The Day the Sky Burned
One hundred and twelve years ago, the sky burned.
Early one morning, a wave of light swept across the planet.
No warning. No impact. No explosion.
Just light.
Cities turned gold beneath it. Oceans shimmered like glass. For seven minutes the night was brighter than day.
Then the light vanished.
At first, nothing seemed different.
But the world had already changed.
Animals were the first to show it.
Wolves grew large enough to hunt armored vehicles. Birds cast shadows the size of buildings. Entire ecosystems warped into something violent and unfamiliar.
Then the plants followed.
Forests spread faster than wildfire. Vines strangled cities. Flowers developed toxins capable of killing within seconds.
Humanity discovered the truth too late.
The event had not only altered nature.
It had altered life itself.
Deep within every living thing was a new form of energy—something no scientist had ever recorded before.
They called it Helios Energy.
Some people could wield it.
Most could not.
Those who could reshape it into power became humanity's greatest weapon.
Fire. Lightning. Gravity. Shadows. Strength beyond human limits.
Abilities that once belonged only in myth had become reality.
But power alone was not enough.
The world outside civilization had become something else entirely.
Something hostile.
Something hungry.
Humanity fought to survive.
Cities were abandoned. Nations collapsed. Entire continents were lost to creatures born from the same energy that empowered humanity.
In the end, mankind retreated to a single fortified continent—the last place still under human control.
Beyond its walls lay wilderness reclaimed by monsters.
Inside them, humanity prepared to take it back.
To do that, they built academies.
Places where the gifted were trained to control their power, master combat, and face the new world beyond the walls.
Among them, one institution stood above all others.
The most prestigious.
The most dangerous.
Helios Vanguard Academy.
Every year, only a handful of the strongest young Awakened were chosen to attend.
Sixteen students.
Sixteen futures.
Some would become legends.
Some would die before ever leaving the academy.
And some—
though no one realized it yet—
would shape the fate of the world itself.