The sky wasn't supposed to crack.
At least, that's what I kept telling myself as I stared upward, my hands still trembling.
It had started as a normal day. Too normal. Which, in hindsight, was probably the first warning.
The alarm clock rang at exactly 6:00 a.m.
I slammed my hand on it without opening my eyes.
Silence.
For a moment, I lay there, floating in that half-asleep state where nothing feels real. The air was cold against my face. My blanket had slipped off sometime during the night. The faint smell of rain drifted through the cracked window beside my bed.
Rain. Again.
Of course.
I sighed and forced my eyes open.
The ceiling above me was the same dull white, the same hairline crack stretching across it like a lazy scar. I'd stared at that crack for years. It never changed. Never moved. Unlike everything else.
I rolled onto my side and grabbed my phone.
No notifications. No messages. No missed calls. As expected.
"Another exciting day," I muttered.
My name is Kael Veridian. I'm seventeen. And my life is painfully average.
At least, it used to be.
By the time I reached school, the rain had turned into a light drizzle. Students crowded the entrance, complaining, laughing, living. Their voices blended into a dull noise that pressed against my skull.
I slipped past them unnoticed. That was something I was good at. Being invisible.
"Kael!" I froze.
That voice.
I turned.
A girl jogged toward me, her long dark hair tied into a messy ponytail, her breath slightly uneven. Her eyes were sharp, observant. Too observant.
Lena Aris. My childhood friend. My only friend.
"You almost ignored me again," she said, narrowing her eyes.
"I didn't," I replied.
"You did."
"I didn't."
She stared.
I sighed. "Okay, maybe a little."
She smirked. "Hopeless."
We walked together toward the building.
"You look tired," she said.
"I slept."
"That's not what I asked."
I shrugged. "Just didn't feel like waking up."
"Deep."
"Thank you."
She bumped my shoulder. "You're weird."
"You've known me for years. You're only noticing now?" She laughed softly.
For a moment, everything felt normal. Safe. I wish I could go back to that moment.
Classes dragged on. Math. Literature. Physics. The usual. But something felt… off.
At first, I thought it was just me. The air felt heavier. The room colder. The lights flickered once, then steadied. No one else reacted.
I rubbed my eyes.
"You okay?" Lena whispered.
"Yeah."
But I wasn't.
Because when I looked at the window, I saw something that shouldn't exist.
The sky. It looked wrong. The clouds weren't moving. They were frozen. Perfectly still.
At lunch, I couldn't eat.
"You're staring again," Lena said.
"Do you see it?" I asked.
"See what?"
"The sky."
She glanced outside. "It's cloudy."
"No. Look closely."
She frowned, studying it.
Seconds passed.
Then she shook her head. "You're imagining things."
Maybe I was. I hoped I was.
The bell rang. We returned to class.
And then it happened.
The sound. A deep, hollow vibration, like the world itself was groaning.
The windows shook.
Students screamed.
The teacher dropped her marker.
"What was that?!"
The ground trembled.
Desks rattled.
My heart pounded. And then—
CRACK.
The sky split open. Not metaphorically. Not visually.
It literally split.
A massive fracture spread across the clouds, glowing with faint silver light. It looked like broken glass, stretching across the horizon.
Everyone stared. No one spoke. The world stopped.
And from that crack… something fell.
At first, it looked like a star. A burning white object descending slowly. Too slowly. As if gravity had forgotten how to work.
"It's… beautiful," someone whispered.
But I felt terror. Pure, instinctive terror. Because as it fell, I heard a voice. Inside my head.
"Synchronization detected."
I froze.
"What…?" I whispered.
The voice continued.
"Host identified."
My blood ran cold.
No.
No, no, no.
This wasn't happening.
"Beginning Void Link."
Pain exploded in my skull. I dropped to my knees.
"Kael!" Lena shouted. But her voice sounded distant. Muted. As if I were underwater.
The burning object stopped in the air above the school. And then—
It looked at me. I don't know how I knew. But I knew. It was alive.
The world went silent.
Dark. Endless.
And suddenly, I wasn't in the classroom anymore.
I stood in a black void.
There was no ground. No sky. Just darkness.
And in front of me…
A figure.
Tall. Human-shaped. Made of shifting shadows.
Two silver eyes glowed.
"You can see me," it said. Its voice was calm. Ancient.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"The space between."
"That explains nothing."
It tilted its head.
"Interesting. Most hosts panic."
"I am panicking."
"Internally."
"…Fair."
It stepped closer.
"You have been chosen."
"For what?"
"To survive."
"Not comforting."
"The world is ending."
Silence.
I stared.
"…Excuse me?"
"The fracture in the sky is the beginning. Your reality is collapsing."
I laughed nervously. "You're joking."
"I do not joke."
"Then fix it."
"I cannot."
"Then why are you here?"
It extended a hand.
"To give you power."
Ah.
Of course.
Because my life wasn't insane enough.
"What's the catch?"
"You will become something beyond human."
"And?"
"You will lose parts of yourself."
"Define parts."
"Memories. Emotions. Identity."
I stepped back.
"No."
It watched me.
"You will die otherwise."
"I'll take my chances."
"You will not."
It snapped its fingers.
The void shattered.
I was back in the classroom. But everything had changed. Students were frozen. Mid-motion. Mid-scream.
Time had stopped.
Except for me.
And Lena.
She stood in front of me, eyes wide.
"You saw it too," she whispered.
"What?"
"The voice."
My heart dropped.
"You heard it?"
She nodded. And behind her—
The burning object descended further.
Closer.
Closer.
The air warped.
Reality bent.
And the voice returned.
"Two compatible hosts detected."
The shadow figure's voice echoed in my mind.
"This changes things."
"What does?" I asked internally.
"Your survival chances have increased."
Great. That was comforting.
"Kael," Lena said, gripping my arm. "What's happening?"
I looked at her.
For the first time, I saw fear in her eyes. Real fear.
"I don't know," I said.
And for once…
I wasn't lying.
The object stopped a few meters above us.
Light flooded the room. The world began to break apart.
And the voice spoke one final time.
"Synchronization begins now."
Everything went white.
When I opened my eyes…
The sky was gone.
And so was the world I knew.