Prologue
"The Signal That Should Not Exist"
The resonance wave appeared at exactly 02:14 a.m.
Silence.
Invisible.
Inaudible.
Only a thin line of vibration slipped beneath the psycho-digital network layer of the world—so subtle that every global sensor system failed to notice it.
Except one man.
In a lightless underground laboratory, a man leaned back in a metal chair, staring at a large analog screen before him. There were no modern computers here. No digital devices vulnerable to minor energy interference. Only old analog instruments, painstakingly connected to low-frequency wave channels.
The man's name was Mivran Delor.
An independent researcher.
Obsessive.
Isolated from the scientific community.
His hand trembled slightly as a new thin line appeared on the monitor.
"No… this isn't a coincidence," he murmured. "It's the same frequency as two days ago. Residual energy from the Fracture Zone…"
He turned the signal amplifier knob. The analog screen emitted a faint shriek, flooding with black-and-white noise before the pattern finally sharpened into view: a series of short lines vibrating in an orderly rhythm, like a heartbeat trying to speak.
The pulse repeated.
Rhythmic.
Just like—
"—Axiom."
The word escaped Mivran's lips, barely a whisper.
He had never spoken it aloud before.
The pattern intensified.
It did not explode.
It did not disrupt the global network.
It simply existed… like the first breath of a newborn entity.
Mivran hurriedly recorded everything: wavelength length, fluctuating intensity, faint traces of emotional resonance detected within the signal.
But suddenly—
The signal stopped.
It did not vanish.
It stopped—
as if someone had deliberately cut it off.
Mivran stiffened.
"No… that's impossible. This isn't random. Someone… or something… chose to terminate contact."
The laboratory lights flickered.
A soft clicking sound came from a dark corner of the room, like footsteps touching the floor with careful restraint.
Mivran swallowed hard.
"Who's there…?"
Silence.
Then breathing—short, measured exhales too regular to belong to an ordinary human.
Mivran slowly turned.
In the corner of the room, where light failed to reach the floor, someone stood. The glow from the analog screen reflected faintly off part of the figure's face, revealing thin lines beneath the skin resembling dark fractures.
Not wounds.
Not tattoos.
Dark resonance.
"You… you saw the signal too, didn't you?" Mivran asked quietly.
The figure did not answer.
It merely tilted its head slightly, as if studying Mivran's breathing pattern.
Then it spoke—its voice flat, layered with a thin echo, like two voices merged into one.
"That signal… was not meant for you."
Mivran tensed.
"Wh—who are you?"
The figure took a single step forward.
The silence of the room trembled subtly.
"I am only an observer," it said calmly.
"Like you. The difference is… I observe from a deeper place."
The analog screen suddenly flickered violently—reflecting resonance lines that reappeared, far stronger than before, as if erupting from a single point within the city of Aerphine.
Mivran's eyes widened.
"I-It's increasing fifteenfold! It's like—"
The figure continued his sentence:
"—like a heart finally beginning to beat."
The pattern on the screen surged, displaying an energy peak never recorded before.
A signal from a single individual.
One central point.
One… name.
Aelion.
The dark figure stepped closer to the screen, gazing at the trembling light with a faint smile.
"His first resonance has been born."
The voice dissolved into the air like a cutting echo.
Mivran felt his heart pound violently.
"W-Wait… what are you going to do?"
The figure stopped—half a step from the monitor's glow.
"Me?"
It turned its head slightly, its dark eyes faintly glowing.
"I am only waiting."
Then it added, coldly:
"Because if that signal continues to evolve… the world will come to understand something that was meant to remain sealed."
The room lights went out.
The monitor's glow dimmed.
And when the lights came back on, the figure was gone—leaving Mivran alone with the resonance pulse on the screen, beating faster and faster.