One of the younger researchers laughed nervously. "It's almost as though..." He stopped himself.
Charles looked at him. "As though what?"
The scientist hesitated. "As though two people were supplying the energy needed to sustain one body."
The room fell silent.
Charles looked back at the monitor. "...An interesting analogy." He neither agreed nor disagreed.
Instead, he turned to the final report still processing.
Brainwave analysis.
The screen flashed.
RESULT COMPLETE.
Charles opened the file.
For several moments...
He simply stared.
One scientist noticed. "Charles?"
He enlarged the results.
An unfamiliar pattern pulsed across the display.
Not abnormal.
Unique.
He compared it with Hana's neurological profile.
The similarities were unmistakable.
His eyes widened slightly.
"Psychic..."
Another scientist stepped closer.
"Sir?"
Charles slowly nodded. "The child possesses measurable psychic activity."
Murmurs spread throughout the room.
"So early?"
"It shouldn't be possible."
Charles continued reading. "The neural structures responsible for psychic resonance are already present."
He looked toward the sleeping infant.
"Just like his mother."
Another scientist smiled.
"So he'll inherit her abilities?"
Charles shook his head.
"No. We only know he possesses psychic potential."
He looked back at the report.
"The extent of that potential...is impossible to determine. We'll have to observe his development."
The laboratory fell silent once more.
Beyond the reinforced glass, the Savior entered without making a sound.
Charles turned toward him. "The examination is complete."
The Savior looked first at Hana.
Then at the sleeping child.
"And?"
Charles allowed himself the faintest smile.
"The birth exceeded every projection. The child is healthy."
"Physically, he surpasses every biological model we believed possible. He has also inherited Hana's psychic mutation."
The Savior's expression remained unreadable.
Charles continued.
"At present, we cannot determine the upper limits of his abilities. But one thing is certain."
He looked back at the sleeping infant.
"He is unlike anything we've ever created."
The Savior stepped beside the crib.
The child slept peacefully, unaware of the eyes fixed upon him.
After a long silence, the Savior spoke.
"Then our future..."
He rested a hand lightly on the edge of the crib.
"...has finally arrived."
The room fell silent.
No one questioned him.
Because every person in that laboratory understood the same truth.
This child was no longer just Hana's son.
He was the culmination of decades of research, sacrifice, and ambition.
And whether he would become humanity's greatest protector...
Or its greatest weapon...
Remained to be seen.
Charles found the Savior standing alone in the Sanctuary Hall.
The vast chamber was silent, illuminated only by soft white lights reflecting from the polished marble floor. Before him stood a towering stained-glass window depicting an angel with outstretched wings.
He didn't turn as Charles approached.
"The examination is complete?" the Savior asked.
"Yes, sir."
Charles held the tablet in both hands.
"I've reviewed every scan three times."
"And?"
Charles took a slow breath.
"The child has exceeded every projection we made."
The Savior remained silent.
"Physically, every measurable attribute is approximately twice that of a standard Saint."
He tapped the screen.
"Muscle density, bone density, neural conductivity, cellular regeneration, cardiovascular efficiency. Every system."
He paused.
"We've never recorded anything remotely comparable."
The Savior listened without interruption.
Charles continued. "He has also inherited Hana's psychic mutation."
"Unlike her, however, his neural pathways appear to have developed around the ability before birth."
"We don't yet know the upper limit of his psychic potential."
He lowered the tablet.
"It may take years before we fully understand what he's capable of."
For several moments, the chamber remained silent.
The Savior slowly clasped his hands behind his back.
"You sound surprised."
Charles gave a faint smile.
"I am. I expected success. I didn't expect... perfection."
The Savior finally turned.
"There is no perfection in this world, Charles...Only purpose."
Charles inclined his head.
"Even so... this child is extraordinary."
The Savior looked through the stained glass toward the morning sky.
"He was conceived from the first of the perfected. He was nourished by Haikitium before drawing his first breath. He carries the strength of generations of research."
He closed his eyes briefly. "It is only natural."
Charles waited.
The Savior spoke quietly, yet with complete certainty.
"Hana has given birth....to Samuel."
Charles repeated the name under his breath. "Samuel..."
The Savior nodded.
"A child granted for a purpose. A child who will hear my voice. And through him...this world will finally be cleansed."
Charles looked toward the medical wing where the newborn slept peacefully in his mother's arms.
To him, Samuel was a miracle of science.
To the Savior...
He was prophecy made flesh.
Outside the chamber, dawn's first light broke over the horizon, casting a warm glow through the stained glass.
Neither man could know that the child sleeping quietly in the next room would one day challenge everything they believed they had created.
Somewhere beneath the Arctic Circle...
A steel door, nearly a meter thick, groaned open for the first time in years.
Cold air rolled into the dimly lit chamber beyond.
A lone technician stepped inside, his boots echoing against the concrete floor.
Rows of forgotten computers lined the walls, most covered in dust.
He stopped before a terminal.
"Power."
The room hummed to life.
One by one, dormant monitors flickered awake.
Across the largest screen, a single notification appeared.
ANOMALOUS ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED
The technician frowned.
"Location?"
The computer responded.
NIGERIA
His expression changed.
He opened another file.
A global map appeared, marked with dozens of faded red dots scattered across different continents.
For years...
None of them had changed.
Until now.
A new red point slowly pulsed over West Africa.
The technician stared at it for several long seconds before quietly reaching for an old satellite phone mounted on the wall.
The call connected after only one ring.
"It happened."
A calm voice answered.
"Are you certain?"
He looked back at the glowing point on the screen.
"The system has never been wrong."
Silence.
Then the voice spoke again.
"So...It has finally begun."
The line went dead.
The technician remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the map.
One red point.
Then another.
Far away, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A third.
Somewhere in the Andes Mountains.
A fourth.
Deep beneath the Siberian wilderness.
His breathing slowed. "No..."
He whispered. "That's impossible."
The dormant points had begun responding to one another.
As if something...
Or someone...
Had awakened them.
The monitors flashed once more.
WORLD EVENT DETECTED
The room fell silent.
For the first time in decades...
The countdown had begun.
END OF VOLUME ONE