Saint:My Daily Routine Became My Superpower

Location: Safe Zone – Northern Wall, Command Hub

Time: July 22nd, 3:00 AM – 6:00 PM

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3:00 AM – Something Changed

Kael hadn't slept since the dream. He sat with his back against the cold stone wall of the Safe Zone's northern perimeter, staring at the faint glow on his wrist. The glyph wasn't just a memory anymore. It was real—etched into his skin like a burn that refused to heal.

Elle approached, arms folded, her expression tense. "You didn't log any rest. Your heart rate spiked at 2:47 AM. That's when your dream ended, right?"

Kael didn't answer. He simply raised his arm. The glyph shimmered faintly, like it pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

Elle knelt beside him and scanned the mark. Nothing came up. No readings. No System code. Not even an error message.

"What the hell…" she muttered. "It's not even registering as a status effect. It's like it doesn't exist."

"It exists," Kael said. "It just doesn't care if we understand it."

She looked at him, alarmed. "That thing from your dream—it left that on you?"

Kael nodded. "And I don't think it was a one-time deal."

---

6:00 AM – Echoes

By morning, it became clear Kael wasn't the only one affected.

Three others reported vivid nightmares—ones that mirrored Kael's down to the details: the Eye in the sky, the warped dreamscape, the Fang. All three had marks of their own. Subtle, in strange places—back of the neck, upper thigh, across the ribs. Not always visible, but there. Tangible.

And each of them said the same thing:

"It felt like more than a dream."

The Council called for immediate health evaluations. Elle ran each scan personally. The System detected nothing unusual, except for one anomaly—a temporary surge in neural activity during REM sleep. Higher than what's typically recorded even during combat simulations.

Dain watched the reports scroll on a holo-tablet. "Whatever this is... it's not System-sanctioned."

"No," Kael replied. "But it's real."

"Dreams don't leave scars."

"They do now."

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9:00 AM – Triggered

One of the marked, a teenage boy named Ren, was a C-Rank Awakened with weak telekinetic abilities. Barely passed his last two trials.

This morning, he lifted a five-ton slab of reinforced steel off a collapsed training wall—with one hand.

Everyone saw it. No effort. No strain. He just… did it.

Then he collapsed, screaming in pain, clutching his skull.

His mark—previously invisible—glowed bright red. Pulsing. Burning.

Elle rushed to stabilize him. Kael knelt beside her.

Ren gasped, eyes wide. "It's not just power. It's voices. Thoughts that aren't mine."

"From the Eye?" Kael asked.

Ren nodded. "I think it's learning through us."

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11:00 AM – The Council's Fear

The Safe Zone Council convened in a sealed room. Kael, Elle, and Dain were present. So were three military commanders, two healers, and the Zone Overseer—an aging woman named Caldra who always seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.

Caldra spoke first. "This is an infection. Unknown origin. Possibly external. Possibly sentient. I recommend immediate quarantine of all marked individuals, including Kael."

"No," Elle said firmly. "We don't understand it yet. They're not hostile. Ren nearly died helping rebuild the Zone."

"He also bent a steel wall without trying," one of the commanders snapped. "How long before he can bend necks the same way?"

Kael leaned forward. "We're changing. That's clear. But locking us up will only make it worse."

Caldra fixed her eyes on him. "You're too close to this."

"You're not close enough," Kael shot back. "If this is the start of something bigger—and it is—then the people with the marks need to be trained, not caged."

A silence followed.

"Then you'll lead them," Caldra said finally. "Every marked Awakened reports to you. You keep them under control. Or we end this the hard way."

---

2:00 PM – Mutation Logs

Kael retreated to the old Archives beneath the Safe Zone. A forgotten place. Most didn't even know it existed. He accessed it with an override key left by the spiral cave.

Inside, he searched the deep records—classified files from before the Break.

He found one labeled FANGROOT_Archive_Log_17.

> "Dream-triggered glyph mutations discovered. Symbols leave no System trace. Impact: neurological enhancement, altered perception, memory overwrite.

Suspected source: Pre-System entity or external intelligence.

Recommendation: Quarantine and neutralize.

Final note: The marked are not infected. They're evolving."

Kael read the final line twice.

He wasn't infected.

He was being rewritten.

---

4:00 PM – Warning

Elle caught up with him after the Council meeting. She handed him a tablet with side-by-side images.

One was Kael's glyph.

The other was a satellite image taken just outside the Safe Zone's perimeter.

A monster—humanoid, tall, and slow-moving—had the same glyph.

"I triple-checked," Elle said. "It's not a coincidence. It's the exact same pattern."

Kael's expression darkened. "So it passed the same trial."

"It survived, at least. Just like you."

Kael looked at the image of the creature. It wasn't attacking. Just watching. Waiting.

"We're not being selected," he said. "We're being collected."

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5:30 PM – Training Begins

Kael stood before a group of ten marked Awakened—those who reported dream glyphs. They were nervous. Confused. A few looked terrified. One girl, maybe fifteen, kept rubbing her forearm, as if the glyph might vanish if she scrubbed hard enough.

He stepped forward. "We don't know what this is yet. But we're not victims. We're not monsters. And we're not alone."

He held up his arm. The glyph glowed faintly.

"This doesn't make us weak. But it might make us targets. So we train. We stay alert. And we don't let anyone treat us like we've already lost."

No one applauded. But no one left.

That was enough.

---

6:00 PM – The Monster at the Edge

The sun began to set.

Kael returned to the northern wall, same place he'd started the day.

Across the distance, through the treeline, something moved.

The monster. The one from his trial. The one with the glyph.

It wasn't hiding. It stood tall, arms by its side, watching Kael directly.

Kael felt a sharp pain in his wrist.

The glyph pulsed.

And across the distance… the monster's glyph pulsed in sync.

For a moment, they stood in silence, divided by the wall, the forest, the unknown.

Then the creature raised one hand—just slightly—as if acknowledging him.

Kael didn't wave back.

He whispered, "You think we're the same?"

No answer.

But in his mind—his own voice, slightly warped:

"Not yet. But you're getting there."

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TO BE CONTINUED....