anthony_osifo

When the sky split, the world changed. Students across the globe awakened strange abilities — and the system rushed to classify, contain, and control them.

But Anthony Richard awakened with no Tier, no limit… and no way back.

Now hunted by the E.E.A. and stalked by the Riftborn, Anthony is drawn into a war he never chose — one where ancient Beacons pulse beneath cities, and something watching from orbit calls him Unmeasured.

To survive, Anthony must protect his sister, lead a rebel squad, and unlock a power even he doesn't fully understand. But the greatest challenge may be trusting Chi-Chi Onyema — the sharpest girl on his team and the only one who sees the real him.

The Pulse didn’t just awaken powers.
It awakened change.
And Anthony might be the key to rewriting everything.

Awakening pulse

The abandoned lab smelled like mildew and metal rot. Dust caked everything—consoles, chairs, and broken glass on the floor like discarded stars. The air hung heavy, buzzing faintly with old energy.

Confidence connected copper wires into a cracked obsidian mirror—an old prototype Variant scanner looted from a decommissioned E.E.A. base. A soft blue glow hummed through its edges.

"Power's stabilized," she said, brushing grime from a flickering panel. "This thing predates the Tier system. Designed for raw Pulse detection."

Anthony stood shirtless before the mirror, silent, eyes locked on his reflection.

Glyphs swept over Anthony's skin like scanning tattoos. Blue lines traced his chest, arms, face. The mirror shimmered. His reflection trembled, glitched—then lagged behind, moving a second too late.

SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION: ERROR

The lights above flickered. A soft rumble rolled through the lab. Anthony's reflection broke entirely, fracturing into static before blinking out.

RESULT: UNDEFINED

RISK INDEX: OMEGA / NON-CATEGORIZABLE

THREAT POTENTIAL: UNBOUNDED

The screen cracked down the center with a snap. Sparks flew. Confidence jumped back, cursing.

She stared at him. "They… they don't even have a name for what you are."

His voice was quiet. "That's what scares them."

He stepped away, skin still glowing faintly. "I can be anything. Do anything. If I lose control—"

"You won't," Confidence said quickly.

Anthony held out his hand. His fingers shimmered with that strange Vanta-glow. Not normal Variant energy. Denser. Like a living shadow trying to break through his skin.

"My power isn't just mine," he said. "It responds to something. Like it's alive."

Confidence nodded slowly. "And that's why we need to define it before they do."

She handed him a matte-black tactical suit. Sleek. Fitted. No logos. "Here. Armor. Identity. Start shaping the legend now."

Anthony changed in silence. The material hugged him like memory foam, syncing with his energy. As he zipped it up, his shadow on the wall stretched. Grew longer. Then split.

The second one turned its head—then disappeared.

Confidence didn't scream, but her hand tightened on the grip of her pistol.

"You saw that too, right?" he asked quietly.

She stepped closer to him, lowering her voice. "Tony... whatever's inside you, whatever's waking up—it's not just a power."

He looked down at his hands again. "And it's still waking up."

Fifteen minutes later, they rode silent across Abuja in a battered utility jeep, its license plate swapped and its dashboard loaded with jammer tech. Confidence drove. Anthony watched the roads. He couldn't stop thinking about the scanner, or what it had said.

Undefined. Omega. Risk: unbounded.

That was a death sentence.

If the E.E.A. ever confirmed it, they wouldn't try to capture him.

They'd erase him.

They stopped at an underpass tunnel, one of Confidence's many "dead zones"—places where even E.E.A. satellites couldn't scan. Anthony stepped out into the dust and heat.

He faced his reflection in a shattered puddle.

No more hiding, he told himself. If I don't define who I am… they'll define me.

"I'm not F-rank. Not A-rank. I'm the line they're afraid to draw."

The puddle rippled—not from wind, but from pressure. His presence alone was starting to warp space around him.

"Unmeasured," he whispered. "Then I get to be the one who decides what that means."

Behind him, Confidence stepped back—just slightly.

CHAPTER 10: UNMEASURED