Chapter 23: The Awakening That Shouldn’t Be

Alden's world collapsed into darkness.

He had felt it the moment his hand made contact with the core experiment's tank. A raw, inhuman energy surged through him, bypassing his body and sinking straight into his consciousness.

The sound of the facility, the distant rumble of machinery, the flickering lights—all of it vanished.

There was nothing but silence.

And then—

A whisper.

Alden.

The voice wasn't spoken aloud. It was inside him, reverberating through every nerve, every inch of his body.

He sucked in a breath—but there was no air.

He blinked, but there was nothing to see.

Was he floating? Falling? Was he even awake?

Panic stabbed through him.

He had been through some horrific things in this facility. Fights he barely survived. Powers that glitched, overloaded, and rewrote themselves against his will.

But this?

This was something else.

It was like his very existence was being examined, unraveled, pieced back together under an invisible force's scrutiny.

Then—

A flash of color.

Not light. Not darkness.

Something in between.

Shapes, images, memories flickered before him.

He saw himself as a kid, running through a city street, laughing.

He saw the first time Overclock activated—the vending machine incident, the moment his body had moved faster than his brain.

He saw Sentinel Academy, Iris and Felix standing beside him.

He saw Null.

And Specter.

And then—

Something else.

Something he had never seen before.

A vision of a man in a lab coat, standing before a towering console of ancient data screens.

His face was blurred, his voice distorted. But his words cut through the static.

"Overclock is not a power. It's a process."

The images rushed forward.

Lines of data, rewritten over and over.

Failed experiments, broken subjects, bodies that couldn't hold the transformation.

Alden's pulse pounded. He wasn't just seeing this—he was experiencing it.

And at the center of it all—

The Core Experiment.

His breath caught.

Because for the first time—he saw what was inside the tank.

It wasn't a thing.

It wasn't some monster.

It was him.

Or rather—a version of him.

Alden Cross.

Or maybe… what he was supposed to become.

His mind fractured at the realization.

Before he could process it, the whisper returned—louder this time, more insistent.

Alden.

It wasn't a voice calling for him.

It was his own.

Alden gasped. The world snapped back into place.

He was falling.

The physical world rushed toward him as if he had been thrown back into reality.

His body jerked violently as he landed hard on the metal floor, gasping for air.

The chamber was a wreck.

Sparks flew from the broken machinery. The containment tanks around him had ruptured. The emergency lights pulsed wildly, throwing chaotic shadows against the walls.

And at the center of it all—

The Core Experiment's tank had shattered.

A thick, mist-like energy drifted from the remains of the pod, swirling in chaotic patterns before sinking into Alden's body.

His skin burned.

His veins lit up with Overclock's power—but it wasn't his anymore.

It was something more.

Something rebuilt.

Something new.

Alden gritted his teeth, trying to fight against the surge of power flooding through him.

Then—

A slow, deliberate clap echoed through the ruined chamber.

Alden's head snapped up.

Specter stood near the shattered entrance, their glowing mask flickering.

"Well," they murmured. "That was unexpected."

Alden staggered to his feet. His body still felt wrong, like he was occupying a space that didn't belong to him.

His Overclock buzzed unnaturally.

Specter took a step forward, tilting their head. "How does it feel?"

Alden clenched his fists. "Like I just made the worst mistake of my life."

Specter chuckled. "Perhaps. But now we'll see if you can handle it."

Alden's breath was still shaky, his body vibrating with unstable energy.

He wasn't sure if he could.

Because this power—this wasn't just Overclock anymore.

It was something else.

And he had no idea what it would do to him.