Eclipsed Genesis

The year was 4092, though the notion of time had long since lost its meaning amid the ruins of the old world. In the small fortified city of Bastion 7, nestled amidst the crumbling remnants of a once-thriving metropolis, sixteen-year-old Kael Strade stood in the shadow of a monument. It was a statue of a man, battle-scarred and poised to strike, his blade raised against a towering bestial figure. The inscription read: Galen Strade – For Honor and Humanity.

Kael stared at the statue, his heart a mixture of pride and bitterness. His father, a man revered as a hero, had died ten years ago during what the city now called The Great Cull, when elite warriors known as Beast Slayers sought to reclaim humanity's surface territory. Galen's name was etched in history, but for Kael, it was etched deeper into the fragments of his family's life—a father gone, a mother left to raise three children, and a legacy too grand to escape.

"Daydreaming again, Kael?"

Kael turned to see Ryen, his older brother, leaning against a stone pillar. Ryen, twenty and already serving as an engineer for the city's defenses, bore none of the lofty dreams Kael carried. "The exams are a death sentence. You know that, right? Just because Dad survived long enough to become a legend doesn't mean you will."

Kael clenched his fists. "I'm not doing this to be a legend, Ryen. I'm doing this because someone has to. You'd rather I stay and fix generators while beasts rip the walls apart?"

"Better than being ripped apart yourself," Ryen shot back, but his voice softened. "Just don't make this about Dad. You've got your own life to live."

But it was about Dad. Kael couldn't escape the stories, the whispers that Galen Strade had been more than just a warrior. His skill with a blade was said to border on the supernatural, his strategies unmatched, his courage unwavering. What the public didn't know—what Kael had discovered through late-night conversations overheard between his mother and a family friend—was that Galen had once wielded Ecliptine. Not the diluted forms used by the city guards, but the pure, undiluted serum that granted power far beyond human limits, at the cost of irreversible transformation.

Kael shook the thoughts from his head and turned back toward the monument. Tomorrow was the examination, his first step toward becoming a Beast Slayer. The tests were brutal, designed to weed out all but the strongest and most determined. But Kael wasn't afraid. He was ready to prove that his father's legacy wasn't just a shadow he lived under—it was a fire burning within him.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the monument in a golden glow, Kael whispered a silent vow to the memory of his father: For honor. For humanity. And for me.