The Prototype

Chapter 3

Ethan sat alone in the dimly lit living room, the soft glow of the television casting shifting shadows across his face. He'd drifted off on the couch, the unresolved argument replaying in his mind even in his sleep. Meanwhile, Maia outside in her car, a storm of frustration and betrayal tearing through her. She tried to hold back the flood of emotion, but tears slipped down her face, one after another, each one a sharp reminder of how everything she'd fought for had been threatened.

Her mind churned with bitter thoughts, memories of all the long nights and sacrifices, only to be told she was "distracting." Unable to think clearly, she started becoming emotional while thoughts paced her mind before an idea sparked—a dangerous, desperate idea. Driven by an impulse she couldn't ignore, Maia wiped her eyes, put her keys into the ignition and drove off without a word.

By the time she arrived at Biotic Innovations, the clock read a little past midnight. She swiped her security card, careful to avoid the cameras, and made her way through the darkened hallways, heart pounding. When she reached the radiation room, the prototype sat there, seemingly innocent and inert. Her hand trembled as she lifted it from its stand. This was their creation, a masterpiece they had built from the ground up—and yet, it had become a symbol of her own erasure.

As she moved to exit, a flashlight beam swept the hallway ahead of her. Maia froze, pressing herself against the wall as a security guard made his round. She held her breath as he passed within a few feet of her, oblivious to her presence, and once his footsteps faded, she slipped out and hurried to her car, prototype cradled in her hands.

She didn't feel the faint warmth radiating from the device at first, but as she reached her car before she could open the door, the heat became undeniable. Her fingers tingled, a strange energy coursing through her.

She looked down at the prototype, its elements beginning to glow, their colors intensifying, as if responding to her emotions. Before she could process what was happening, she felt an electric surge within her, raw and unfiltered. She gasped as her body lifted off the ground, a force beyond her control pulling her upward until she hovered inches above the earth below her.

The emotions she'd been holding back—the anger, the grief, the sense of betrayal—all poured from her, seeping into the prototype. It responded violently, each element pulsing with energy, like a heartbeat racing out of control. She was vaguely aware of herself, watching in shock as her entire body seemed to glow, energy surging around her as the prototype began to splinter under the weight of her emotions.

Suddenly, the prototype exploded into five fragments, each fragment flashing with a fierce burst of light as it was ripped away from her grasp and disappeared, as if pulled toward some invisible force.

Maia's mind raced as she realized what was happening—the prototype's fragments were returning to the places they'd come from, taking her raw pain and emotional fury along with them.

A rush of power surged through her, more intense than anything she'd ever felt. Her body shifted and changed, skin glowing with an unnatural radiance, her eyes turning a piercing, ethereal shade that seemed to reflect her inner turmoil.

Her hair crackled with energy, her very presence now emanating a dark beauty that was equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying.

She had become something beyond human, her very essence fused with the power of the elements they'd gathered, her form now a manifestation of raw grief and rage.

Back at home, Ethan stirred on the couch as the TV flickered in the background, oblivious to the transformation Maia had undergone. He shifted, muttering in his sleep, unaware that his world—and perhaps the entire world—had just been irreversibly changed