It had been a week since my training with the pros had ended, and if I were being honest, I was finally starting to feel like I was getting my bearings. The mountain range we had been training in, combined with the constant pressure and near-grueling tests, had gotten me used to a pace I hadn't known I was capable of before. And now, with the week having passed, I could finally say that I felt stronger—not just physically, but mentally as well.
I was sitting in a sparse, darkened room, flipping through some intel on the monsters I'd learned about in the last few months. It had been the first chance I'd gotten to look over the data without feeling like I was about to break down or rush off to the next mission. I hadn't realized how much tension I'd been carrying until it started to fade away.
That's when the door to my small quarters burst open.
"Kai!"
The voice was sharp and urgent. President Evelyn Cross stepped into the room, her face pale, her brows furrowed in a way I'd never seen before.
I immediately shot up from my chair, concern spreading across my chest. It wasn't like her to enter my quarters unannounced, and definitely not like this.
"What's wrong?" I asked, a million thoughts racing through my mind.
"I… I have bad news," she said, voice tight. "We were wrong. The first apocalypse… it's not what we thought it was."
I blinked, processing the words. "What do you mean?" I was starting to feel the weight of what she was saying before she even finished.
She didn't even give me a moment to breathe before she continued. "The bug you fought—the one we thought was the first apocalypse—it wasn't it. That was just a side effect, a smaller distraction." Evelyn paused, looking down for a moment before locking eyes with me. "It was just the symptom, Kai. The real apocalypse, the one we should've been focused on… it's already on the move. It's Ygros."
My stomach dropped. The name echoed through my mind like a bell ringing in the distance. Ygros—the creature I had only heard of in hushed whispers, the first of the Ten Apocalypses. The one who was supposed to bring about the end of days.
"What? Ygros? I thought… I thought that was just a myth, something from ancient texts or whatever. Are you saying it's really alive?" The words felt foreign on my tongue.
Evelyn's face had become even more strained, her eyes hard. "Yes, Ygros is real. And it's not waiting. We've been monitoring it, but it's worse than we thought." Her voice shook slightly now. "It's already out of its containment zone in the Andes, and it's wreaking havoc. The cities, the people… we don't have much time before it reaches full strength. Its power is unlike anything we've ever seen. I'm afraid we're not prepared for this."
I felt a chill run through me. My mind raced, connecting the dots as quickly as I could. I'd heard about the rumors, but hearing it from Evelyn made everything feel too real, too close. The whole week I'd been training, it was as if I'd been preparing for something else—something I thought was far off in the distance.
But now, standing in front of me, was the reality of what was coming.
"How… how much time do we have?" I asked, dreading the answer, already knowing deep down it wasn't going to be long.
Evelyn took a slow breath, biting her lip before speaking again. "Not long. At all. Its power is escalating faster than we can react. We thought we had weeks, maybe months. But from the intel we've gathered, it's already started its attack on Chillán—that small town in Chile. We thought it was just a fluke at first, but now… it's clear. The first apocalypse has already begun, Kai."
Her words weighed heavily on my chest, suffocating the brief moment of peace I had thought I'd earned. I could feel the heat in my throat, a bitter taste of frustration and anger rising. We'd been wrong. This entire time, we'd been focusing on the wrong threat. We had taken a backseat, hoping for time we didn't have.
And now, it was too late.
"You're sure?" I asked, my voice hoarse, more out of instinct than disbelief.
Evelyn nodded firmly. "It's not just a creature we're dealing with, Kai. Ygros is the beginning. The Ten Apocalypses are far more than monsters—they're cataclysmic events. Every single one of them was designed to bring about the destruction of everything. Their power is unimaginable."
I was frozen for a moment, my body just locked in place. I knew this was going to be bad. I knew it would be difficult, but I never anticipated this. A wave of guilt flooded through me. Here I was—Kai Skyline, someone who was supposed to stop these kinds of threats—and I hadn't even been aware of what was truly happening.
"Where are we going from here?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly as the enormity of it all settled in. I couldn't afford to lose focus now.
"To the battlefield, Kai," Evelyn said, her voice hardening with resolve. "We can't wait any longer. We have to move now."
Without another word, she turned and began walking towards the door. I hesitated for a moment, but then followed her, my mind racing with thoughts and questions that I couldn't answer on my own.
As I moved toward the door, I took one last glance at the empty room, the quiet space where I'd tried to regain my strength. And then, as if something clicked inside me, I felt it.
The weight of the responsibility.
I wasn't just some soldier or hero, just fighting for glory. I was the one meant to stop this. If Ygros was the first of ten, then my fight was just beginning.
And I wasn't ready.
But I would be.