The rain had not stopped for days.
It came like a constant drumbeat on Equinox's rooftops, swarming the city's canals, and flooding the streets. The electric grid still held, but it was under pressure. Power flickered in places where the weather had weakened the grid, and the first tests of Caelum's light systems had proven that the city's infrastructure wasn't ready for sustained heavy storms.
But Titanus was.
Jiang Fan stood in the heart of the construction site—a vast, muddy pit at the edge of Equinox—where the first prototype of the mechanized guardian was about to be field-tested.
Around him, workers from various guilds were preparing. Some had brought their families along for the demonstration, eager to witness the marvel that had already begun to stir rumors in every corner of the kingdom. Titanus wasn't just a machine. It was the first of its kind—an intelligent construct that could walk, think, and fight. A guardian meant to protect the city from any disaster, natural or otherwise.
Jiang Fan had seen the blueprints.
He had seen the first mechanical limbs, the rough wiring, the metal plating. And yet, seeing Titanus—standing tall, its body plated in sleek silver and copper, standing silently under the rain—felt like witnessing the birth of a new age.
It was his dream, his creation, but it still felt… alien.
"It's ready," Jiang Fan murmured to himself.
Behind him, Caelum approached silently.
The AI's glowing eyes flickered in the dim light, their presence always haunting in its quiet perfection.
"What do you think?" Jiang Fan asked, though he already knew what Caelum would say.
Caelum tilted their head, their face unreadable. "It will function as intended."
Jiang Fan nodded slowly, feeling an uneasy knot in his stomach.
The first test wasn't just about function. It was about proving that the future was here, that the power of technology could change lives forever. But the world… the people weren't ready. Even his closest allies, the very citizens who cheered for his successes, still held a quiet fear of what these machines represented.
Would they bow to metal? Or would metal bow to them?
The air around them shifted.
A low rumble echoed through the hills to the north—another storm.
Jiang Fan turned, his eyes narrowing.
"Caelum, monitor the storm."
Caelum's eyes flared with light, their mechanical brain calculating the storm's trajectory in an instant. "It will hit within the hour, likely with an intensity similar to the last. We will need Titanus to hold the defenses."
Jiang Fan's heart pounded. This wasn't just about showing off anymore. The storm's surge could wipe out the village to the north and the lower parts of the city if it wasn't stopped.
"Start the sequence."
The ground trembled slightly as Titanus began to move. The first steps were sluggish, hesitant—nothing more than trial and error.
And then it accelerated.
The titan was taller than most of the buildings, its joints whirring as its legs carried it forward, each movement more fluid than the last. It passed Jiang Fan, its massive frame dwarfing him.
"Titanus," Jiang Fan called, "activate your core protocols."
The machine's chest cavity opened, revealing a soft blue light—the heart of the machine, glowing like a pulse. Titanus's voice, deep and resonant, filled the air.
"Protocols: Activation. Defense: Set. Activation: Confirmed."
And then it started to walk—no longer a machine. A guardian.
The ground trembled beneath its feet as it moved forward, its boots carving new paths in the mud, as though the earth itself was yielding to its power.
Jiang Fan watched, a swell of pride in his chest.
"Hold the line, Titanus," he murmured, watching the titan march toward the storm's epicenter. "Show them what we've created."
But as Titanus moved closer to the northern border of Equinox, another anomaly appeared in Jiang Fan's interface.
A blip.
A signal.
"Warning: Unstable power fluctuation detected in Sector 12."
The screen flickered briefly before stabilizing.
Caelum's voice broke through the tension.
"Jiang Fan," they said, eyes narrowing, "something is wrong."
Before Jiang Fan could respond, the wind picked up again—the sky crackled with lightning. The rain intensified, and the storm began to roar with a strength that surpassed even their earlier predictions.
And then the lightning struck.
Not the grid.
Not the poles.
But Titanus.
A jagged bolt of searing light split the sky, plunging down with inhuman precision. The crack of thunder shook the ground as the energy surged through Titanus's metallic body.
Jiang Fan's heart stopped.
Was the machine okay?
"Caelum, what's happening?" he shouted, watching Titanus stumble, its limbs locking up.
Caelum's eyes flickered again. Their voice remained calm.
"Titanus is functional. But we're receiving additional power surges. The storm—it's not natural. There's an external source."
Jiang Fan's blood ran cold.
"Where? Who's doing this?"
Before Caelum could respond, the sky above them split open.
Not with thunder or lightning, but with something far more terrifying.
From above, a shadow descended.
The power grid surged as a secondary source of interference blasted across the network.
A signal. One that wasn't from the systems they knew.
And then, for the first time since Jiang Fan had started his journey, the infinite deduction system blinked.
A dream—fragmented, encrypted.
"Warning. Only one will ascend."
The words echoed in Jiang Fan's mind.
The wind howled. The storm raged.
And above, something watched.
Jiang Fan looked up, his breath coming fast.
The sight above him wasn't of stars anymore. It was something darker, something older.
A presence.
A force.
Was it observing?
Or was it the real enemy?
The battle for the future had just begun.