Week 2: Kael’s Awakening

His world was a fractured shadow of the one that had come before. Towers of glass and steel lay shattered, their skeletons reaching skyward like the bones of ancient beasts. The streets were overgrown with strange, resilient plants, their colours vivid and alien. This was home to Kael: a small, dilapidated apartment building where he lived with his older sister, Alina, and their father, Garret. Survival was a daily battle, one Garret fought tirelessly to ensure his children’s safety.

On the morning it all changed, Garret took Kael and Alina on a scavenging mission. Supplies were scarce, and the trio had to venture farther from home than ever before. Their destination was an industrial complex, a hulking maze of rusted machinery and forgotten technology. To Kael, it felt like stepping into the husk of a dead giant.

“Stay close,” Garret whispered, his voice low but firm. He carried a battered rifle, its barrel gleaming faintly in the dim light filtering through the clouds. Kael clutched his sister’s hand, her grip reassuring despite the fear that lingered in her eyes.

They moved silently through the ruins, picking through debris in search of anything useful—canned food, spare parts, tools. In one corner of the factory, Kael spotted something that made him freeze: a deactivated worker robot, slumped against the wall. Its metallic frame was covered in rust, and vines snaked through its joints. For a moment, Kael’s fear gave way to curiosity.

“Kael,” Alina whispered sharply, pulling him back. “Don’t.”

Before he could respond, a sound cut through the air—a low, mechanical whir. Garret’s head snapped up, his expression grim. “Drone,” he said. “Hide. Now.”

They dove into the shadows as the sound grew louder. A patrol drone swept into the factory, its searchlights cutting through the gloom. It was a relic of the old wars, sleek and deadly, its purpose now warped by decades of autonomous operation. Kael held his breath, his heart pounding in his chest as the drone hovered just meters away.

But then the drone’s light turned toward their hiding spot.

“Run,” Garret ordered. “Now!”

Kael and Alina bolted, their father’s voice calling after them: “I’ll hold it off!” They didn’t dare look back as Garret raised his rifle and fired. The crack of gunfire echoed through the ruins, followed by the deafening roar of the drone’s weaponry.

Hours later, when the siblings returned to their apartment, Garret was not with them. Kael sat in silence, clutching a piece of rusted metal he had picked up from the factory floor. It was a fragment of the worker robot, a reminder of a world that no longer existed.

That night, Kael made a vow. He would protect Alina. He would survive. And someday, he would ensure that humanity no longer had to run or hide.

The ember of hope had been ignited in him. All it needed was time to grow into a flame.