Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm
The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the green spaces of Northwood University. It caressed the fresh leaves of the trees and bathed the old buildings in its glow. The air was thick with a mix 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 a crowded lecture hall, where a history professor was giving a boring lecture on ancient dynasties, Kaelen sat near the window, staring outside. His mind wasn't occupied with the historical events the professor was trying to revive; he was, as usual, daydreaming. His interest didn't really lie in the faint points about extinct kingdoms, but in the subtle pulse of the world around him.
Suddenly, Kaelen felt a slight prickle, a strange sensation he couldn't pinpoint, as if something in the air had changed around him, yet it was intangible. The other students were busy taking notes or Browse on their tablets, completely oblivious to anything unusual. The professor didn't stop his lecture, and the light outside didn't flicker.
"Just fatigue," Kaelen muttered to himself, rubbing his temple. "Maybe I spent too much time studying those ancient inscriptions last night."
He tried to refocus on the lecture, but that strange feeling of pressure, as if something massive and immense was approaching, never left him. It was like the eerie silence before a storm, or a scent no one else could perceive. He glanced at his watch; five minutes until the end of the lecture. Five more ordinary minutes in an ordinary day, before returning to his own world, where he knew the apparent calm hid layers yet to be revealed.
The bell for the end of the lecture rang loudly, announcing the students' liberation from the hall's confines. The young crowds flowed into the corridors, exchanging jokes and weekend plans. Kaelen joined them, walking with a steady pace, trying to shake off the heavy feeling that had stuck with him. The air outside was fresh, and the sun was still shining brightly, but something drew his attention to the sky.
These were not ordinary clouds. Their colors began to change unnaturally; it wasn't a sunset, but the sky was tinted with a deep purple and dark blue he had never seen before. It wasn't just colors; it was more like smoke rising from a massive, invisible fire. Muffled murmurs reached his ears from around him. Students began to raise their heads, taking pictures with their phones, thinking it was just a strange natural phenomenon or a light effect.
Then it happened.
With a sound that was neither a scream nor an explosion, but more like the tearing of the fabric of the world itself. A deep tremor, echoing in the bones more than it was heard by the ear. The sky ripped apart.
These were not cracks like lightning; they were glowing fissures, as if invisible hands were tearing the fabric of reality. Luminous lines of neon blue began to widen and twist, like windows opening to a cold and unknown void. And from within these rifts, colors unknown to humans began to emanate, and a strange light that did not belong to this world.
The absolute silence that followed the tearing sound did not last long. The scene turned into utter chaos in an instant. Screams of terror rose from the panicked crowds. Students who were joking moments ago were now pushing and shouting in fear, running aimlessly. The towering buildings of Northwood University's massive clock tower began to shake violently, walls cracking, and pieces of concrete falling.
Kaelen felt a strange force rush through his legs, pulling him to the ground. He wasn't afraid like the others; instead, there was a strange sense of connection, as if this massive event had awakened something dormant deep within him. This was the cosmic affinity that began to interact with the tearing in reality. His eyes automatically rose to the largest rift in the sky, which was expanding non-stop. And in his mind, whispers began to intertwine—not understandable words, but vague feelings of worlds colliding and realities unraveling. He didn't understand their meaning, but they weren't entirely foreign to him; they were more like a distant echo of forgotten knowledge, or a hidden wisdom awakened by this destruction.
And as the first of these entities was about to fully cross the threshold, an invisible shockwave emanated from one of the smaller adjacent rifts. It wasn't an airwave, but a sudden feeling of deep cold and freezing that spread in the air for a moment, followed by the sound of massive glass shattering. This caused one of the massive pillars at the university's entrance to collapse, creating a wide gap in the ground.
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 while the others screamed and ran, he remained still, watching what was happening with a clear mind. His mind, even in the midst of this chaos, was analyzing and registering every detail, driven by a deep instinct to survive, and a hidden glimmer of hope to find those he had lost in this new world.