When the Anchor Broke

The altered invaded after civilization collapsed. I awakened no ability at all. My body was weaker than an ordinary person's, yet the director of the Federal Anomaly Command personally invited me into Meridian Bastion's SSS-level sanctuary in the Blackridge Exclusion Zone. Because I was the world's only "Reality Anchor". As long as my emotions stayed stable, the dimensional breach above the city wouldn't collapse, and millions of altered creatures couldn't cross into our world. Everyone treated me like something sacred and avoided giving me even the slightest shock. Then one day, a newly awakened S-class destruction operative kicked through the sanctuary's ballistic glass and crushed my limited-edition Nova-9 figure beneath his boot. "The soldiers outside are bleeding to hold back the altered, and command is spending public resources to pamper a useless man who can't even fire a rifle. What makes you worth it?" Chapter 1 "Warning. Target Zero's heart rate is abnormal. Emotional fluctuation has exceeded the critical threshold." The cold female voice of the central intelligence echoed beneath the dome of the SSS sanctuary. Harsh red warning lights cut the pure-white room into broken fragments. I sat motionless on the reinforced sofa and stared at the floor. My favorite limited-edition Nova-9 figure lay beneath a black armored combat boot. The alloy sole ground its delicate resin pieces into powder. "What? Does that hurt?" The man before me wore a close military cut. A silver star on his shoulder marked him as an S-class awakened operative and flashed coldly beneath the alarms. I remembered him. Marcus Rook was the rising operative recently transferred from central command to the First Defense Sector. He'd awakened an exceptionally rare S-class destruction ability. Because he'd been assigned as temporary adjutant to the bastion's legendary commander, Serena Frost, he had top-level access to the core zone. "Have you lost your mind?" Before I could speak, a furious shout came from the kitchenette. My residential aide, Cole Mercer, rushed out carrying the milk he'd just warmed. The moment he saw the wreckage and Marcus's murderous expression, fury ignited in Cole's eyes. He smashed the cup down and activated his A-class reinforcement ability. His exposed arms took on a metallic sheen amid the sickening sound of shifting bone. He planted himself in front of me and stared Marcus down. "This is the absolute restricted zone of S Ward. Who gave you permission to force your way in? Get out." "Restricted? A man like him deserves a restricted sanctuary?" Marcus laughed and looked past Cole's shoulder at me as though I were garbage. "The Third Line got torn open by an altered swarm yesterday. Thousands of soldiers are trapped in the irradiated wastes without clean water. Their wounds are rotting because there's no medicine. And this is how you live?" He swung one hand, releasing a violent wave that overturned the snack cabinet beside me. Crates of reserved nutrient solution, uncontaminated fruit, and costly discontinued game systems scattered across the floor. "The bastion spends thirty percent of its annual energy maintaining this climate-controlled greenhouse, all to prop up an E-rated weakling who can't even pull a rifle bolt?" His eyes were bloodshot, and his chest heaved. He'd clearly come straight from the front, still carrying the metallic stench of altered blood. "Gabriel, right? I can't understand whether the old men above us have lost their minds. They treat you like royalty. Do you eat a slice of cake and somehow repair the dimensional breach outside?" "Shut your mouth. You don't know a damn thing." Cole clenched his teeth, kinetic force gathering in his right fist. "Cole, don't." I drew a deep breath, forced down the tremor in my chest, and caught the hem of his jacket. The emotional-monitoring implant at the base of my skull was heating up. Weak electrical pulses stimulated my nervous system, warning me to stay calm. I couldn't become angry. For three years, only the highest officials in the Federal Anomaly Command had known why I was confined here. I possessed no awakened ability, but the frequency of my brain activity was the only Reality Anchor left in this broken world. As long as my mind stayed within a calm and contented range, the invisible field around me held the dimensional breach above Meridian Bastion in place and kept millions of altered creatures outside our reality. If I cried uncontrollably, corrosive rain would fall across the city. If I surrendered to despair, the breach would collapse completely. I breathed deeply and forced a calm expression as I looked at Marcus. "Adjutant Rook, the figure's already broken. You just got back from the front, and your emotions are unstable. I understand. Leave now, and I'll treat this like it never happened." Chapter 2 "You'll treat it as though nothing happened?" Marcus stepped closer as if he'd heard something impossibly absurd. The pressure of an S-class operative descended across the room like solid gravity. "What are you, that you dare speak down to me?" Jealousy nearly overflowed from his eyes as he stared at me. "I didn't come here to argue about reserved supplies. Tell me whether Commander Frost is inside." My heart jumped at Serena's name, and I instinctively glanced toward the sealed inner isolation chamber. "So she is." Marcus caught the movement, and his expression twisted. "During the battle in the North Ruins two days ago, the commander fought three A-plus aberrations alone so the main force could withdraw. Their venom tore through one of her lungs, and her contamination level rose to the edge of irreversible mutation." His voice sharpened until it nearly pierced my ears. "The medical division prepared its highest-grade purification chamber. But she dragged herself here without even sealing the wound and brought the purest altered core straight into your room. "She hasn't stepped outside for three days. What filthy method did you use on her? Why should an SSS-class war commander let a useless parasite drain her life?" The implant at my neck grew hotter with every accusation. Marcus didn't know that a conventional purification chamber couldn't contain Serena's SSS-level mental collapse. Only inside the center of my anchoring field, with me personally guiding her shattered mental landscape, could she survive. The so-called altered core was only an energy medium she'd brought because she feared the treatment would exhaust me. "Marcus, you don't understand what Gabriel means to the commander or to this bastion." Cole stayed between us and issued one final warning. "Leave now. When the commander finishes treatment and wakes, a military tribunal will be the least of your problems." "A tribunal? Fine. I'll remove this parasite first and take whatever punishment follows." Marcus completely lost control. In his mind, I was a leech who'd bewitched command and Serena through some hidden method. He raised his right hand. A sphere of black annihilation energy began compressing and spinning above his palm. It was the technique that had made him famous: S-class Particle Collapse. The instant the energy appeared, the sanctuary alarms rose to maximum volume. "Warning. High-energy reaction detected. Protective shielding overloaded." "You're insane. If you use Particle Collapse in the core zone, you could destroy half this structure." I shot to my feet, my face draining white. Inside the isolation chamber, Serena had reached the most delicate stage of mental reconstruction. If an explosion disrupted the anchoring field, she'd instantly lose reason and mutate. "If killing you destroys this building, I'll still have done the bastion a service." Marcus grinned, turned his wrist, and hurled the black sphere, powerful enough to vaporize an armored transport, straight at my face. Chapter 3 Too fast. An S-class operative attacked far beyond the reactions of an ordinary human like me. I didn't even have time to close my eyes. I could only watch the black storm of death swell across my vision. "Gabriel!" A desperate scream tore through the room. Cole didn't evade. He roared and drove his A-class reinforcement ability to its absolute limit. His skin turned to dark-gold superalloy, and he threw himself over me like a human shield. Boom! A deafening explosion erupted inside the sanctuary. There was no beautiful light, only pure destruction. A crushing force struck my chest through Cole's body. It felt as though every organ inside me had shattered, and blood surged into my throat. I coughed. Hot blood sprayed across my face like rain and blinded me. "Cole..." I wiped the blood from my eyes with shaking hands. The moment I saw him clearly, my mind went blank. Cole had collapsed in my arms. The superalloy defense he'd always trusted had been no stronger than paper against Particle Collapse. His entire back was carbonized. Flesh and combat fabric had melted together, exposing blackened bone beneath. Even his breathing had become a faint, broken rasp. Blood foam spilled from his mouth with every breath. "Gabriel...don't be afraid...breathe...control your emotions..." Cole struggled to lift one deformed hand to wipe the blood from my face, but it fell before reaching me. "Cole, stay awake. Medic! Central intelligence, call a medical team!" I held his ruined body and screamed until my voice no longer sounded human. "I cut the communication lines. No one's coming." As the smoke cleared, Marcus stood untouched. He looked at our suffering with satisfaction and contempt. "How moving. An A-class fool thought he could stop my Particle Collapse. He chose death." He walked toward us, black light gathering in his palm again. "Since he wanted to save you so badly, I'll send you off together. Once this dead weight's gone, the commander will finally understand who deserves to stand beside her." Death closed over us with every step. Yet as I watched Cole's life fading in my arms and Marcus's arrogant face drawing closer, my fear vanished. In its place rose an anger unlike anything I'd ever known, violent and molten. Why had I spent three years trapped here like a prisoner for these people? I'd smothered every emotion, afraid even to laugh too loudly, and my reward was watching the man who saved my life, my closest friend, beaten to death in front of me. A piercing tone shrieked from the implant at my neck as it overheated. Then it exploded beneath my skin. The implant was gone. My emotions broke free.