The Real World...In the most advanced medical bay of Solendel Corporation...
Time... seemed to stand still... Zaria, Karess, Dr. Enzo, and Dr. Ira... stood surrounding the patient bed... staring at Zen's motionless form...
Suddenly... his body twitched... softly... His eyelids were clamped shut... but "tears" began to stream from them, uncontrollably... And... "blood"... began to seep from his palms, which were clenched so tightly his nails had pierced the flesh...
"Zen! Zen!" Zaria shook his arm. "What's happening!?" "His brainwaves are spiking erratically! It's off the charts!" Dr. Ira shouted... staring at the holographic monitor as the numbers turned a stark, alarming red.
And in that instant... Zen's mouth opened... and he unleashed a scream... that did not come from his throat... but was the sound of a shattered soul...
"A GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Alarms blared in unison... not just in the medical bay... but across the entire planet of Solendel! "Sora"... had detected a catastrophic-level anomaly...
A synthetic voice, cool... but laced with undeniable urgency... sounded through every employee's Bio-Sora system... [WARNING! Emergency situation 'CODE RED' detected! I repeat! CODE RED! All personnel, please form defensive groups... or seek immediate shelter!!!]
Red emergency lights began to flash throughout the entire base... but the true chaos... was not on the ground... It was in the sky...
Above the atmosphere of Solendel... a "rift" in a warped dimension... had torn itself out of the void... It was a "wound" connecting the worlds... and from that "wound"... "brilliant red lightning"... like the shattered veins of a universe... began to lash out... spreading the chaos... across the entire Aetheryon System... ...Spirit Power... had begun to leak into the real world...
"R-Report!!! This is S-134! I have multiple unidentified individuals... appearing in the middle of the spaceport!" "This is S-87, I see them too! They're wearing strange clothes... like... like they're not from this era!"
In the medical bay... Zen's body convulsed violently... before he jolted upright... his eyes flying open... and he gasped for air... like a man who had just drowned...
"Zen! Zen! Are you okay!?" "What happened!?" "How are you feeling!?" Everyone rushed towards him, their voices a mess of panic...
"Severe cardiac arrhythmia detected..." Sora reported through the speaker. Dr. Enzo, the head of medicine, quickly grabbed Zen's wrist to check his pulse. "Wait... it's... it's stabilizing." Dr. Ira stared at the holographic screen scanning Zen's brain. "Brainwaves returning to a normal state... everything is stabilizing... Zen... how are you?"
Zen... his eyes still wide with a vacant terror... slowly turned his face, wet with tears (and tears of blood)... to look at Zaria... and choked out his first question... "...What... happened?"
Before Zaria could answer... Karess... who was processing the hundreds of reports flooding in... whipped his head around... towards a cluster of light that had just appeared inside the room... before it slowly coalesced into the shape of people, becoming clearer... Karess stared at them for a moment, then turned back to Zen, his eyes narrowing. "...What did you do."
Karess's voice was so cold... it silenced everyone in the room. "We have reports of unidentified individuals... appearing simultaneously all over the planet... Security teams are gathering data... but the rough estimate... is several thousand people."
Sora immediately added her report: [Confirming data from circum-planetary cameras... The individuals are detected... materializing from 'translucent forms'... before slowly coalescing... into complete, physical beings as we are seeing now!!]
Zaria's eyes widened... She looked at the "survivors" who had just appeared in the room... then back at Zen. "...This... this is your power... isn't it?"
The question... was like a needle piercing Zen's shattered heart... He opened his mouth... tried to speak... but no sound came out... "...I'm... not sure... but... but I..." All he could do was raise his hands to cover his face... and the tears broke free once more... tears of a loss that no one in this room could possibly understand...
Zaria... though confused by the disaster before her... upon seeing Zen's state... all her suspicion melted away... leaving only concern... She sat on the edge of the bed... and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You can tell us... whatever it is... Zen."
"You don't have to hold it in, man... Just let it out," Karess added... Even if he didn't understand the situation... he knew this was far beyond the usual dreams Zen had told him about.
Zen slowly lowered his hands... his eyes were bloodshot... and filled with a pain too deep to measure... He looked at Zaria... "...Do you... do you remember the dreams I told you about... about... Xu Yianzi..." Zaria nodded slowly...
"...He... he..." Zen swallowed the bitter bile in his throat. "...He's dead."
Everyone in the room froze... 'Xu Yianzi? Who?' Zaria, who understood bits and pieces from what Zen had told her... who could somewhat piece it together... knew... that the "dream friend" Zen was most attached to... was gone... Karess frowned... he didn't get all of it, but he could make the connection... but he also knew this wasn't the time to probe into personal matters...
"Sora," he commanded, his voice sharp. "Notify all security teams... Guide all refugees... to the South Assembly Point... Maintain control of the situation... I'm heading over myself." Karess looked at the three people who had appeared in the room, who were now looking around with bewildered expressions, as if exploring. "You, you, and you. Do you understand what I'm saying?" The three newcomers nodded. "Good. I know you're confused, but so are we. Please, follow me this way." The people were still confused, but they followed Karess out of the room.