(Written by Rohit Malhotra)
The world around them was gone.
No lab.
No pillars.
No mountains.
No Earth.
Ronin opened his eyes and was blinded by a pale violet light — not from the sun, but from something hovering above. The sky here was cracked entirely, not in a single line, but fractured like glass ready to shatter. Through the breaks, light pulsed rhythmically, almost like breathing.
He turned.
Ruby was lying a few feet away, dazed but alive. The ground beneath them wasn't earth or concrete — it was smooth, dark, almost metallic but warm to the touch. Strange, blue vines moved slightly on their own, retracting when Ronin's boot came near.
"What… is this place?" Ruby whispered, standing slowly.
They looked around.
Giant black spires rose out of the ground like bones piercing the sky. Floating stones hovered above them, defying gravity. And in the far distance, a tower of pulsating energy stood — like a beacon calling across dimensions.
"This isn't Earth," Ronin said. "It can't be."
Ruby's hand trembled. She looked down and found her palm glowing faintly — the same alien symbol she had drawn countless times was now etched into her skin, shimmering softly.
"Ronin," she said, voice tight with fear. "I think we've been here before."
He turned to her. "What?"
"Not in this life," she added. "Maybe in another."
A deep vibration spread through the ground, followed by a distant echo — not a roar, not a machine — something in between. Like something vast and ancient waking up.
They had to move.
Ronin spotted a narrow pathway ahead, curving along the edge of a cliff that dropped into nothingness. The air around them shimmered, and faint whispers floated — too quiet to understand, but too real to ignore.
They began to walk, following instinct more than direction. As they moved, the whispers grew louder, clearer.
"Return… Return… You opened… You must seal…"
Ruby clutched her head.
"They know who we are," she said.
"Who?" Ronin asked.
"The Watchers."
Meanwhile, in another part of the world — Mia, a young girl no older than ten, sat on the floor of her room in total silence. Her parents thought she was sleeping. But her eyes were wide open, glowing faintly in the dark.
Drawings covered the walls — crude, hurried sketches of a crack in the sky, of two people standing beneath it, of floating black spires, and a tall girl with a glowing hand.
She had never met them.
But she was seeing them now.
Mia drew one last thing — a symbol. It matched the one on Ruby's hand.
She whispered under her breath, in a voice not her own, "They have crossed. The door has opened. The guardians must wake."
Her nose bled slowly.
And then she smiled.
Back in the unknown world, Ronin and Ruby reached the base of a ruined archway. Carvings ran across the stone in a language they couldn't understand — but still, they felt what it meant.
A warning.
A voice echoed in their minds, not spoken aloud:
"Those who see beyond the veil must choose. Seal the breach, or become its vessel."
Ronin turned to Ruby. "This is about us. All of it."
Ruby nodded. "They altered us as kids. To make us... sensitive. They used us as keys. But they didn't expect the door to open both ways."
Ronin stepped into the archway — and was thrown back by an invisible force. His body hit the ground hard, but he wasn't hurt.
"It rejected you," Ruby said, stepping forward.
The energy around the arch shifted.
It let her pass.
"Wait!" Ronin shouted.
But she was already through.
Ruby blinked.
She was inside a dome — half biological, half mechanical. Symbols floated in the air like holograms, rearranging constantly. And at the center stood a being.
It was tall, draped in shadows, with no face — only glowing eyes like stars. Its voice wasn't sound — it was vibration.
"You are Ruby S. Rana. Chosen Witness. Carrier of Marked Memory."
She couldn't speak. Her throat was tight.
"The Sky was never broken. It was cut. By those who once lived here — the Architects. They vanished, but their prison cracked."
"Your kind opened it wider."
Ruby managed to whisper, "How do we close it?"
The being turned.
"Not alone. The bond must be awakened."
A symbol flashed in front of her — a circle divided by shadow and light, like the one she had drawn.
"You were not chosen. You were made."
Suddenly, the dome collapsed into light — and Ruby fell backward, pulled out through the archway.
Ronin caught her just in time.
She gasped, eyes wide. "They're not attacking us, Ronin. They're warning us. Something worse is trying to come through."
Ronin looked at the sky.
A part of the crack — once still — now pulsed violently.
And for the first time, a shape appeared on the other side.
Not a ship.
Not a creature.
An eye.
It blinked once. And the world shook.