Today it happens.
I sat at the table.
Across from me, Beatrice.
Between us — a board game she'd dragged me into.
I looked at the clock.
Five more minutes.
"I got a six on the dice roll. That means I can take over your piece, right?"
Beatrice nodded, triumphant.
This normalcy would soon be over.
I glanced at my hand, still wrapped in bandages. Beneath the cloth, the shard pulsed faintly. The seal was weakening.
"Hey, are you even paying attention? You keep staring at the clock. Do you have other plans today?"
"Uh, no. Just… thinking about how to beat you."
"Well, you won't."
She grinned. "I'm an expert at board games."
Her smile — that fleeting, human thing — it almost made me forget the nature of this world.
Almost.
Beyond her shoulder, my computer streamed the live broadcast from Egypt.
The mural filled the screen, surrounded by cautious archaeologists.
Noticing my gaze, Beatrice turned too. "I never knew you were into history."
Neither did I.
Truth is, I don't even remember what I used to like or hate anymore.
—
Buzz.
My watch vibrated.
It was time.
The screen flared with blue light.
The seal had come undone.
The next image was chaos.
Mutilated bodies, twisted and burned, drowned, electrocuted — every element devouring flesh.
Beatrice's voice trembled. "Oh my god…"
Her face went pale.
I'd seen this thousands of times. Yet it still didn't feel real.
Every time, I wished it were a dream. But it never was.
—
Pain.
It hit me before I could brace for it.
A searing current ripped through my arm. I fell from the chair, gasping.
"I— I can't breathe!"
The shard in my hand blazed like a star.
Beatrice grabbed me, panic rising in her voice.
"Hey! Hey! Talk to me! What's happening?!"
I couldn't. My throat refused to move. My arm burned, alien, as if it didn't belong to me anymore—
Then suddenly, it stopped.
The pain faded, leaving only silence.
"What— what was that? Should I call an ambulance?"
"No." I forced the word out, shaking. "It's fine now. The cut just… acted up."
She frowned, unconvinced, but let it go.
Not now.
There wasn't time.
The seal was broken.
And soon, the world would start to fill again — magic creeping back into the veins of reality.
When the energy reached here… it would begin.
Beep. Beep.
The thermostat chimed. A temperature spike.
"What's going on?" Beatrice asked, staring at her hands.
They were glowing.
The power of the Sun of Apollo.
The power of a god awakening inside her.
"Beatrice — think of something cold. Ice. Antarctica. Anything."
Her confusion was immediate, but the glow brightened.
The same scene played in my memory — every lifetime, this moment came.
Beatrice. My first comrade.
Bearer of the Sun.
Blood of a god.
Right now, she was losing control.
The world didn't yet have enough mana to sustain her power — if left unchecked, her flames would devour this apartment… and her.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the kitchen.
"Where are you taking me— hey, wait, don't you dare—!"
I threw a bucket of ice water at her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Steam hissed in the air.
The glow faded.
"I stopped your glowing arms. That's all."
She blinked, realizing. "Wait… yeah, you did. How'd you even figure that out?"
I couldn't tell her the truth. Not yet.
"I saw the thermostat spike. You started glowing, so I guessed it was heat-related."
She smirked, half annoyed, half impressed. "You're a smart cookie, aren't ya? But what even was that?"
I had an answer. It would sound insane if I said it aloud.
"Well, you see—"
And then it happened.
The air split.
A sound like glass and thunder filled the room.
The walls bent, breathing.
Something that had never happened before.
Something wrong.
I froze.
This isn't good.