A deafening shockwave ripped through the city streets.
Kael hit the ground hard, his ears ringing from the explosion. His vision blurred as he tumbled across the cracked pavement, his body rolling to a stop against the smoking wreckage of a car.
For a moment, everything felt distant—muffled, like he was underwater. The world was chaos.
His chest heaved as he gasped for air. The street around him was unrecognizable—craters, burning vehicles, shattered glass everywhere. Sentinel Prime stood in the center of the destruction, his golden armor scuffed, his warhammer planted firmly in the ground.
Kael groaned, his entire body aching. What just happened?
The last thing he remembered was swinging that metal pipe. Then—
A pulse. A force. Like something inside him had been waiting to wake up.
He lifted his shaking hand. Tiny bits of metal debris hovered slightly above his palm, trembling in the air as if magnetized to him.
Lena staggered toward him, her face pale. "Kael…" she breathed. "Did you just—"
Before she could finish, a towering shadow loomed over them.
Sentinel Prime.
Kael swallowed hard. The legendary hero was staring straight at him, his eyes unreadable beneath his sleek helmet. The weight of that gaze made Kael feel smaller than ever.
The hero's deep voice broke the silence.
"What are you?"
Kael's breath hitched. "I—I don't know."
Before Sentinel Prime could press further, movement stirred from the ruins. One of the cloaked figures, their robes singed and tattered, was still standing. Their silver eyes flickered with something unreadable as they slowly backed away.
"You cannot hide what he is forever," the figure rasped, addressing Sentinel Prime rather than Kael. "The world will learn the truth soon enough."
And then—
They vanished.
Not ran. Not teleported. They simply… blinked out of existence.
Kael exhaled shakily. His entire body trembled with adrenaline, confusion, and something else. Something deeper.
Fear.
Because for the first time in his life, he wasn't powerless.
Hours Later – Vanguard Academy
Kael sat stiffly in a sterile white office, staring at the polished surface of a steel table.
He still couldn't wrap his head around what had happened.
One moment, he was just another powerless kid getting mocked in the streets. The next, Sentinel Prime himself had hauled him away—straight to Vanguard Academy, the most prestigious superhuman training institution in the world.
It was surreal. He didn't belong here.
Yet here he was, sitting in a cold office inside the very school he had dreamed of attending as a kid.
Lena sat beside him, fidgeting anxiously. "This is insane," she muttered. "You just awakened powers out of nowhere, and now they're treating you like some kind of government secret."
Kael barely heard her. His mind kept replaying the events in the city—the moment the metal pipe flew into his hands, the streetlights flickering, the way the cloaked figure called him 'Metalborn.'
It didn't make sense. Why now? Why him?
The door slid open with a smooth hiss.
A tall man stepped inside, his gray uniform crisp and spotless, the Vanguard Academy insignia embroidered on his shoulder. His icy blue eyes were as sharp as knives.
Kael recognized him instantly.
Professor Voss.
Head instructor of Combat and Tactical Development at Vanguard Academy. Known for his brutal training methods, unmatched combat intelligence, and an eerie ability to see straight through people.
Voss studied Kael for an uncomfortably long moment before finally speaking.
"You're confused." His voice was calm, unreadable.
Kael tensed. "I—"
"You should be." Voss cut him off. "The manifestation of an ability at your age is… unusual."
Kael's stomach twisted. Unusual. That was just another word for wrong.
Voss slowly stepped closer. "Tell me, Renshiro. Have you ever felt… different before today?"
Kael hesitated. He wanted to say no. But then he remembered—
The way his body always felt strangely attuned to his surroundings.
The weird static hum in the air when he was upset.
The fact that, deep down, he had always felt like something inside him was waiting.
"…No," Kael lied.
Voss didn't look convinced, but he didn't press the issue. Instead, he folded his arms.
"Whatever happened today, we need to figure out what you are before someone else does."
Kael frowned. "Someone else?"
Voss's expression darkened. "Those cloaked figures in the city—the Revenants."
Kael's fingers clenched into fists. That name sent a chill down his spine.
"They were after you," Voss continued. "Which means they know something about your abilities that we don't."
Kael looked away. "I don't know anything about them."
"I believe you." Voss's piercing gaze softened slightly. "That's why you need to stay here. At Vanguard."
Kael's head snapped up. "What?"
Voss clasped his hands behind his back. "Starting tomorrow, you'll be enrolled as a student at Vanguard Academy. You'll train. You'll learn to control your abilities. And you'll be watched."
Kael's chest tightened. Watched.
So that was it. They weren't offering him a chance to be a hero. They were keeping him under surveillance.
"You're not giving me a choice," Kael muttered.
Voss tilted his head slightly. "Are you refusing the offer?"
Kael fell silent.
He wanted to say yes. He wanted to walk away from all of this—from whatever power had awakened inside him, from the attention, from the unknown.
But deep down…
He couldn't ignore what happened in the streets today.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't completely helpless. He fought back.
And he wanted to know more.
"…Fine," Kael said quietly.
Voss nodded. "Good."
As Voss turned to leave, Kael called out.
"What's a Metalborn?"
Voss paused. He didn't turn around.
But Kael swore he saw the slightest stiffening in the professor's shoulders.
"Forget you ever heard that word," Voss said coolly.
And then he left.
Kael sat there, staring at the door long after it closed.
Something was wrong.
Something big.
And now, whether he wanted to or not—he was at the center of it.