Volume 1 — Chapter 1
When Rafi Was Still Human
Rafi's life was not remarkable.
That, in itself, was what bothered him.
He woke up every morning to the same ceiling.
A faint crack ran along the corner, shaped vaguely like a lightning bolt.
He'd noticed it years ago.
Never fixed it.
Never cared enough to.
"Another day," Rafi muttered, sitting up.
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
He liked it that way.
Noise meant expectations.
Expectations meant rules.
Rafi didn't hate rules.
He just hated when they pretended to be absolute.
He stretched, joints popping faintly.
His phone buzzed.
A notification.
News.
Truck accident causes traffic disruption downtown.
Rafi snorted.
"Unlucky."
He had no idea.
---
The city was alive in its usual, dull way.
Cars.
People.
Signals telling everyone where to go and when to stop.
Rafi walked without hurry.
Hands in pockets.
Mind elsewhere.
He often thought about stories.
Not heroes.
Not villains.
But worlds.
Worlds with systems.
Worlds with levels.
Worlds where rules could be bent—or broken—if you understood them deeply enough.
"This world's boring," he said under his breath.
No one heard him.
---
The sound came first.
Metal clattering.
A sharp screech of brakes.
Shouts.
"Watch out—!"
Rafi turned.
Too late.
Something orange spun through the air.
A traffic cone.
It shouldn't have been heavy.
It shouldn't have mattered.
Yet, for a split second, Rafi felt something strange.
Not fear.
Recognition.
So this is it?
Impact.
The world fractured.
Sound vanished.
Pain never arrived.
Thought stopped halfway.
---
Silence.
Then—
Awareness.
Rafi realized he was still thinking.
"…Huh."
No body.
No breath.
No sensation.
Just him.
Floating nowhere.
"Am I dead?" he asked.
The void did not answer.
No god descended.
No angel appeared.
No system window popped up to explain his situation.
Rafi waited.
Seconds passed.
Or minutes.
Time felt meaningless.
"…That's rude," he muttered.
---
Then something shifted.
Pressure.
Not physical.
Conceptual.
Information brushed against his awareness.
> Soul integrity confirmed.
Rafi blinked.
"Oh. So you are there."
Another presence stirred.
Cold.
Vast.
Uninterested in asking permission.
> External framework attempting assimilation.
Rafi didn't know why—but he agreed.
"I don't like being categorized."
The void reacted.
Not violently.
Respectfully.
---
Thoughts aligned.
Memories stabilized.
His name surfaced clearly.
"Rafi," he said.
The void accepted it.
Something fundamental locked into place.
Rafi didn't know it yet, but that moment mattered more than his death.
Because most souls waited to be told who they were.
Rafi did not.
---
He drifted.
Not asleep.
Not awake.
Simply present.
And somewhere far beyond perception, something ancient noticed.
Not a god.
Not a system.
But a possibility.
One that should not exist.
The world-to-be trembled.
Rafi remained unaware.
For now.
---
End of Chapter 1