Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

  The early morning air was crisp and carried the faint scent of pine. Elian shuffled through the narrow streets of his quiet town, the icy chill biting at his cheeks. The weight of his sketchpad pressed against his side, a small but constant reminder of the worlds he often escaped into. He tightened his scarf against the cold and adjusted his pace, careful not to slip on the thin sheet of frost that clung to the sidewalks.

  This was his routine, mundane, predictable, safe. Wake up early, sketch for an hour, head to the local café where he worked part-time, and repeat. For someone like Elian, someone content to live in the periphery of life, it was enough. At least, it had been.

  He stopped at a crosswalk and pulled out his sketchpad, gncing at a half-finished drawing from the night before. The sketch depicted a towering city made of white stone and gleaming crystals, suspended above a lush forest. He’d spent hours perfecting the details of the buildings, spires that twisted toward the heavens, bridges suspended on ethereal light. It was a city of hope, of belonging. A city he’d dreamed of as long as he could remember.

  A honk startled him out of his reverie, and he quickly tucked the pad back into his bag. Cars were rare this early in the morning, but the few drivers on the road had little patience for a daydreaming young man in the middle of a crosswalk.

  The café was warm, a stark contrast to the bitter cold outside. Elian busied himself behind the counter, brewing coffee and arranging pastries for the morning rush. The clinking of cups and the low hum of conversation filled the space. It was comforting in a way, though Elian rarely spoke beyond polite exchanges. He preferred to observe the mother scolding her child for spilling juice, the elderly man reading the paper by the window, the group of students debating over an assignment.

  “Elian, you’re zoning out again,” a voice called out, snapping him back to the present. It was Cire, his coworker and one of the few people he could call a friend.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, gncing at the tte he’d been pouring. The foam had turned into an unintentional abstract blob. He sighed, pced it on the counter, and called out, “Latte for Sarah!”

  Cire smirked, brushing a strand of auburn hair from her face. “You’ve got to stop living in your head so much. What is it today? Another city? Or is it one of your fancy machines?”

  “Just a city,” he admitted quietly, unwilling to meet her gaze.

  “You should show people your drawings,” she said, her tone softening. “They’re amazing. You’re wasting your talent hiding them away.”

  Elian shook his head. “They’re just for me.”

  Before Cire could respond, the ground beneath them trembled, causing the mugs on the counter to rattle. The café fell silent. For a moment, no one moved. Then it came again, a low, resonant rumble that seemed to come from everywhere at once. The lights flickered, and someone let out a startled yelp.

  “Is it an earthquake?” Cire asked, her voice edged with panic.

  Elian didn’t answer. He stepped out from behind the counter and peered through the rge front windows of the café. The street outside seemed normal, but there was an unnatural stillness to the air, as though the world was holding its breath. He squinted at the horizon and froze.

  There, far in the distance, the sky shimmered like a rippling ke. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but it was enough to make his stomach churn.

  Then a voice was heard to all:

  [Mortal, be prepare for, earth shall soon face judgement in order to find salvation. Trials awaits you all, but only the strong will trace the path of the future]

  “What the hell is that?” someone muttered.

  “What does that even means?”

  “Who made this joke now?”

  Yet no more answer was given.

  Elian didn’t know, but deep down, he felt it, the sense that something had shifted, that the world he knew was no longer the same.

  The rest of the day passed in a haze of unease, nothing else had happened yet since the voice. The shimmering sky didn’t fade; if anything, it grew more pronounced as the hours dragged on. News stations began broadcasting theories: a rare atmospheric phenomenon, sor fres, an eborate hoax. None of it felt right to Elian.

  By evening, the tremors had stopped, but the feeling of wrongness lingered. Elian returned to his small apartment, his footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell. Once inside, he colpsed onto the couch and pulled out his sketchpad. Drawing always helped him process his thoughts.

  His pencil moved almost automatically, tracing the outline of a towering portal. He didn’t know why he drew it or where the image had come from, but it felt important. The portal was massive, surrounded by a swirling storm of light and shadow. Figures stood before it, humans, or at least something resembling them. Their eyes glowed, and they seemed to radiate power.

  As he worked, the air in his apartment grew heavy, almost oppressive. The shadows in the corners seemed to stretch and twist, and the hum of his refrigerator sounded distant, distorted. Elian stopped drawing and looked around, his chest tightening.

  Then it happened.

  A deafening crack echoed through the night, followed by a surge of energy that knocked him off the couch. His ears rang, and his vision blurred, but he managed to stumble to his feet and look out the window.

  The horizon was no longer a distant shimmer. It was a bze of light, a cascade of colors and energy pouring from a gaping tear in the sky. Shapes emerged from the rift, rge, monstrous shapes with glowing eyes and jagged limbs.

  Elian’s breath caught. This wasn’t a dream, wasn’t a sketch come to life. It was real.

  And it was just the beginning.

  Elian’s hands trembled as he gripped the edge of the windowsill, staring at the cataclysm unfolding outside. The tear in the sky loomed rger now, spilling torrents of unearthly energy that shimmered in hues he couldn’t name. The monstrous shapes emerging from the rift grew clearer as they approached. Towering figures with gleaming scales, glowing eyes, and cwed limbs. Their movements were slow but deliberate, as though testing the new world they had entered.

  A scream tore through the air, sharp and shrill. It jolted Elian out of his daze. He turned toward the street below, where people were running, scattering like ants from an unseen predator. Cars swerved and collided in the chaos, and the cacophony of panicked cries rose to a deafening pitch.

  His heart pounded as he watched a massive, reptilian creature lumber onto the main road. Its hide glistened like obsidian, and its tail shed out, smashing into a mppost and sending sparks showering down. The creature roared, a sound that vibrated through Elian’s chest and left him paralyzed.

  “Move,” he whispered to himself, forcing his legs to obey. He stumbled away from the window and grabbed his jacket and bag. His sketchpad fell to the floor, but he didn’t stop to pick it up. There was no time.

  The stairwell was dark, the power having cut out moments after the first tremor. Elian descended quickly, his footsteps echoing in the confined space. The building shook again, and he clutched the railing to keep from falling. Dust rained down from the ceiling, filling the air with a suffocating haze.

  When he reached the ground floor, he found the lobby in disarray. The gss front doors had shattered, and shards littered the floor. Outside, the street was unrecognizable. Fires raged in abandoned vehicles, and smoke curled into the air, blending with the otherworldly glow from the rift.

  Elian stepped cautiously onto the sidewalk, his breath hitching as he took in the devastation. He had lived in this town his entire life, knew every street and corner, but now it felt alien like a battlefield from one of his sketches. He hugged his bag to his chest and began moving, sticking close to the shadows of the buildings.

  He hadn’t gone far when he heard it, a guttural growl, low and menacing. He froze, his pulse quickening. Slowly, he turned his head, and his stomach dropped. A smaller creature, no rger than a bear but just as deadly-looking, was prowling the street. Its eyes glowed like molten gold, and its sharp, angur body seemed to ripple with barely contained energy.

  Elian pressed himself against the wall, praying it wouldn’t see him. But as if sensing his fear, the creature’s head snapped in his direction. For a moment, neither moved. Then it lunged.

  Elian ran.

  His shoes pounded against the pavement as he darted through the debris-strewn streets. The creature’s snarls grew louder, closer. He didn’t dare look back, focusing instead on the path ahead. He rounded a corner, his breath coming in ragged gasps, and spotted a narrow alleyway. Without thinking, he dove into it, pressing himself against the wall and clutching his bag tightly.

  The creature skidded to a halt at the mouth of the alley, sniffing the air. Elian held his breath, his heart hammering so loudly he was certain it would give him away. The creature snarled and pawed at the ground, but after a tense moment, it turned and stalked off.

  Elian sank to the ground, his body trembling. He had never been so terrified in his life. But as he sat there, a strange sensation washed over him, a tingling warmth that spread from his chest to his fingertips. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but it steadied him. He didn’t understand it, but it gave him the strength to stand and keep moving.

  The town was a war zone. Everywhere Elian turned, there was destruction. People ran in every direction, some screaming, others too stunned to make a sound. The monsters weren’t the only danger. Strange phenomena rippled through the air, gravity seemed to warp in pces, and patches of the ground glowed with an unnatural light, radiating heat.

  Elian navigated the chaos as best he could, his mind racing. He needed to find shelter, somewhere safe to wait out… whatever this was. His thoughts turned briefly to Cire who went back home. Had she made it out? He wanted to go back, to check, but the thought of facing another one of those creatures stopped him.

  As he turned down another street, he spotted a figure lying in the road. It was a young woman, clutching her leg. She looked up at him, her face pale and streaked with tears. “Help me,” she pleaded.

  Elian hesitated. His instincts screamed at him to keep moving, to save himself. But something inside him wouldn’t let him leave her. He rushed to her side and knelt down, his hands shaking.

  “We need to get you out of here,” he said, his voice barely audible over the noise around them.

  “I can’t walk,” she whimpered. “My leg…”

  Elian bit his lip, gncing around. The street was eerily quiet now, but he knew it wouldn’t stay that way. Summoning every ounce of courage, he hooked his arms under hers and began dragging her toward the nearest building.

  They had just reached the doorway when another tremor shook the ground. Elian looked up and saw a massive shadow descending from the rift. His breath caught. It was another creature, rger than any he had seen so far. Its wings spanned the width of the street, and its eyes burned with an intensity that made his knees weak.

  He pushed the woman inside the building and followed, smming the door shut behind them. The two of them huddled in the darkness, the sound of the creature’s wingbeats reverberating outside.

  “Thank you,” the woman whispered, her voice trembling.

  Elian didn’t respond. He stared at his hands, which were glowing faintly in the dim light. A soft, golden hue, like the glow of a candle. He didn’t know what it meant, but he had a feeling that his life would never be the same.