It started with a whisper.
Not one heard by ears, but felt in the bones — like a shift in the earth before an earthquake, or the cold breeze that slips into a warm room without warning.
It happened on a Thursday evening, just past 7:00 PM.
In three different places across the city, the lights flickered once… and then everything went dark.
---
Reina
She was on the roof again.
It was her favorite place to be when the day got too loud.
The city below looked like a grid of stars, cars trailing like comets through the haze.
Then — blackness.
The entire skyline blinked out, like someone had unplugged the world.
Reina didn't panic. Instead, she looked up.
And that's when she saw it.
Three stars.
Bright. Unmoving. Hanging in a perfect triangle above her building.
She blinked, rubbed her eyes. They remained.
One glowed with a red hue.
The second, icy blue.
The third — golden.
She didn't know why, but she whispered aloud:
> "Which one is mine?"
---
Ren
Ren was in his room, scrolling through old messages he never replied to.
When the lights died, his screen was the only glow left in the room.
But the phone buzzed.
Once.
Then again.
> Unknown Number: "Do you remember the forest?"
Ren frowned.
He hadn't told anyone about that dream.
Then another message arrived:
> "They saw it too."
Suddenly, the temperature dropped. His breath fogged in the dark.
His phone shut off.
And on the wall in front of him, he saw a faint, glowing mark:
A circle with three lines, branching like a trident.
---
Kael
Kael stood frozen in front of the bolted door.
The hum had stopped.
Instead, the silence around him was thick and full, like it was listening.
Then, without touching it, the door cracked open an inch.
From inside, a sound echoed out.
Not words.
Not music.
But a heartbeat.
Not his own.
---
Across the city, all three stood in darkness. Unknowing of one another.
But each felt the same thing, deep in their core — a single, resounding truth:
> "Something's waking up."