Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm
The midday sun cast long shadows across the green expanse of Northwood University. It caressed the lush leaves of the trees and bathed the ancient buildings in its glow. The air was thick with a blend of youthful optimism, laughter, lively discussions, and the distant ringing of bells announcing the end or beginning of lectures. It was an ordinary day, like any other Thursday in the middle of the semester, holding the promise of the coming weekend.
Inside the crowded lecture hall, where a history professor droned on about ancient dynasties, Kaelen sat near the window, gazing outside. His mind wasn't on the historical events the professor tried to revive; it drifted as usual. His interest truly lay not in the faint points about extinct kingdoms, but in the hidden pulse of the world around him.
Suddenly, Kaelen felt a slight prick, a strange sensation whose source he couldn't pinpoint, as if something had changed in the air around him, yet it was something intangible. The other students were busy taking notes or scrolling on their tablets, completely oblivious to anything out of the ordinary. The professor didn't pause his lecture, and the light outside didn't flicker.
"Just fatigue," Kaelen murmured to himself, rubbing his temple. "Maybe I spent too long studying those ancient inscriptions last night."
He tried to refocus on the lecture, but that strange feeling of pressure, as if something vast and colossal was approaching, never quite left him. It was like an eerie silence before a storm, or a scent no one else could perceive. He glanced at his watch; five minutes until the lecture ended. Five more ordinary minutes in an ordinary day, before he returned to his own world, where he knew the apparent calm hid layers yet to be uncovered.
The bell announcing the end of the lecture rang loudly, signaling the students' liberation from the confines of the hall. Young crowds poured into the corridors, exchanging jokes and weekend plans. Kaelen joined them, walking at a steady pace, trying to shake off the heavy feeling that clung to him. The air outside was refreshing, and the sun still shone brightly, but something drew his attention skyward.
It wasn't ordinary clouds. Their colors began to change unnaturally; it wasn't a sunset, but the sky was tinged with deep violet and dark blue he had never seen before. It wasn't just colors; it was more like smoke rising from an unseen, immense fire. Muffled murmurs reached his ears from around him. Students began to look up, taking photos with their phones, thinking it was just a strange natural phenomenon or a light effect.
Then it happened.
With a sound that was neither screams nor an explosion, but rather like the tearing of the very fabric of the world. A deep, resonating tremor that was felt in the bones more than heard by the ear. The sky ripped open.
These weren't cracks like lightning; they were glowing rifts, as if unseen hands were tearing the cloth of reality. Luminous lines of neon blue began to widen and writhe, like windows opening into a cold, unknown void. From within these rifts, colors unknown to humans began to emanate, and strange light that didn't belong to this world.
The deafening silence that followed the tearing sound didn't last long. The scene transformed into utter chaos in an instant. Screams of terror rose from the panic-stricken crowds. Students who had been joking moments before were now pushing and shouting in fear, running aimlessly. The tall buildings of Northwood University's massive clock tower began to shake violently, walls cracking, and pieces of concrete falling.
Kaelen felt a strange power surge through his legs, pulling him to the ground. He wasn't afraid like the others; instead, there was a peculiar sense of connection, as if this massive event had awakened something dormant deep within him. His eyes automatically lifted toward the largest rift in the sky, which was expanding non-stop. And in his mind, whispers began to intertwine—not understandable words, but vague sensations of worlds colliding and realities unraveling. He didn't understand their meaning, but they weren't entirely foreign to him; they were like a distant echo of a forgotten knowledge, or a hidden wisdom awakened by this destruction.
As the first of those entities prepared to cross the threshold completely, an unseen shockwave emanated from one of the smaller adjacent rifts. It wasn't an airwave, but a sudden feeling of deep coldness and freezing that spread in the air for a moment, followed by the sound of immense breaking glass. This caused one of the massive pillars at the university's entrance to collapse, creating a wide chasm in the ground. The scene was enough to turn terror into certainty.
Kaelen clearly realized that what was happening transcended natural disasters or any familiar human conflict. This was something coming from a place humanity had never imagined existed. And in that moment, amidst the collective terror surrounding him, Kaelen felt a cold surge of determination fill him. It wasn't just a survival instinct; it was a deep promise within him. A promise to understand.