I walked alone beneath a sky that no longer felt like night, but like a frozen ocean suspended above the sleeping city.Snow covered the streets in a thin veil of mystery, as if the world itself were holding its breath, waiting for something inevitable.
They said it was the coldest night of the year.But I knew it wasn't the cold alone that froze me to the core.
My footsteps echoed dry and hollow against the pavement.There was no wind. No other sound. Even the streetlights seemed unwilling to turn on.
I raised my gaze.
In the distance, emerging through the mist, stood a silhouette: a massive structure of iron and glass, silent and imposing.The sign still glowed—pale, yet unmistakable.
"INSTITUTE S.E.C."
My former institute.
Years had passed since my graduation. And what did that matter now?Nothing… except that a life had ended there, and perhaps—though I did not yet know it—another was about to begin.
For a moment, I thought I saw a light turn on in one of the second-floor windows.I held my gaze. Blinked.
Nothing. Only darkness once more.
I sighed and continued walking, though each step felt heavier than the last.That was no ordinary school.
It was an experimental academy—a place where not only the mind was programmed, but the body was forged…where fear itself was part of the curriculum.
During those years, they taught me many things: how to fight, how to survive…but never why.
The air grew thicker, laden with a different kind of silence.And for an instant, I thought I heard something—a faint pulse, almost a sigh—coming from inside the building.
I didn't know whether it was real or if the cold was playing tricks on me.
Perhaps I should have left.Perhaps I should have turned back.
But I didn't.
There I stood, my breath forming small clouds before my lips, my heart beating to a rhythm I didn't recognize.And when I crossed the rusted doors of Institute S.E.C., I understood that my training was not yet over.
Because something—or someone—was waiting for me.
And beyond those walls, beyond the cold and time itself, a change awaited…one that would alter not only my life,but the entire world.
I entered through the main door, and immediately noticed the shift in the atmosphere.The air was different… heavier, denser, as if the building itself were holding its breath.
The hallway was barely lit by two flickering lamps, casting uneven flashes over the dust-covered floor.I wondered aloud, almost without realizing it:
"When was the last time someone came here?"
I kept moving forward.
The corridor stretched farther than I remembered. For a moment, it felt like I had been walking for minutes, though my footsteps had only echoed for seconds.I couldn't tell whether my mind was playing tricks on me… or if the place itself was truly elongating.
And then I heard it again.
That faint sigh.
I stopped.
Slowly, I turned, searching for the source of the sound.
It came from one of the lockers lined up against the wall.
"A locker?" I muttered, expecting no answer.
It wasn't the locker itself that startled me, but the white light seeping from inside it—like a living breath.I tried to open the door, but it was jammed.
Nothing my strength couldn't handle.
I pulled decisively, and the hinge screeched with a metallic groan.
Then I saw it.
A pure light, white as the snow that had fallen just minutes before.
The light began to expand, engulfing everything.The walls vanished, the floor dissolved beneath my feet…
And in the blink of an eye, nothing remained of the old institute.
Only emptiness.
A white space, without form or direction.
I walked without knowing where, trying to convince myself it was a hallucination—fatigue, cold, anything but reality.Yet every step sounded hollow, as if the very air were empty.
My thoughts grew heavy.My breathing, uneven.
And then I felt it.
A breath.
Cold air, blown directly into my left ear.
I turned sharply.
Nothing…
Only silence…
Only the endless white…
And yet… I could swear something had just laughed very close to me.
I felt two hands rest upon my neck.
Cold.
That was the first word that crossed my mind.
They were so cold that the frozen air around me felt warm in comparison.
The fingers closed slowly—not violently, but with calculated, precise strength.I could still breathe, but each attempt became harder than the last.
Sleep enveloped me, heavy, as if the void itself were trying to devour my consciousness.
My eyes closed against my will.
My final thought was:
"This is how it ends…"
And then, darkness.
"Hey…"
A voice reached me from afar, blurred, like an echo underwater.
"Hey, man… are you okay?"
This time, I felt warm hands—firm, steady—helping me sit up.
I opened my eyes with difficulty. At first, I could only make out a silhouette cut against a golden light.I blinked several times, and the world slowly took shape.
In front of me stood a man in his forties.He had dark hair, a short beard, and a calm yet resolute face.Neither tall nor short—average height, perhaps around five foot nine.
His gaze carried curiosity and a hint of concern, like someone who has found something out of place in his own world.
"Come on, take a deep breath. For a moment there, I thought you were dead," he said with a faint smile.
It was then, as I looked around, that I understood the truth:
This was not my world.