Maldeth

Kai’s life was small—coffee-stained mornings, cracked recipes, and a system in his head that tweaked toasters and dough like it was nothing. Then the sky shattered. Aliens—Skraiths, jagged and brutal—invaded, tearing his city apart with green-glowing weapons and relentless claws. Superhumans rose to fight back, fire and lightning blazing through the chaos, but Kai’s world crumbled with them.
Hiding in his apartment, Kai stumbles on blood—human and alien, smeared on his wall after a superhuman battle. His system, once just a tinker’s tool, awakens, offering him a choice: mimic their powers, temporary and wild, through the blood itself. Desperate, he takes it—stealing pyrokinesis, then electrokinesis, then kinetic energy, each power burning through him, fading fast. But it’s not enough. Armed with a humming Skraith weapon and a body tougher from alien blood, Kai joins a ragtag crew of enhanced fighters—Liv, Rylan, Jace, and Tucker—scraping to survive in a warzone where every shadow hides death.
As Skraiths swarm and the city burns, Kai’s system pushes him deeper, analyzing, integrating, crafting minor enhancements—durability, strength, sparks of power that could make him a target or a savior. Government factions, rogue scientists, and the aliens themselves start sniffing around, drawn to his strange tech and blood-stolen abilities. By the time Kai crafts his first super-powered enhancement—an artificial strength boost—he’s no longer just a tinkerer. He’s on the edge of something bigger, something dangerous, where blood and sparks could forge a hero—or break him entirely.
In a world unraveling, Kai’s fight for survival becomes a desperate race to master his system, outrun the Skraiths, and confront the truth: the power he’s chasing might destroy him—or remake the world.

Blood and Sparks: The Edge of Power

<p>The tunnel swallowed us whole, its walls closing in like a throat, the crystal veins pulsing brighter with every step, their red-gold glow painting our shadows long and jagged across the slick stone. The air was thick, heavy with that burnt-iron tang, stinging my nose and coating my tongue, a taste that clung like ash after a fire. Liv's hand stayed locked in mine, her fingers cold and clammy, her sparks flickering like dying embers, barely enough to light the path. My pocket burned where the Hollow Core Fragment rested, its heat seeping through the fabric, syncing with the veins' rhythm—a steady thrum that rattled my ribs, deeper than my heartbeat, pulling me forward like a chain I couldn't break.</p>

The Veins Whisper