its power coursing through his veins—every nerve in his body alight with the unnatural energy that had merged with his own.
He raised his arm, fingers twitching, and from his skin, black, jagged crystals began to protrude, swirling with red energy. Dark Matter Constructs. His new abilities, given to him by the Paragon, were raw, unstable, but powerful. He needed control. Without it, he was just another ticking time bomb.
The Titan advanced, each step causing the ground to crack, its massive fists raised, ready to crush. Kael narrowed his eyes, focusing on the power within him. The Core whispered—its voice a soft, hypnotic murmur in his mind. Use me. Destroy.
"Not today," Kael growled.
He summoned every ounce of willpower left in him and clenched his fist. The crystals extended outward, forming an obsidian blade that hummed with a destructive energy. He leapt into the air, cutting through the smoke and debris, the blade trailing a streak of crimson as it sliced through the air.
The Titan was fast, but not fast enough. Kael landed atop its massive shoulder, barely registering the explosion of force that rang out as he struck the creature with the blade. The Titan roared in pain, but the wound quickly healed itself—its regenerative abilities working faster than Kael could process.
This wasn't enough.
He needed more.
He reached deep within, feeling the cold, alien energy of the Core inside him. It whispered again. Embrace me fully. I will make you unstoppable.
Without a second thought, Kael released the last of his restraint. He let the Paragon take over. The pain was unbearable, but he welcomed it. His body expanded, cracks forming along his skin as dark energy surged outward. His human form was quickly replaced by something else. His eyes glowed with red fury, and his muscles twisted, morphing into something unnatural.
He had become the monster.
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The Titan seemed to hesitate, recognizing the shift in Kael's presence. The ground beneath them cracked open, releasing plumes of fire as Kael descended onto the Titan's chest, the dark blade now a massive shard of living obsidian.
With a single strike, the beast's chest exploded in a burst of gore, the Leviathan's cry echoing through the ravaged city as it crumbled beneath the force of Kael's attack.
The power inside him thrummed like a beating heart, and Kael felt the weight of it. His heartbeat was no longer his own. He had become a weapon—just another anomaly in a world that was dying.
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But even as the Titan fell, Kael knew the fight was far from over.
Above him, in the crumbling remnants of the Foundation's shattered facility, a figure watched from the shadows. A figure with eyes as cold as death.
Kael had been a part of their plan all along.
The Resonance was only the beginning.
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To Be Continued...