At a Military Base...
"Mr. President?... Mr. President?" General Marvin called out, but the line ended with a flat beep.
"What happened, General?" one of the nearby soldiers asked.
Since the impact of the meteor, the military base had taken damage, but not enough to shut it down completely. Most of the equipment was still functioning. Now, in the command center, all surviving soldiers had gathered. Hundreds of eyes were fixed on Supreme General Marvin.
Each one silently asking the same thing: What did the President say?
"It's bad," Marvin began slowly. "The presidential suite was hit too... and from the way the President spoke, he just handed me all authority."
The soldiers went weak at the knees.
Did that mean the President was... dead?
"What should we do? Did he give any final orders?" another soldier asked anxiously.
"He did. Try to contact the remaining nations. Organize a global announcement. We need to gather all surviving humans. I don't think this is over yet... those meteors... something's definitely wrong," Marvin said, his tone grim.
Immediately, the soldiers rushed to their stations, working to establish connections with other countries.
Meanwhile, Marvin sat back down in his chair, stunned. Everything felt surreal. Was this a movie? With all of humanity's preparation and confidence... how could this happen?
How? Is this fate mocking us?
Unconsciously, Marvin clenched his fists.
Crack...
A sharp noise echoed faintly through the room. But amid the chaos of international communications and chatter, no one noticed.
Marvin glanced down... and was stunned.
His seat was reinforced, padded for comfort but the armrests were metal.
Now, in his palm were broken metal fragments.
"What the hell...?" Marvin muttered.
He stood up.
"I need to step out for a moment," he announced.
"Yes, Supreme General!" the soldiers replied without question, continuing their urgent tasks.
Among them, however, not everyone was okay.
"Why... why am I feeling cold... and dizzy?" one male soldier thought, sweating nervously. He glanced at the others. They were too busy to notice him.
He looked at his desk.
A thin layer of frost had formed across the surface.
**********
Outside the Command Center...
Marvin walked into a nearby rest room , a small military dining area that had survived the impact.
He opened his hands again.
Still there: metal fragments.
"This... can't be right," he muttered. "Not even the strongest human alive could crush metal with bare hands."
"Maybe... maybe the seat was damaged during the meteor shockwave?" he wondered. "Maybe it became hollow... brittle?"
He couldn't wrap his head around it.
It was insane.
Then, a thought hit him: Test it.
He looked around and found a steel pipe.
With a breath, he gripped it and squeezed.
Crack… BOOM.
The pipe snapped in half and hit the floor.
"Maybe the whole base was structurally compromised…" he tried to reason.
But something didn't sit right.
This wasn't excitement.
This was dread.
Confusion clouded his mind.
"This can't be real… wait."
He turned toward the mirror on the wall.
A sharp, chiseled male face looked back at him. His beard and mustache were intact, and his 6'2 frame was still powerful.
But something felt... wrong.
Boom.
He threw a punch into the mirror.
The glass shattered but not just that. Behind it, the wall cracked open, revealing the room on the other side.
"No... no, this is unreal," he muttered, stepping back in shock.
He turned and quickly walked back to the command room.
Behind him, the wall crack widened. The entire section collapsed to the ground.
*********
Back in the Command Center...
Marvin returned. Soldiers were still busy communicating.
He glanced at his chair.
Still cracked.
So it wasn't a hallucination… or adrenaline. This is real.
He checked his right hand.
No injury. No blood.
What is happening to me?
Before he could think more, a scream echoed through the room.
"He.....he's freezing to death!!" a female soldier shouted.
Everyone turned.
A soldier lay collapsed on the floor, his skin already pale-blue. He was covered in frost. His desk was frozen solid.
"What... what is this?" Marvin asked, alarmed.
Then he noticed something chilling.
Another soldier seemingly fine had his hand resting on the same desk. And the frost was spreading.
It was heading toward him.
"Move!" Marvin shouted, dashing forward.
But the soldier froze stunned by his superior's sudden charge.
No time.
Marvin made a choice.
He raised his fist and slammed it down.
BOOM!
The metallic desk shattered like glass. The connection between the two soldiers was severed.
Silence.
Everyone stared, wide-eyed.
"Supreme General…?"
"Did you just crush that steel desk… like a twig?"
"Superhuman…?" someone whispered.
The room murmured in shock.
Marvin stood there, stunned at his own power.
Then his gaze shifted to the frozen soldier.
Is he awakening too? But… he's frozen…
"Forget that!" Marvin barked. "Find something warm we have to save him!"
Snapped from their shock, the soldiers scrambled to help.
But just then, a female voice called out.
"No… don't."
Everyone turned.
A female soldier stepped forward , her eyes glowing a radiant green.
Even in the dim chaos… they glowed.
"A witch?" someone gasped.
Everyone backed away except Marvin.
"Why?" Marvin asked. "He's dying!"
"I can see it," she said calmly. "I just discovered this... strange vision. Everyone has a green flame inside them , it's like our life force. His flame is still strong. He's alive. And the red energy in you is in me and I can see it in him too."
"What do you mean?" Marvin asked.
"He's not dying. He's awakening," she said softly.
Silence again.
Power. Superhuman strength. Frost. Glowing eyes.
Awakening?
Marvin's heart pounded.
Are we... evolving?
**********
Minutes later, the frozen soldier began to stir. The ice encasing his body cracked and shattered on its own, melting rapidly.
Within just a few minutes, he was awake and completely fine.
During that time, Supreme General Marvin, the glowing-eyed female soldier (Kyla), and the rest of the team had been piecing things together.
According to Kyla… she could see what others couldn't.
She claimed that if she stared out the window toward the sky, she could see a massive meteor. But more importantly it was releasing a strange red energy. An energy that spread everywhere, especially through the sky, and then seeped into the ground.
She said she could feel it entering their bodies awakening something.
But not in everyone.
In a room full of hundreds of soldiers, only three had awakened powers.
The ratio was terrifyingly low.
"Supreme General Marvin… the red energy," Kyla said, "it's growing. It's not one mass anymore. I can feel it multiplying… and filling new spaces."
"Wait… filling new spaces? What does that even mean?" Marvin asked, clearly confused and he wasn't the only one.
Thankfully, they had finished establishing contact with other countries. In less than an hour, the global broadcast would begin.
Of course, they had to include this strange "power awakening" in the announcement. They couldn't be the only ones affected, there had to be more. And if people rejected or hunted down awakeners... it would lead to chaos.
Who knew? Maybe animals would awaken too. Or plants. If that happened, the entire planet would become a nightmare battlefield.
"General," Kyla continued, "it's not everywhere yet. But it's spreading. And if it's filling new spaces…"
"New land…? Wait… is the Earth growing?" Marvin said aloud and everyone froze.
"The Earth is growing? That's insane," a soldier muttered, slumping into his chair in disbelief.
"Hold on," another soldier who had studied geography jumped in. "If the Earth expands, that means the tectonic plates will shift. That'll cause earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, basically massive disasters. If this is true, humanity might not survive it."
Marvin's expression darkened.
"Then we must hurry. Kyla how long do we have?"
"Three days," Kyla said. Her once-green eyes now shimmered with traces of red.
Marvin nodded. "Alright. We have three days."
"If the Earth is changing, and the red energy is causing this awakening, then we need awakeners. No matter how weak their abilities seem, we need them. There might be one who can help us survive someone who can predict the future or protect the land. Anything."
He turned to the rest of the room.
"Soldiers, prepare for the broadcast. Pray for your loved ones' safety… but no matter what happens , remember: the fate of humanity is now in our hands."
At that moment, the once-frozen male soldier finally opened his eyes.
"Where… where am I?" he asked, sitting up slowly. His clothes were drenched, the ice now melted into water that clung to his uniform.
"You'll be fine," Marvin said, walking over. "Come with me. Let's talk."
The soldier saluted instinctively and followed his commander, leaving the rest of the team behind.
As soon as Marvin and the awakened soldier exited the room, the remaining soldiers immediately swarmed Kyla.
"Kyla, can you check me?! Is my green flame still lit?!"
"Do you see the red energy in me?"
"Can I awaken powers even without the red energy?"
They flooded her with questions.
Because now, whether they liked it or not, awakening was no longer a fantasy.
It was survival.
And whether they awakened or not… could very well mean life or death.
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