Chapter 1: chapter one
Lauin Lexis' POV – Prologue Continued
As I stepped into my new apartment, I placed the last of my stuff on the ground, feeling a rare surge of relief. For the first time, luck seemed to be on my side. I had just received my admission to Memphis University, and after weeks of searching for a place to stay, I finally found something perfect. The hostels near the university were way too expensive, and money had never exactly been my closest ally. So, I found an affordable apartment in Whitehaven, a neighborhood just a short distance from both the university and my part-time job.
It wasn't ideal, but it worked. My schedule was tight—classes from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. every day, and I worked at a data center during the day. It wasn't glamorous, but it paid the bills. I started work at 8 a.m., pulling six-hour shifts before heading to campus. It was a nice routine. I had just enough time to rest for a couple of hours before the evening lectures began.
Saturdays were the best, though. No work, no classes—just my personal time to explore or relax. And today, my first day in Memphis, I had the entire weekend to get familiar with the city before the grind started.
But as I hauled the last of my bags inside and looked up at the sky, everything shifted. The sky was filled with streaks of light—shooting stars—or maybe explosions? I couldn't be sure. All I knew was that the heroes were dealing with something massive up in space. And as usual, it was none of my business.
I figured I'd stay inside and let them handle it. If anything dangerous fell, I'd at least be safer here in my apartment than out on the streets.
I turned and continued unpacking, but a sudden flash caught my eye. Something—big—was falling from the sky. It was an octagonal crystal, about the size of a tennis ball, landing in front of me with a soft thud. The crystal was beautiful—multilayered, iridescent, and far too striking to ignore.
I didn't know what it was, but I knew one thing for sure: this thing could probably fetch me a nice chunk of change if I sold it. Without thinking too much about it, I picked it up and headed inside.
Once inside, I placed the crystal on my study table next to my laptop and phone. The evening light refracted off its surfaces, making it shimmer like something from another world. I didn't have time to examine it further—there were still boxes to unpack, and I was on a tight schedule. The heroes were still dealing with whatever mess had fallen from the sky, and I figured I could take my time.
Later, as I sat down for dinner, the special news broadcast interrupted my thoughts. The heroes had fought off debris from a Celestial, a cosmic being that had been destroyed in orbit. The Department of Damage Control was urging citizens to report any debris they encountered, as it was highly dangerous. Anyone who found and surrendered Celestial technology could receive a monetary reward.
I glanced over at the crystal on my desk. It was still glowing softly, reflecting the dying light of the setting sun. I didn't want to be one of those people who got caught up in something dangerous, so I made up my mind to turn the crystal in the next day. After all, I wasn't someone who broke the rules or looked for trouble. I always played things safe, and things usually worked themselves out in the end.
As I moved to check the progress on my side project—a software idea I'd been developing for months—I was hit with an unexpected shock.
During my final year of high school, I'd started working on a software project aimed at signal amplification. It was a relatively simple concept, and I had planned to make it my final year project. Over the past few weeks, I'd begun writing the basic code for it, but now, as I stared at my laptop, I saw something disturbing. The program had advanced itself. It was already halfway done, and the remaining parts were practically finished.
I couldn't wrap my head around it. This was months of work, completed in just a few days. I'd only just arrived in Memphis. The program had progressed without my involvement. I opened the source code and started reading through it, my confusion growing with each line.
The code was flawless—better than anything I could have written, and that was saying a lot. I was no stranger to high-level coding. In fact, I had received a full scholarship to Memphis University for computer science, thanks to my skills. Back in high school, I had competed with students from MIT, so I knew what good code looked like.
But this? This was something else entirely. It was like the work of a genius—someone leagues beyond me. I spent hours combing through the lines, and by the end, I was certain of one thing: the code wasn't written by a person. It was written by something—or someone—far more advanced than anything Earth had ever seen. An artificial intelligence? Perhaps. But it was like nothing in the world today.
I closed my laptop, trying to shake off the unease that was settling in. The idea of an AI writing this code without my input was too much to process. I'd need to get an expert to look at it, but that could wait until tomorrow.
I picked up my phone to call my family, just to let them know I'd arrived safely despite the whole alien debris situation. They'd been adamant about me going to the States in the first place, especially with all the superhero incidents in the country. I had received offers from several universities, but Memphis had seemed the safest option—less hero activity, or so I'd been told.
But as I reached for the phone, I noticed something strange. The operating system seemed... different. It was still the Stark smartphone I'd been given when I received my admission, but it felt more advanced—like it had somehow upgraded itself. I opened the phone and noticed it was almost intuitive, reacting to my touch before I even made it. The phone was sensing me—like it knew what I wanted to do.
I didn't think much of it at first. It could just be some new software feature. But when I tried to make a long-distance call to Uganda, something even stranger happened. Normally, calling home would take a chunk of credit, and there would be a noticeable delay. This time, there was no delay. It was like I was calling from right next door. And when the call ended, I realized I hadn't even used a fraction of my credit.
What was going on?
I shrugged it off. Maybe it was just my first day jitters, or maybe I was overthinking things. I lay back in bed, trying to relax, preparing for the next day.
But as I lay there in the dark, something else caught my attention—the crystal. It was still glowing faintly, even though the room was pitch black.
I reached for it, and as soon as I touched it, I felt warmth. The crystal was heating up. It was almost too hot to hold, and just as I pulled my hand back, it exploded with a flash of light. My body went numb. I couldn't feel anything anymore.
And then, the information came. A torrent of data—an overwhelming rush of knowledge—flooded my mind. I thought my brain might explode from the sheer volume of it, but somehow, I couldn't even feel my head. The pain was unbearable, but there was no escape. I couldn't even pass out, as if I was already unconscious.
I was being flooded with something—something that wasn't mine—and I had no idea what to do about it.
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Weekly Power Status
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