Chapter 1 — The Man Who Should Have Died

The world was burning.

Ethan Carter ran through the abandoned subway tunnel with blood dripping from his forehead.

Behind him came the screams.

Not human screams.

Something deeper.

Something that made the concrete walls tremble.

"Keep moving!"

A woman shouted from somewhere behind him.

Ethan didn't look back.

He already knew what was coming.

Three years of surviving the apocalypse had taught him one rule:

Never look back when the monsters are chasing you.

His boots slammed against the wet floor.

His lungs felt as if they were being ripped apart.

The emergency lights above him flickered one after another.

Red.

Darkness.

Red.

Darkness.

Then—

A monstrous roar exploded through the tunnel.

Ethan stumbled.

"Dammit!"

He caught himself against the wall and looked at the watch on his wrist.

11:47 PM.

Thirteen minutes.

He had thirteen minutes left.

The others didn't know it.

They thought the underground facility ahead of them was safe.

They were wrong.

Ethan had seen what happened inside.

He had seen it three years ago.

He had watched thirty-six people enter that facility.

Only one came out.

And that person had not remained human.

"Ethan!"

The woman behind him screamed again.

"Wait!"

He ignored her.

Not because he didn't care.

Because if he stopped, all of them would die.

He reached the steel door at the end of the tunnel and slammed his palm against the access panel.

"Come on..."

The screen flashed.

IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.

Ethan pulled a small metallic card from his pocket.

It was the only thing he had stolen from the research facility six months earlier.

A black card with no name.

No logo.

Only one symbol engraved into its surface:

72

He pressed it against the scanner.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then the screen turned green.

ACCESS GRANTED.

The steel door opened.

Ethan rushed inside.

"Close it!"

He shouted.

The survivors ran after him.

Five people.

That's all that remained.

Mia.

Daniel.

Robert.

A teenage boy named Lucas.

And Ethan.

The door slammed shut just as something enormous crashed against it.

BOOM!

The entire room shook.

Everyone froze.

Another impact.

BOOM!

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Mia covered her mouth.

"Is that..."

"Yes."

Ethan stared at the door.

"It's here."

Robert swallowed hard.

"You said the facility would protect us."

"It will."

"Then why are you scared?"

Ethan didn't answer.

Because he wasn't scared of the creature outside.

He was scared of what was waiting inside.

He turned toward the enormous underground chamber.

Rows of dead computers covered the walls.

Cables hung from the ceiling.

In the center stood a circular machine surrounded by broken glass.

Ethan had spent two years searching for this place.

The others thought they were looking for shelter.

They weren't.

Ethan was looking for answers.

Why had the world collapsed?

Why had the creatures appeared?

Why had some humans developed strange abilities?

And most importantly—

Who had known it was coming?

He approached the machine.

The black card in his hand began to vibrate.

"What's happening?"

Lucas asked.

"I don't know."

But Ethan did.

Not consciously.

Somewhere deep inside his memory, he remembered this moment.

Three years ago.

Before he lost everything.

Before the world ended.

Before his wife disappeared.

Before his family died.

He had stood in this exact room.

But in his first life, he had arrived too late.

This time was different.

He had made it here.

The machine suddenly activated.

Every screen in the room turned on simultaneously.

A man's face appeared.

Old.

Pale.

Terrified.

Ethan recognized him immediately.

Dr. Adrian Vale.

The scientist who had supposedly died before the apocalypse.

Vale looked directly into the camera.

"If you're watching this..."

He paused.

His eyes shifted nervously toward something outside the frame.

"...then humanity has already failed."

Nobody spoke.

The recording continued.

"The phenomenon wasn't an accident."

Mia stepped closer.

"What phenomenon?"

Ethan raised one hand.

"Listen."

Vale continued.

"We called it the Awakening."

The screens changed.

Images appeared.

People surrounded by strange energy.

Buildings collapsing.

Animals mutating.

Cities disappearing beneath enormous waves of black fog.

Then the screen showed a map.

Thirty-seven locations were marked in red.

Ethan's blood ran cold.

He knew those locations.

They were the places where the thirty-seven survivors had appeared.

Vale continued.

"The Awakening will begin simultaneously across the world."

"Some people will gain abilities."

"Some will mutate."

"Most will die."

"And thirty-seven..."

He hesitated.

"...will survive."

Ethan stepped forward.

"Thirty-seven."

His voice was barely audible.

The same number.

The exact same number.

Vale looked straight into the camera.

"Those thirty-seven individuals will become the foundation of the new world."

Daniel frowned.

"What does that mean?"

The recording continued.

"They will become leaders."

"Scientists."

"Warriors."

"Kings."

"Monsters."

"But there is one thing you must understand."

The screen suddenly went black.

Then a final message appeared.

THE THIRTY-SEVENTH SURVIVOR MUST NEVER AWAKEN.

Ethan stared at the words.

Thirty-six survivors.

He remembered thirty-six.

But there had been one more.

Someone nobody talked about.

Someone whose identity had been erased.

Someone who had appeared during the final battle.

Someone who had killed the strongest survivors with a single gesture.

Ethan's hands began to shake.

He had always assumed that person was a monster.

Now he wasn't sure.

A loud metallic crack interrupted his thoughts.

Everyone turned.

The steel door was bending inward.

The creature outside was breaking through.

Mia grabbed Ethan's arm.

"We have to leave!"

"Not yet."

"Ethan!"

He ignored her.

He walked toward the machine.

A small compartment opened beneath it.

Inside was a glass cylinder.

Something floated inside.

A dark liquid.

No.

Not liquid.

It moved.

Like it was alive.

Ethan stared at it.

His heart began pounding.

He remembered this.

In his first life, he had touched it.

And that was the moment everything changed.

He had gained an ability.

Then lost control.

Then died.

But this time—

He had knowledge.

He had preparation.

He knew what was coming.

Ethan reached for the cylinder.

"Ethan, don't!"

Mia shouted.

His fingers touched the glass.

The world disappeared.

Suddenly, Ethan saw everything.

A city drowning in black rain.

Millions of people screaming.

A mountain splitting open.

A gigantic creature rising from beneath the earth.

Armies fighting.

Cities becoming fortresses.

Humans developing supernatural abilities.

And then—

A woman.

Standing alone beneath a blood-red sky.

Her face was hidden.

But Ethan knew her.

His heart stopped.

"Impossible..."

The vision changed.

He saw himself standing beside her.

Older.

Covered in blood.

Holding a weapon he had never seen before.

The woman reached toward him.

And whispered:

"You promised you'd find me when we came back."

Ethan gasped.

The vision vanished.

He fell backward.

The glass cylinder shattered.

Dark energy exploded across the room.

Everyone screamed.

The creature outside smashed through the steel door.

A gigantic claw entered the chamber.

Daniel raised his weapon.

"RUN!"

But Ethan couldn't move.

The darkness was flowing toward him.

It entered his chest.

Pain exploded through every nerve in his body.

He screamed.

Then everything went black.

Ethan opened his eyes.

Silence.

No monsters.

No screams.

No fire.

No blood.

He stared at the ceiling.

White.

Clean.

Familiar.

His breathing became rapid.

He sat upright.

Where was he?

He looked around.

His apartment.

His old apartment.

The one he had sold three years ago.

His hands began trembling.

"No..."

He grabbed his phone from the bedside table.

The screen illuminated.

Monday, October 14.

Ethan stopped breathing.

He knew that date.

Everyone knew that date.

It was the day before the Awakening.

He jumped out of bed and ran toward the window.

The city was alive.

Cars moved through the streets.

People walked along the sidewalks.

Children laughed.

Nobody knew.

Nobody knew what was coming.

Ethan looked at the clock.

11:58 PM.

He stared at it.

Two minutes.

Only two minutes until midnight.

Then he remembered something.

The recording.

The thirty-seven survivors.

The mysterious woman.

The black energy.

And the words she had whispered.

"You promised you'd find me when we came back."

Ethan's phone suddenly rang.

He froze.

Nobody should have known he was awake.

Slowly, he looked at the screen.

There was no name.

No number.

Only a message.

UNKNOWN:

You came back too.

Ethan's blood turned cold.

Another message appeared.

UNKNOWN:

You have 72 hours.

Then a third.

UNKNOWN:

Don't trust the woman you love.

Ethan stared at the screen.

He knew exactly who they meant.

His wife.

Maya Carter.

And then—

The clock changed.

12:00 AM.

Somewhere far away, thunder exploded.

The lights in Ethan's apartment flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Then every light in the city went out.

Ethan looked toward the window.

Above the city, the sky was turning black.

The apocalypse had begun.

Three years earlier than he remembered.