Chapter 05

Chapter 05

Obrenu’s Warning

Dust swirled around Obrenu as he descended from the sky, landing with the metallic weight of a falling star. The Black Vultures—those who were still conscious—scrambled away from him in fear. Even they knew better than to stand close when their warlord arrived.

Adams felt an instinctive urge to run.

Not with speed.
To escape.

Something about Obrenu’s presence pressed on his chest like an invisible hand.

Dr. Bannerman stepped forward, voice low.
“Adams… listen to me carefully. Do not fight him. Not yet.”

Adams swallowed. “I don’t think I can outrun him.”

She shook her head.
“You can outrun anyone. But you cannot survive him—not today.”

Obrenu raised a gauntleted hand, and a pulse of dark energy rippled outward, crushing the remains of a streetlamp and warping its metal into a twisted shape.

“You have power,” Obrenu said, voice echoing with a hollow metallic distortion. “Raw. Untamed. Unworthy.”

Adams tensed.
“What do you want from me?”

Obrenu tilted his head. “The same gift that blessed you… awakened me.”

Dr. Bannerman stiffened. “A storm touched him too?”

Obrenu smirked.
“I was not touched. I was chosen.”

As he spoke, crackles of black kinetic energy danced around his body—energy that looked like a corrupted version of the blue power coursing through Adams.

Adams stepped protectively in front of the civilians. “Leave these people alone.”

“You misunderstand,” Obrenu said calmly.
“I did not come to harm them.”

He pointed directly at Adams.

“I came for you.”

The air thickened with tension.

Adams clenched his fists. “Why me?”

“Because the Nzuri has awakened two vessels now.” Obrenu spread his arms. “One strong enough to command the storm… and one foolish enough to stand in its way.”

Adams’s heart skipped.

Obrenu continued:
“I do not need to kill you. Not yet. You will come to me in time.”

Adams forced confidence into his voice. “Not likely.”

Obrenu’s red eyes glowed brighter. “You have no idea what you are. What you will become.”

He lifted his hand.

Black lightning erupted toward Adams.

Everything happened at once.

Dr. Bannerman screamed his name.
Adams tried to leap aside.
Time slowed to treacle—

The blast struck the ground where Adams stood.

BOOOOM!

A shockwave tore through the street, flipping a taxi and shattering glass windows. The force hurled Adams like a ragdoll—he crashed into a wall and gasped as pain shot through his body.

For the first time since gaining his powers…
Adams couldn’t move fast enough.

Obrenu lowered his hand. “You are not ready.”

He ascended into the air, dark energy swirling around him.

“When you understand the true nature of your gift,” he said, “you will seek me. And then you will kneel.”

With a flash of black light, he vanished into the sky.

Silence fell over the broken street.

Adams groaned, trying to push himself up, his limbs trembling. Dr. Bannerman rushed to him.

“Are you hurt?”

“Just… winded,” Adams gasped. “And maybe a little traumatized.”

She helped him to his feet.
“We need to get you out of here. He’s not done.”

Adams stared at the sky where Obrenu disappeared.

“I can’t fight someone like that.”

Dr. Bannerman looked him straight in the eyes.

“Not yet. But you can learn.”

Adams’s chest tightened. “How? I can barely control when I start moving.”

“We’ll train you,” she said firmly. “I’ll study the energy in your body. And you will learn to master it.”

Adams breathed shakily, but nodded.

He didn’t feel like a hero.
He felt scared, overwhelmed… small.

But he also remembered the woman he saved.
The people who didn’t get hurt because he stood between them and harm.

Maybe he wasn’t ready for Obrenu.
But he owed it to his city to try.

Dr. Bannerman squeezed his shoulder.
“Come, Adams. This is only the beginning.”

Adams looked around at the damaged street, the fallen criminals, the shaken civilians.

A beginning born from chaos.
A beginning he never asked for.

But maybe…
just maybe…

A beginning he was meant for.