GENESIS
Genesis begins as an accident. Only hours into humanity’s relationship with HVA-01, a compromised containment system at Saint Dorsey loses pressure. Hampton safety systems respond by rapidly cooling and stabilizing the sample, unknowingly recreating the exact volumetric-bloom conditions Abyron requires.
The expanding ceramic Ax-126 shifts its effective load, damages the containment structure and nearby high-density energy systems, and begins leaking dark-orange vapor. A major conventional explosion follows. Roughly three seconds later, the remaining Ax-126 lattice enters catastrophic cascading failure and becomes brilliant orange Genesis-state Abyron behind a nearly black advancing phase front.
Saint Dorsey disappears into a dense surface-bound orange cloud for roughly 14 hours and remains under controlled exclusion for about two days. The established death toll is 362. Some survivors later manifest as Ascendants, but routine medical screening cannot identify them and the public does not know their exact number.