You were nobody.
Seventeen. Broke. Invisible.
The kind of person people pass every day… and forget seconds later.
Your name was Kael.
And nothing about your life was special.
That night, you stood on the rooftop of a half-abandoned building, staring at the city below.
Lights flickered like dying stars.
Cars moved like slow rivers.
Everything felt distant. Muted.
You exhaled slowly.
For a moment… it was quiet. Peaceful.
Then the sky broke.
At first, it looked like a shooting star—a streak of light tearing across the darkness.
Beautiful. Fleeting.
But it didn't disappear.
It slowed.
Stopped.
Kael frowned.
"That's… not normal."
The air shifted. Heavy. Like the world itself was holding its breath.
His chest tightened. His heartbeat slowed. Too slow.
And then—
He heard it.
"Finally…"
Kael froze.
The voice wasn't around him.
It was inside his head.
"What…?"
The light in the sky pulsed.
Brighter. Closer.
It wasn't falling.
It was descending.
And it was coming straight toward him.
Kael stumbled back, panic rising in his chest.
"No… no, no—"
He turned to run.
His body didn't move.
Locked.
Frozen.
The light stopped in front of him.
A small sphere.
Floating.
Burning.
But not like fire.
It didn't burn the air. Didn't scorch the rooftop.
It just… existed.
Inside it—
Kael saw something impossible.
Stars.
Galaxies.
Entire worlds collapsing into nothing.
"You will carry me."
Kael shook his head violently.
"No—stay away from me!"
"I am dying."
"You are compatible."
"I don't care—!"
"If I fade… everything connected to me fades."
"This is not a request."
The light moved closer.
Closer.
Then it touched his chest.
Pain exploded through his body.
His veins burned like liquid fire.
His bones cracked under invisible pressure.
His skin felt like it was splitting apart.
"I am Aetherion."
His vision went white.
His body collapsed.
Silence swallowed everything.
For a moment…
There was nothing.
Then—
Darkness.
Kael lay motionless on the rooftop.
The city moved on below, unaware.
But something inside him…
Was no longer human.
A faint glow pulsed beneath his chest.
Alive.
Breathing.
Waiting.
And far beyond the stars…
Something ancient stirred.
"The core… has moved."