Noctix woke up feeling... different.
Not just physically—though yeah, his body felt lighter, sharper—but something deeper, like something inside him had clicked into place.
---
The walk to school was the same as always. Same faces, same sky, same noisy food stalls lined up outside the front gates.
But people looked at him differently now.
Not in fear. Not really.
More like curiosity. Rumors travel fast in Velastra, especially when someone breaks the orb.
---
"Yo! Is it true?"
"You really shattered it?"
"Did it glow rainbow-black? Or was that just some made-up crap?"
Noctix just gave a small shrug, chewing on a stick of fried tofu. "Maybe it glitched."
They didn't buy it.
---
In Power Theory class, everyone had to channel their gift into these little crystal nodes for daily scans. Most glowed a soft color. Some sparked or pulsed.
Noctix's?
Didn't glow at all.
It cracked.
Again.
---
"Okay, what even is this guy?" one kid whispered.
"He didn't even unlock his power during ceremony week. What's happening now?"
Noctix didn't have answers. But that feeling—that strange buzz in his chest—it wasn't going away.
And something told him, it was just getting started.
---
Lunch break hit, and while everyone else joked around or trained with their abilities in the gym yard, Noctix found himself wandering into the back courtyard. Empty, quiet, a breeze in the trees.
That's when he felt it.
A flash. A pulse.
Like someone had poked a sleeping beast inside him.
---
He didn't see anything. No ghosts. No scary shadows.
Just… a strange shape burned into the dirt under his feet. A glowing mark.
Faint. Like it was waiting for him to notice.
---
Noctix took a deep breath, grinned slightly.
"Guess I'm not a glitch after all."
---
End of Chapter Three.
Next: "Trigger Point"