Sirens screamed across the city like something had torn open the sky and left it bleeding.
Jayden Hunt stood frozen at the bus stop, hands trembling, heart punching his ribs like it wanted out. People ran past him. Cars screeched. Somewhere in the distance, a low, bone-rattling roar rolled through the buildings.
Kaiju alert.
Again.
Giant digital billboards flickered to emergency mode.
LEVEL 3 KAIJU SIGHTING - EAST DISTRICT.
KAIJU HUNTERS DEPLOYING.
Hunters.
The people with relics.
The people who mattered.
Jayden swallowed hard and forced his legs to move. He jogged with the crowd toward the evacuation zone, trying not to look up at the skyline where helicopters hovered like nervous insects. His chest felt tight. Breathing felt optional. Living felt negotiable.
He hated this.
Hated the sirens.
Hated the fear.
Hated how everyone else had something he didn't.
Relics.
In this city, your worth was measured by the artifact you bonded with. A weapon, a core, a mask, a blade. Something ancient. Something powerful. Something that made you useful when monsters crawled out of the ocean and tried to redecorate the skyline.
Everyone got one.
Except him.
Jayden ducked into an alley with a cluster of evacuees. Above them, a shockwave rippled through the air. A building in the distance shuddered. Something enormous moved behind it. The ground vibrated like the earth itself was trying to run away.
Hunters arrived.
They dropped from transport drones, landing on rooftops and streets with practiced confidence. Armor glowing. Weapons humming. Relics blazing with energy. They looked like heroes out of a movie poster.
Jayden looked like a guy who should not be here.
"Stay behind the barricades!" a hunter shouted.
Nobody argued. Nobody ever did.
A massive shape emerged between the buildings. Scaled. Towering. Its footsteps sounded like thunder. The kaiju's roar split the air and sent a wave of panic through the street.
Hunters charged forward, relics igniting with color and power.
Fire.
Lightning.
Steel.
Energy constructs tearing through the sky.
Jayden watched from behind a concrete barrier, knuckles white. He wanted to run. He wanted to disappear. He wanted to wake up in a world where giant monsters weren't a weekly inconvenience.
A hunter got thrown through a storefront.
Another barely dodged a claw that could've erased a bus.
People screamed.
The ground shook again.
Jayden's legs locked.
Move.
Move.
MOVE.
He didn't.
Because in the chaos, something slid across the pavement and stopped near his shoe.
A relic.
Small. Cracked. Dull.
It looked like a broken metal core the size of a fist. No glow. No energy. No dramatic aura. Just... there. Like junk someone forgot to throw away.
A hunter nearby reached for a different relic, ignoring it completely.
Jayden stared at it.
Why is that here?
Why is no one picking it up?
The kaiju roared again. A shockwave blasted down the street. The barrier shattered. Debris flew. People scattered.
Jayden hit the ground hard. Pain shot through his shoulder. His ears rang. Dust filled the air.
He looked up.
The cracked relic lay inches from his hand.
He shouldn't touch it.
He knew the rules.
One relic per person.
No relic? You're just a civilian. Stay out of it.
The kaiju took another step closer.
A car flipped.
Someone screamed for help.
Jayden's chest tightened. His hands shook so badly he could barely feel his fingers.
"I... I don't want to die," he muttered.
He grabbed the relic.
For a split second, nothing happened.
Then the world went silent.
A cold sensation spread through his palm, up his arm, into his chest. Not painful. Not explosive. Just... quiet. Like something ancient had opened one eye and decided not to scream yet.
The cracked core dimly pulsed once.
A soft, almost bored voice echoed in the back of his mind.
SYNC ACCEPTED.
Jayden blinked.
"That's it?" he whispered.
No lightning.
No armor.
No glowing weapon.
Just... a faint warmth in his chest. A strange steadiness. Like the panic in his lungs had been turned down by a few notches.
He pushed himself to his feet, still shaking, still terrified. Around him, the battle raged. Hunters clashed with the kaiju. Buildings cracked. The sky flickered with energy blasts.
He felt exactly the same.
Still weak.
Still scared.
Still very much a guy who should not be here.
"Great," he muttered. "I finally get a relic and it's defective."
The cracked core rested quietly in his hand.
Dormant.
Silent.
Waiting.
Jayden didn't know it yet.
Didn't know that this useless, forgotten relic was the only one in existence that could break the rules.
Didn't know that someday he'd hold more relics than anyone alive.
Didn't know that the system everyone trusted would eventually look at him and see an error.
All he knew was that a kaiju was destroying his city, and he was standing in the middle of it with a relic that did absolutely nothing.
And somehow...
That was where everything began.