The first thing Kael noticed was the silence.
No alarms. No guards barking orders. No scanners buzzing against his body.
Just silence and a faint vibration of energy flowing through the walls of Outpost Varin.
He lay in a clean bed, real sheets under him, with filtered air in his lungs. It was the first time in years he'd slept without fear of being dragged out for testing.
But his body… still felt broken.
The Spiral inside him had stopped glowing. No more burning heat. No more strange voices. Just a dull ache behind his ribs, like a light that had dimmed too far to see.
"It's not gone," he told himself.
"It's just hurt."
When he sat up, his limbs trembled. The med-bay was quiet. A soft blue glow pulsed from the walls.
Kael stared at his hands.
Still human. Still scarred. But something inside them had changed.
He remembered the last time the Spiral had flared to life, how it had lashed out, tearing his restraints apart and lighting up his veins. But now? It barely pulsed.
The doctors hadn't seen anything special. Aria hadn't asked questions yet.
'Good.'
The fewer people who knew the truth, the safer he'd be.
Aria came to check on him later that morning. She didn't wear her armor, only a light coat with the Velar crest faint on her shoulder.
"You're healing faster than expected," she said.
"Lucky genes," Kael replied.
She raised an eyebrow but didn't push it.
Instead, she brought food, a hot protein pack, better than anything he'd ever eaten in the mines.
He ate in silence for a moment, then glanced at her.
"Why are you really helping me?"
"I told you," she said. "You're under my protection."
"That's not an answer."
Aria leaned back in her chair. "Because I know what GenCore is and looking at what they have done to you I now know what they do to people they can't control, altough I may have to now think you are special as they don't search for ordinary people. And because you don't look like someone who deserves to be put down."
Kael swallowed the last bite and set the tray aside.
"I don't know what I am," he admitted.
Aria looked at him, not with pity, but with curiosity.
"Then let's figure it out."
Over the next few days, Kael trained his body again. Light exercise. Simple balance drills. He kept to himself mostly, but he noticed the way Aria's soldiers gave him space, and how they never questioned aria's orders.
They respected her.
More than that, they trusted her.
Even though she was only a few years older than him, she walked like a leader born,not trained.
When Kael asked about her family, she just said, "I'm not like most of them," and left it at that.
He didn't press.
He had secrets too.
On the fifth day, Aria entered the med-bay with a datapad.
"We're moving tomorrow," she said. "Outpost Varin isn't safe for long. We've picked up unusual scans on the border, someone's looking for you."
Kael stiffened. "GenCore?"
"Maybe. Maybe worse."
Kael felt the Spiral twitch,like it knew something was watching.
He nodded slowly.
"Then I guess it's time I stopped hiding."
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End of Chapter 6 of volume 2