---
The orientation party spilled across the East Quad like a blooming festival. Music flowed from corner speakers and impromptu student bands, lanterns hovered midair casting soft yellow light, and laughter carried under the stars.
Kai stood near a small circle of music students by the fountain, casually strumming a borrowed acoustic guitar. A few other students joined in—one on cajón, another on keyboard. Together they slipped into a rhythm, slow and jazzy.
Kai sang low:
"You got that glow / like the stars forgot how to shine You walk past and the world hits rewind."
A few students clapped, others recorded on their phones. He grinned. Music was his comfort zone.
Across the crowd, Carl was predictably surrounded. Dressed to kill and sipping from a sparkling cider bottle, he smiled just enough, offering polite nods and sly smirks to the girls orbiting him.
"Is it true your family owns a winery in France?" one asked.
Carl chuckled. "We own the valley, technically. The wine makes itself."
Nearby, Natasha stood leaning against a marble column, arms folded, watching the crowd with detachment.
Leo Narin approached her, awkward but determined. "Hey. Um, Natasha, right? I liked your answer in class yesterday. About chemical stability."
Natasha glanced at him, then back at the crowd. "That wasn't me."
"Oh. Right. Uh... still. You seem cool. I made this frequency detector if you ever wanna test field energy together?"
She started walking away.
"I don't do partnerships."
"Friendships then?"
She didn't answer. But Leo followed.
---
Meanwhile, Nora and Henry sat together on the edge of the quad, half-finished drinks beside them.
"So. Still feel like we're in a movie set?" Nora asked.
Henry glanced at the lights. "Now it feels like the blooper reel."
She laughed. "Library's probably empty by now. Come on, bookworm. Let's make it our secret hideout."
Henry raised a brow. "Rebels go to the library now?"
"Quiet rebels do."
---
The library was dim but still open. Rows of arched shelves, warm overhead lighting, quiet jazz playing faintly through the walls.
Nora wandered past a row of ancient-looking tomes. Her fingers brushed along the spines until she stopped at one shelf half-hidden behind a dusty banner.
"Help me move this," she whispered.
Henry pulled the banner aside, revealing a dark alcove with a broken step leading down.
A soft breeze flowed out of it.
"Creepy enough?" Henry asked.
"Definitely." But Nora had already started down.
Moments later, Kai, searching for his sister, pushed through the library doors.
"Nora? You in here?"
He paused. A draft hit his face. He spotted the open alcove.
"Oh, you're kidding me."
He stepped in.
Leo, still trailing Natasha, followed. "I think they went this way."
"You should go back," Natasha said.
Leo didn't.
They descended.
---
Meanwhile, Carl stumbled into the library, hand pressed to his temple.
"Where the hell is the bathroom..."
He turned a corner. Stopped.
"Where did they go?"
Curiosity overpowered confusion. He followed the breeze down.
---
The tunnel twisted, stone-walled and faintly lit by glowing blue veins in the rock.
After a while, the group—Kai, Nora, Henry, Natasha, Leo, and Carl—stumbled into a circular room. Torches lit themselves as they entered.
The floor was carved with symbols. At its center stood an altar surrounded by murals, all etched in gold and faded crimson.
Nora stepped forward. "That's... Greek. Ancient Greek."
Leo's eyes widened. "I've seen this in ancient myth archives.
---
Long before the age of empires, when the Earth was still new and the stars unclaimed, the gods of Olympus reigned not only from the heavens — but across the lands, oceans, and skies of mortal Earth.
They were divine. Infinite. Divided.
The mighty Zeus, lord of the skies, watched the world with thunder in hand.
Poseidon, god of the sea, held dominion over the waters, ever shifting, ever deep.
Hades, keeper of the underworld, kept the balance of death and life.
Demeter, the earthmother, nourished and defended the land.
Hephaestus, the forge-born, tempered fire with wisdom.
Hera, guardian of legacy, order, and destiny.
But not all gods agreed on the future of mankind.
Some — led by Hera and Poseidon — believed humanity should be protected and guided, allowed to grow under divine stewardship.
Others — including Ares and Hades — believed mortals too reckless and dangerous to be trusted with freedom, let alone power.
A great divine war erupted, one not told in myths:
The Asphodel Conflict — the war of will and fate — where gods clashed not with swords, but with storms, earthquakes, wildfires, and illusions.
When the battle ended, Olympus stood divided. The gods, weary of their own destruction, made a final pact — to retreat from the mortal world, hiding their most dangerous essence where no war could reach it again.
But not all of it was destroyed.
Instead, five of the gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Demeter, and Hera—gathered their power and created something sacred:
The Shigami.
Five primal spirits, forged from divine essence and memory, each bound to a singular force:
Ignis, the flame-born Salamander — the spark of Hephaestus' eternal fire.
Terranox, the mountainback Turtle — Demeter's gift of grounded strength and will.
Aquelis, the deep-souled Penguin — born of Poseidon's oceanic calm and depth.
Aerion, the cloud-eyed Eagle — Zeus' skyborne watchful fury.
Veyros, the silver-pelted Panther — Hera's flash of judgment, order, and lightning.
To preserve these forces, the gods crafted an ancient vessel — a codex of sealed knowledge and fate.
It was hidden not in temples, but in the Arc, a mysterious book said to exist between time and truth.
It was named:
The Arc: Book of Convergence.
Its pages were blank to the world. Only those touched by fate — the Risen Five — could see the script.
A single passage would awaken it: a chant not written in ink, but engraved into soul and blood.
Five voices in sync would call forth the Shigami, unlocking their dormant powers and forging an unbreakable bond between human and divine.
These five are called Guardians.
They are not born chosen — they become chosen through trial, connection, and fate.
And when they speak the lines — though forgotten by time — the Arc shall respond.
The Shigami shall rise.
And the Arc…
...will begin again.
The gods. They entrusted fragments of their essence to chosen humans. Guardians."
---
Carl scoffed. "This is some Da Vinci Code crap."
A rustle echoed.
"Wait... someone else is here," Natasha said.
From the shadows, a figure stepped forward.
"Sorry," he said, holding up his hands. "Didn't mean to spy. I'm Caleb. I saw you guys head down. Got curious."
"Caleb from Intro to Philosophy?" Kai asked.
"The very one."
They kept exploring. The room felt endless.
Eventually, Caleb called out. "Guys. Over here."
He stood beside a pedestal. A large book sat there, ancient and dusty.
He opened it.
Empty pages.
"Nothing," he muttered.
Henry stepped beside him, flipping a page.
And froze.
"There's writing," he whispered.
"Where?" Leo asked.
"There," Henry pointed.
Nora stepped forward. "I see it too."
One by one, the others tried. Natasha. Kai. Carl.
All five of them saw it.
Ancient Greek. Glowing faintly.
Nora blinked. "I can... read it."
Kai nodded slowly. "Me too."
> "Δια τύχης δεσμευμένοι, πέντε καρδίαι ἀνίστανται,
Διὰ θύελλαν, διὰ φλόγα, διὰ γῆν καὶ οὐρανούς.
Ἀνώνυμοι τῷ ὀνόματι, ἀλλ᾽ ἡνωμένοι τῇ ψυχῇ — καλούμεν τὴν πάλαι θείαν δύναμιν."
Then they all spoke. Together. Not rehearsed. Not planned.
> "Bound by fate, five hearts arise,
Through storm, through flame, through earth and skies.
By name unknown, yet soul aligned — we call the power once divine."
A pulse shook the room.
Suddenly, the walls vanished.
Each was pulled into darkness.
---
In the void, they floated alone.
Each stood under a different color sky.
Then, before each one, a creature appeared.
A shigami.
---
Natasha A burning-orange salamander curled its flaming tail. "You are fire. Fierce. Focused. Tempered by solitude."
Kai A massive, ancient turtle with glowing green markings. "You are earth. Loyal. Wild. Ever-shifting."
Nora A silver-blue penguin shimmered before her. "You are water. Still. Deep. Resilient."
Carl An eagle descended in wind. "You are air. Proud. Precise. Boundless."
Henry A dark silver panther emerged, crackling with lightning. "You are storm. Silent. Swift. Unseen."
---
A voice echoed through all of them.
"Guardians... you have awakened. Balance is shifting. The world remembers. And now... so must you."
They tried to move.
Tried to speak.
But the void vanished.
---
They awoke on the cold marble floor of the library.
Just the five of them.
No shrine. No murals. No Caleb. No book.
Only silence.
And each other.