He awoke under heavy fire.

  “What the hell?” shouted Joshua as sand sprayed across his face.

  Multiple plumes of sand blasted into the sky from the hail of bullets headed in his direction. Glancing left and right, Joshua instantly assessed the situation and terrain. This was a remote desert village, and his team was pinned down by insurgents. Yet something about the scene felt oddly... familiar, like he’d been here before.

  With laser focus and precision honed through years of military training, Joshua flipped to another cover position and fired on three combatants who thought they were hidden. Three bursts exploded from his M-4, eliminating the threats. As he moved to another cover, he surveyed the battlefield, noticing a group of fighters huddled together.

  “Martinez, follow my lead and provide cover,” he shouted while running towards the enemy combatants.

  They saw the large American charging and figured he must be insane. As Joshua barreled towards an overturned car, they opened fire. On reflex, he seemed to dodge each bullet, as if his body simply knew where to be. A strange energy surged through him unlike anything he’d felt before. It was almost like remembering a skill he hadn’t yet learned.

  “What the...” he whispered, before shaking off the disorientation.

  As he closed in, he primed a grenade and threw it with perfect accuracy. An explosion rocked the area, and the men were thrown from cover, eliminating the threat. Martinez, the best sniper in his squad, eliminated any remaining threats with surgical precision.

  “What the holy hell, man, that was insane!” shouted Brooks, running up to join them. “You were like Jason Bourne or some shit!”

  “That was kind of crazy Williams,” Martinez said, eyeing Joshua with a mixture of admiration and wariness. “You alright, man?”

  “I’m fine,” Joshua replied, though the strange surge of power still coursed through his veins. He instinctively closed his hands while looking towards the sky, where for a moment, he thought he saw a crack of red; but there was nothing there but clear blue. “I need to make a phone call.”

  “No phones allowed on duty, you know that man. I can radio if you need to get in touch with someone,” Martinez offered, still studying Joshua with concern.

  “It’s fine, I’ll talk to him later,” Joshua said, feeling an odd certainty that someone was waiting for his report.

  “A female officer maybe?” he thought to himself; though he couldn’t place who. “Let’s just get to the next rendezvous point.”

  As Martinez walked away to give him a minute, Joshua opened his hand and stared in shock. In his palm, letting off the smallest trail of smoke, were two of the bullets that should have hit him.

  Joshua’s heart raced as he stared at the impossibility in his hand. This wasn’t the first time strange things had happened during combat, but he’d always dismissed them as adrenaline or luck. Now, the evidence was literally in the palm of his hand. Somehow, he had caught bullets; mid-flight.

  Later that evening, Joshua sat alone in his tent, turning the bullets over in his hands. The metal was still warm, as if preserving the energy of the moment they were fired. He closed his eyes, trying to recapture the sensation he’d felt during the firefight; that strange certainty, the fluid motion, the power that seemed to flow through his body.

  “It’s getting stronger,” he whispered to himself, though he wasn’t sure why he phrased it that way. Getting stronger implied it had been there before, but he couldn’t pinpoint when it started.

  Sleep came uneasily that night, filled with strange dreams. He saw himself standing in a vast desert, but not Afghanistan. This place had a blood-red sky and creatures that defied description. In the dream, he wielded a sword that pulsed with energy and a shield that seemed to absorb attacks rather than deflect them.

  “Legion,” he murmured in his sleep, a name that meant nothing to his waking mind but felt deeply significant in the dream. “Aegis.”

  He awoke with a start, sweat soaking through his shirt. The tent was dark, but for a moment, it seemed to shimmer with an otherworldly light. Joshua rubbed his eyes, and the illusion faded.

  “Just a dream,” he told himself, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was forgetting something important.

  The following day brought another mission, this one more demanding than the last. Intelligence had located a high-value target in a compound to the north. Joshua’s squad was tasked with infiltration and, if possible, capture of the HVT.

  As they approached the compound, Joshua felt that strange energy building again. His senses seemed to expand beyond normal human capability; he could hear conversations through thick walls, sense movement from impossible distances.

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  “Something’s wrong,” Martinez whispered as they crouched behind a low wall. “Security’s too light. It feels like a trap.”

  Joshua nodded, but then tilted his head, listening. “Three men in the main building,” he said with absolute certainty. “Two in the courtyard, one on the roof. They’re expecting us from the east.”

  Martinez stared at him. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “I just... know,” Joshua replied, unable to explain the clarity with which he perceived their surroundings. “Trust me.”

  He formulated a plan on the spot, dividing their six-man team into pairs to approach from multiple angles simultaneously. As he outlined the strategy, Joshua noticed that his squad members were looking at him with a mixture of awe and unease. His confidence was absolute, his knowledge of the compound layout perfect, despite never having been there before.

  When they moved into position, Joshua felt the energy within him crystallize into a strange certainty. Time seemed to slow as he signaled the attack, and when they burst into action, everything unfolded exactly as he’d predicted.

  The first two guards fell before they could raise an alarm. Joshua moved with impossible speed, disarming the third man with a precise strike that should have been beyond his capabilities. As he entered the main building, he dodged a bullet without even seeing it fired; his body simply shifted at the right moment, as if responding to a danger his conscious mind hadn’t yet registered.

  “Behind you!” he shouted to Brooks, who spun just in time to neutralize a threat that had emerged from a hidden doorway.

  The firefight lasted less than three minutes. When it was over, the HVT was secured, and Joshua’s team had sustained zero casualties. They stood in the center of the compound, looking around at their handiwork with disbelief.

  “How did you know about that hidden door?” Brooks asked, his voice low. “That wasn’t in any of the briefings.”

  Joshua opened his mouth to answer but found he had no explanation. The knowledge had simply been there, as if he’d fought in this compound before. Or perhaps, as if he’d already lived through this moment once.

  “Just got lucky,” he said finally, though he could tell from Brooks’ expression that the answer wasn’t convincing.

  As they secured the prisoner and prepared to extract, Joshua caught a glimpse of himself in a cracked mirror hanging on the wall. For a split second, his reflection showed someone else; still him, but older, harder, wearing armor unlike anything in the modern military. And behind this other version of himself, a figure stood in shadows, watching.

  Joshua blinked, and the vision vanished, leaving only his normal reflection staring back with haunted eyes.

  Back at base, the successful mission earned Joshua’s team rare commendations. Their perfect execution had not only secured valuable intelligence but had done so without casualties on either side; the HVT had been captured alive, along with several of his lieutenants.

  General Peterson called Joshua into his office personally.

  “That’s six flawless missions in a row, Williams,” Peterson said, studying him across the desk. “Your team’s success rate is becoming... notable.”

  There was something in the general’s tone that made Joshua uneasy. “Thank you, sir.”

  “I’ve been reviewing your file,” Peterson continued, gesturing to a folder on his desk. “Your tactical assessments have always been solid, but lately...” He paused, choosing his words carefully. “Lately, they’ve been unnaturally accurate. Almost prescient.”

  Joshua maintained his composure, though internally he felt a flicker of alarm. “Just applying my training, sir.”

  “Hmm.” Peterson didn’t look convinced. “We’re moving your team to a special assignment. Details are classified, even at this level. You’ll report to Langley next week.”

  “Langley, sir?” Joshua couldn’t hide his surprise. “As in CIA?”

  “Those are your orders, Williams.” Peterson closed the folder. “Dismissed.”

  As Joshua turned to leave, Peterson added, “And Williams? Whatever it is you’ve tapped into... be careful with it. Power has a way of changing a man.”

  The words sent an unexpected chill down Joshua’s spine. For a moment, he could have sworn he heard another voice overlaying Peterson’s; a woman’s voice, regal and commanding: “Show them a back worthy to follow, Joshua. Let your power and justice be seen by the rabble. Show me you’re worthy of my choice! Lead your people!”

  “Sir?” Joshua asked, but Peterson was already looking down at other paperwork, the moment passed.

  Outside the office, Joshua leaned against the wall, trying to make sense of what was happening to him. The strange dreams, the impossible combat abilities, the knowledge he shouldn’t possess; something fundamental was changing within him, and he didn’t understand why or how.

  He walked to the barracks, deep in thought. As he passed the common area, he caught a news report on the television; something about unusual astronomical phenomena being observed worldwide. Scientists were baffled by unexplained energy signatures in the atmosphere.

  “Probably just solar flares,” someone commented, but Joshua found himself transfixed by the images. For a split second, he thought he saw patterns in the energy signatures; not random bursts, but a deliberate message, though he couldn’t decipher its meaning.

  “You okay, boss?” Martinez asked, appearing at his side.

  Joshua shook himself out of the trance. “Yeah, just tired. Big day.”

  Martinez nodded, though his eyes reflected concern. “You’ve been different lately. Ever since that firefight in Kandahar.”

  “Different how?” Joshua asked, genuinely curious how others perceived the changes he was experiencing.

  “Sharper. Faster.” Martinez hesitated, then added, “Sometimes it’s like you’re not entirely here, like you’re seeing things the rest of us can’t.”

  Joshua considered denying it but found he didn’t have the energy for lies. “If I told you something impossible was happening to me, would you think I’d lost my mind?”

  Martinez studied him for a long moment. “After what I’ve seen you do in the field? No, sir, I don’t think I would.”

  The honesty in his voice gave Joshua courage. “I think I’m changing, Martinez. Becoming something... more than I was. And I don’t know why or how to control it.”

  “Does it scare you?” Martinez asked quietly.

  Joshua thought about it, about the surge of power that flowed through him in combat, about the strange certainty that guided his actions, about the fragments of another life that kept breaking through into his consciousness.

  “No,” he realized. “It feels right. Like I’m remembering rather than learning.” He flexed his hand, recalling the feeling of catching bullets. “Like I’m finally becoming what I was always meant to be.”

  Martinez nodded slowly. “Then I’m with you, sir. Whatevers happening, whatever you’re becoming; I’ve got your back.”

  Joshua clasped his shoulder, grateful for the loyalty. “Get some rest. I have a feeling things are only going to get more interesting from here.”