Chapter 1 – The Day Fate Snapped
The sky did not crack quietly.
It screamed.
A jagged Rift tore open above Aetherfall City, splitting the fractured heavens like glass struck by a hammer. Black mist poured downward, swallowing the late afternoon sun and casting the city into a suffocating twilight.
Sirens wailed.
"Rift anomaly detected! All civilians evacuate immediately!"
People ran.
Some screamed.
Some froze.
Above them, the tear widened.
Then something fell.
It hit the central plaza hard enough to fracture stone.
Dust rose.
And when it settled–
The creature stood.
Humanoid.
Wrong.
Its arms were too long. Its joints bent slightly off-angle. Its head tilted in sharp, unnatural jerks, as if adjusting to delayed instructions.
From its spine extended thin black threads.
Dozens of them.
They stretched upward into the Rift, disappearing into darkness.
"Marrow confirmed!" a commander shouted.
The city's Marked elites surged forward.
Flames roared across the pavement.
Ice spears launched from the air.
Lightning split the ground.
The Marrow moved.
Not wildly.
Not instinctively.
Precisely.
It sidestepped before attacks fully formed. It twisted its body at impossible angles. It struck only when openings appeared.
Not reacting.
Predicting.
No–
Guided.
At the far edge of the plaza stood Sylas Mordane.
Seventeen.
Rank F.
Registered ability: Peripheral Awareness.
Useless in direct combat.
He should have been running.
Instead, he watched.
Not the monster.
The air.
Because the air wasn't empty.
It was filled with threads.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
They shimmered faintly, nearly invisible—thin lines stretching between people, objects, and the sky itself.
One wrapped around a soldier's wrist.
Another coiled around a civilian's ankle.
Several connected directly to the Marrow's spine.
They tightened whenever someone hesitated.
Shifted whenever someone decided.
Adjusted whenever resistance appeared.
Sylas's pulse slowed.
"So that's how it works…"
A second Marrow dropped from the Rift.
This one landed behind the defensive line.
Closer to the civilians.
Closer to chaos.
A little girl stumbled and fell in the middle of the plaza.
The creature turned toward her.
A soldier rushed forward–
Then paused.
Just one second.
Sylas saw it clearly.
A thread connected to the soldier's shoulder tightened.
Pulled back.
Forced delay.
Not fear.
Control.
Something wanted that child to die.
Something above.
Something pulling every movement like a puppeteer testing strings.
Sylas stepped forward.
Not toward the girl.
Not toward the creature.
Toward the invisible.
His hand rose slowly.
His fingers brushed against resistance.
Warm.
Vibrating.
Alive.
A thread connected directly to the Marrow's spine.
His breathing steadied.
If he was wrong, nothing would happen.
If he was right–
Everything would.
"You're not moving on your own," he whispered.
His grip tightened.
"So let's see what happens… when the puppet pulls back."
He yanked.
The world distorted.
Not with sound–
But with pressure.
Reality flexed.
The thread snapped.
The Marrow convulsed violently. Its limbs jerked in opposite directions as if multiple forces fought for control.
Then–
It collapsed.
Dead.
Silence swallowed the plaza.
The elites stared.
Their devices detected no energy surge.
No ability activation.
No explanation.
Sylas felt it first.
Every thread in the city trembled.
Then slowly–
They shifted.
Turning.
Toward him.
The Rift pulsed.
The darkness inside it deepened.
And from within that void–
Something opened.
An eye.
Massive.
Constructed from interwoven strands.
Unblinking.
Ancient.
Aware.
The pressure descended instantly.
Heavy.
Crushing.
Inside Sylas's mind, a voice echoed.
Observer located.
Anomaly confirmed.
Unauthorized interference detected.
Initiating evaluation.
A single thick strand descended from the Rift.
It moved slowly.
Deliberately.
It stopped inches from his chest.
For the first time–
Sylas felt something hesitate.
It wasn't just observing him.
It was measuring him.
Judging him.
His lips curved faintly.
"You've been pulling us from above this whole time."
The thread shot forward.
It pierced his chest.
Pain exploded through his nerves like fire flooding his veins.
His vision darkened.
His knees nearly buckled.
But he did not scream.
Instead–
He grabbed the invading strand with both hands.
And pulled back.
Harder.
The sky shattered.
Not just cracked.
Shattered.
Fragments of darkness spread outward across the heavens like spreading fractures.
The enormous eye widened.
For the first time–
It reacted.
And in that brief moment–
Sylas understood something terrifying.
The thing beyond the Rift…
Had never expected resistance.
Then everything went black.