The strange part was…
Kael wasn't the only one changing.
It started during training two days later.
The squad gathered in the lower combat hall beneath Helios Gate.
Steel walls.
Reinforced floors.
Observation windows above.
Elara stepped into the center of the room.
"Again," she said.
Bram charged the combat construct.
His hammer strike shattered the machine's shield in a single blow.
Everyone stared.
"That's new," Toren said.
Bram looked confused.
"I didn't hit it that hard."
Sera moved next.
She slipped between two constructs—
And vanished.
For a fraction of a second she simply wasn't there.
Then she reappeared behind the target.
Malik narrowed his eyes.
"Well that's inconvenient."
Toren stepped forward with a relic device.
It activated instantly when he touched it.
Even though it should have required Luminary clearance.
Everyone turned toward Kael.
Realization spread slowly.
The canal attack.
The Star-Blood exposure.
The same resonance event.
It hadn't changed just him.
It had touched all of them.
Sen whispered the words first.
"The Eclipse Vanguard."
Kael looked at his squad.
At Bram.
Sera.
Malik.
Toren.
Elara.
They weren't just survivors anymore.
They were becoming something new.
And somewhere out in the Nightlands—
Darius Vhal was waiting to see what that something would become.