EIGHT YEARS EARLIER.
2030.
Germany.
The world was already changing.
Not everywhere at once.
Not in the same way.
But enough that people had stopped asking whether something was wrong.
The question now was...
how much worse could it become?
Some cities still stood.
Some roads still worked.
Some governments still functioned.
People still traded.
Still searched for food.
Still tried to rebuild.
Still tried to convince themselves that civilization had survived.
But outside the places humanity still controlled...
something else had begun appearing.
Monsters.
No one truly understood where they came from.
People had theories.
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Radiation.
Mutation.
Experiments.
The consequences of war.
Something awakened beneath the Earth.
Something brought here by the destruction.
Everyone had an explanation.
No one had an answer.
And somewhere in Germany...
a wounded woman was running.
One hand pressed against her stomach.
The other covered a deep injury along her side.
Blood passed between her fingers.
Behind her...
something moved through the ruins.
She didn't look back.
She already knew what was there.
A monster.
She had escaped it.
Barely.
But escaping was no longer her greatest problem.
She stopped.
Pain tore through her body.
She fell against what remained of a wall.
"No..."
Another contraction.
Her eyes widened.
Not now.
Of all moments...
not now.
The child was coming.
She looked around.
Destroyed buildings.
Broken glass.
Abandoned vehicles.
Smoke in the distance.
And somewhere beyond the ruins...
the creature that had wounded her was still alive.
She forced herself forward.
One step.
Then another.
Until she found what remained of an old building.
It wasn't safe.
Nothing was safe anymore.
But it had walls.
That was enough.
Hours passed.
Pain.
Blood.
Silence.
Fear.
And then...
a cry.
A child had been born.
A boy.
His mother could barely move.
Her body had already suffered too much.
But when the child was placed against her...
she opened her eyes.
For a few seconds...
the ruined world disappeared.
There was only him.
Her son.
She touched his face.
"Lukas..."
The name left her lips quietly.
Lukas.
A name associated with light.
With illumination.
The enlightened.
A strange name...
for a child born into a world becoming darker by the day.
Outside...
something moved.
The mother froze.
A distant growl passed through the ruins.
The monster.
Still searching.
She pulled Lukas closer.
The newborn boy knew nothing about it.
Nothing about monsters.
Nothing about war.
Nothing about the world humanity had destroyed.
Nothing about the world replacing it.
He knew nothing about what his name meant.
Nothing about what he would see.
Nothing about what he would understand.
Nothing about what he might one day become.
He simply rested against his wounded mother.
His eyes slowly opened.
She looked down at him.
And for the first time since the monster attacked her...
she smiled.
Then—
THUMP.
Her smile disappeared.
THUMP.
The sound filled the room.
THUMP.
She looked around.
THUMP.
It wasn't outside.
THUMP.
It wasn't the monster.
Her eyes slowly moved toward the child in her arms.
Lukas's tiny chest rose.
THUMP.
Again.
Far too loud.
Far too deep.
Far too powerful to belong to a newborn child.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
His mother stared at him.
Outside...
the monster stopped moving.
Silence.
As if it had heard it too.
THUMP.
The newborn boy looked toward the darkness beyond the broken wall.
LUKAS.
2030.
THE ENLIGHTENED.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.