The heat was gone.
No more scorched stone beneath his boots. No roaring flames. No molten walls trembling from his fight with the Firebound Guardian. Just… silence.
Riven opened his eyes slowly, his muscles tense, ready to react. What he saw nearly stopped his heart.
It was his apartment.
The same worn-out gray walls. The cracked desk he always meant to fix. The half-covered window letting in a pale afternoon glow. And beside him — the same faded hoodie he used to wear when pretending the world didn't exist.
But it couldn't be. It shouldn't be.
His fingers twitched. He glanced down.
The Omnitrix was still there, still locked onto his wrist — cool and quiet now, its center a dim green glow. Proof that whatever this place was, it wasn't just a dream.
His heart pounded as he stood and walked to the window. Outside, the skyline stretched wide, familiar in shape — tall buildings, traffic, light rail humming through the city. But something was... off. The city across the skyline had towers he didn't recognize. Some were embedded with glowing panels, others topped with rotating spires etched in strange symbols.
He rushed to his desk and grabbed his phone — right where he'd left it.
Battery: 87%.
No messages.
No missed calls.
No contacts. Every name on his list was gone, replaced with unfamiliar ones. A few had profile pictures — strangers smiling at him like they'd known him all his life.
He swallowed hard and pulled down the notification bar.
[BREAKING] Rift Dungeon Opens Over Arkenline District – High-Rank Guilds Mobilized.
[Editorial] Should D-Class Civilians Be Granted Partial Guild App Access?
[World Archive] Today Marks 25 Years Since the First Dungeon Appeared on Earth-1
[Deep Dive] Omnitech Relics: Did the Ancients Attempt to Harness Alien DNA?
He blinked.
Earth… 1?
With shaking fingers, he tapped the third headline.
"On June 23rd, Year 2000 AG (After Gatefall), the first recorded dungeon rupture tore open above the continent of Aerthys — what would later be renamed the 'Awakening Event.' In the 25th years since, civilization on Earth-1 has adapted to the emergence of rift dungeons and the alien relics found within."
"The objects — referred to as Omnitech — appear to be synthetic-organic relics inscribed with non-human language and design. Though their function remains unclear, researchers have linked some relics to failed DNA manipulation attempts made by ancient pre-collapse civilizations. Some high-tier hunter guilds have successfully extracted these relics from cleared S-rank dungeons and stored them under intense protection due to their instability."
Riven stopped reading.
His chest tightened.
This wasn't his Earth.
Not the one where he was a shadow in a city that didn't care. Not the one where he buried himself in fiction just to feel alive.
This world — Earth-1 — had rewritten history, names, continents, and science. And yet… it was real. It had people, Structures, Rules, Dungeons.
He tapped the Omnitrix face. The green circle blinked once. Then a low pulse emitted — not a voice, but a hum, like it was scanning the environment.
[Scanning local network…]
[Omnitech anomalies detected.]
[Alien DNA signatures fragmented. Restoration required.]
"So… is not really home," Riven muttered. "Just someone else's version of it...?"
His eyes drifted to the cracked desk. Same surface. Same chair. But it felt artificial — like someone tried to copy his room with half the memory and none of the warmth.
He had no one to call.
No one to talk to.
But for once, that didn't make him feel weak.
It made him free.
Outside, the world thrived in strange harmony. Floating vehicles lined hexagonal roads. Holographic billboards glowed with mission updates. One screen projected bold headlines:
"Arkenline Rift May Escalate to A-Rank — Guild Defense Grid on Standby"
Another read:
"Recovered Omnitech Fragment Sent to Capital for Stabilization – Suspected DNA Structure Embedded"
They were talking about alien DNA without even realizing what it was. Talking about the very tech wrapped around his wrist as if it were just another ruin to archive and forget.
He opened the Omnitrix. Only one unlocked form glowed on the radial interface: Heatblast.
One dungeon. One battle. One victory. That's all it took to carve that fire-born alien into existence.
And there would be more.
More dungeons warped by failed replicas. More buried alien DNA. More power to claim.
This world thought it had seen everything.
It hadn't seen him yet.
End of Chapter 4
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