Raze stood in a place where he once stood before. The sky was torn, half gold, and half back, like it couldn't decide whether to be day or night. The ground was pitch black, only lit by the cracks of purple light.
A familiar figure stood ahead with his back turned. His outline flickered between shadow and light, one hand clasped behind him. His presence was calm but heavy, like a storm held perfectly still. His face remained shrouded, no clear features forming.
It was the same man from his dream.
Before Raze could speak, the man's voice echoed across the broken horizon.
"Zaden… we meet again. Sooner than I expected."
Raze glanced around. Everything was exactly as he remembered. He fixated on the man again. The questions he'd held onto, the answers he needed.
"You said you knew more than the system would ever tell me…"
He hesitated. Part of him doubted the man would answer. Part of him didn't care. He needed to ask anyway.
"What are those unknown beings destroying planets in hours? And how am I supposed to become strong enough in fourteen months?"
Silence followed.
The man didn't move. Didn't breathe. He simply stood there, as if weighing the worth of the question itself.
Then a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Haven't the creator already warned you? You should know. As for becoming strong enough… that part will be tricky."
Raze's chest tightened. The words dragged him back to the day he first received the system—the message from the creator, the warning about beings tied to him in ways he still didn't understand.
Raze stepped forward.
The cracks of purple light pulsed beneath his feet, reacting to his movement as if the ground itself recognized him.
"Then tell me," Raze said quietly. "If the creator warned me… then what am I not seeing? What am I missing?"
The man didn't turn, but the shadows around him shifted, bending inward as if listening.
"You seek clarity," he said. "But clarity is a luxury you cannot afford yet. Answers given too early only break the one who receives them."
Raze clenched his fists. "I don't care. People are dying. Planets are being wiped out. If I fail—"
The man interrupted.
"You will fail," he man said simply.
Raze froze, shocked to hear the word fail.
The man lifted his chin slightly, as though sensing Raze's reaction.
"But failure," he continued, "is simply the road you must walk before you can change anything. Fourteen months is not a deadline. It is a threshold."
"A threshold for what?" Raze demanded.
He hated it when he asks someone questions yet the only answer cryptically.
Then another moment of silence went by. The gold-and-black sky flickered, glitching, like a dying memory.
Then the man finally answered.
"For what sleeps inside you to wake. The thing this universe fear… and needed."
Raze's breath caught. "What does that mean? What's inside me?"
This time the man turned slowly, though the shadows still hid every feature except the faint outline of a smile.
"You call them unknown beings," he said.
"But they were known long before your world ever counted time. They are not your enemies, Raze Zaden."
Raze's heart pounded. "Then what are they?"
The man stepped closer.
The air around him distorted, warping the ground like gravity itself bent out of respect.
"They are… consequences," he said.
"Consequences of a choice your ancestors made. A choice that led to you. And to this system."
Raze felt his voice crack. "Then why was I given it? Why me?"
The man lifted a hand, placing two fingers gently against Raze's chest, not touching, just hovering. Yet Raze felt a weight press into him like a cosmic truth.
"Because you are the only one who can survive what comes next."
His tone softened. "But make no mistake. Survival… will not feel like victory."
Before Raze could speak again, before he could breathe, the sky above them split open entirely.
Then a blinding white light began to swallow the torn horizon.
The man's final words echoed through the light.
"We will meet when your body breaks… and reforms."
The world shattered.
Raze jolted upright, gasping for air.
He could feel his heart slamming against his ribs, sweat dripping down the sides of his face.
'Damn it… why does he have to be so cryptic?' Raze thought, running a trembling hand through his hair.
He turned toward the window.
The sun was already rising, faint orange light cutting through the blinds.
It was time for him to get ready.
He got up off his bed and quietly got ready for the day. There was a feeling that this day might not go smoothly.
By the time he got done, Beatrix woke up.
She sat up slowly, her hair messy and her eyes half-open, clearly still drained from yesterday's events.
"Raze… you're up early," she mumbled.
"Usually you wake up when I'm done putting on my uniform."
Raze looked at her.
Her exhaustion hit him harder than he expected. It tugged at something inside him—compassion, maybe. Something that reminded him of his parents, of the people he hadn't seen in two years.
He kept the feeling out of his expression.
"Yeah… but how'd you sleep?" he asked.
He already knew why he asked: to redirect her curiosity. If she questioned why he was awake so early, he'd risk having to tell her about the dream. And he wasn't ready to explain something he barely understood himself.
Beatrix rubbed her eyes. "It was… okay, I guess. But why are you—"
Before she could finish, Felix sprang awake like a switch flipped on.
His eyes snapped open. He looked at the two of them standing close, and immediately grinned.
"Aww… two little lovebirds talking to each other early in the morning," he teased, voice thick with sleep but already annoyingly cheerful.
Beatrix froze mid-sentence, her sleepy expression instantly sharpening into a glare.
"Felix," she said flatly, "you woke up just to say something stupid, didn't you?"
Felix sat up and stretched, completely unbothered. "I mean, if the shoe fits, it fits."
Raze sighed, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't expected Felix to wake up just to say that.
"Felix, it's too early for whatever this is."
"Is it?" Felix smirked. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looked like the start of a romance novel."
Beatrix threw her pillow at him not even holding back her strength.
The pillow hit Felix directly on the face.
"OW—worth it," he muttered, rubbing his nose but still grinning.
Raze shook his head. "You're unbelievable."
"Unbelievably observant," Felix corrected.
Liam groaned from his bed, sitting up with his hair pointing in every possible direction. He blinked slowly at the three of them,his expression confused and half-awake.
"…Why is Felix injured?" he asked.
"Because he's an idiot," Beatrix said.
Felix pointed dramatically. "Abuse! This is actual abuse!"
Raze glanced at Liam. "Morning."
Liam yawned. "Morning… I think. Did something happen?"
Felix gestured around with both hands. "Raze and Beatrix were having a moment."
"We were not," Beatrix snapped immediately, clearly annoyed by Felix's teasing.
Liam blinked again. He thought that he might as well ignore them and do something else. "…I'm going back to sleep."
"No," all three said at once.
Liam groaned as he pulled himself out of bed. "Fine… fine…"
Once everyone got ready, they left the dorm and stepped into the hall.
They went to the canteen as usual, eating breakfast before heading off into class.
Everyone took their usual seats, and Aria stood at the front of the class occasionally checking her wristwatch.
She clasped her hands together.
"Alright class!" She shouted. "Today is a free period. You all should take this time to figure out who's going to be a part of your team or not. Because the portal outing is not cancelled."
And upon hearing that, the entire class broke out into chatter.