[TUMA – Glyph Rank: ???]
The moment he hit the ground, Tuma activated his Inner Balance.
Breath. Pressure. Stillness.
Around him, the world tilted — a canyon split across a desert of obsidian glass. Celestial winds screamed overhead, carrying sand that shimmered like stars.
Planet Apex, Trial 1.
Status: Live.
Tuma raised his hand. His glyph glowed: a scale, one side burning red, the other blue.
[DIVINE SIGNATURE: EQUILIBRIA]
Linked Deity: Ma'at (Balance)
Resonance Tier: Locked
Active Glyphs: Fire / Ice / Gravity
Three orbs floated around him, shifting gently.
Then—movement.
A stone beast emerged. Towering. Made of sand and hatred.
Tuma didn't panic. He whispered a command.
[GLYPH: POLARITY] — Fire & Ice: Inversion Burst]
The orb rotated — fire to ice. Heat and cold collided mid-air in a detonation of steam.
The beast staggered.
Tuma moved.
Not fast. Not frantic.
Precise. Balanced. Deadly.
⸻
"Eshe," he whispered.
No answer.
He scanned the horizon. She was here somewhere. She had to be.
And wherever she was, so was danger.
⸻
[SWAY – Glyph Rank: Unclassified]
Sway landed on a hill.
Face-first.
"Mmph."
He spat dirt. Groaned. Rolled over and saw the sky — or whatever passed for a sky here. Looked like space had thrown up glitter.
"This sucks."
He sat up, checked his phone.
1% battery. No signal. No snacks.
Worst timeline.
His glyph — a shifting pyramid with pixelated edges — flickered faintly on his wrist.
[DIVINE SIGNATURE: THE GLITCH]
Linked Deity: Unknown
Resonance Tier: Incompatible
Active Glyphs: Pause / Rewind / Patch]
He hadn't really read the manual.
⸻
Suddenly: growling.
Four students ran past him — chased by a silver-furred beast with three mouths and blades for legs.
Sway blinked.
"…Huh."
He reached lazily toward his glyph.
[GLYPH: PAUSE]
Reality stuttered.
Everything froze.
Beast. Students. Wind. Even time itself hiccupped.
Sway stood up, cracked his neck.
"Okay, so that actually worked."
He walked past the frozen monster, kicked it in the shin, and let time resume.
It tripped. Hard. Crashed into a rock and vaporized itself on impact.
The students stared.
Sway gave them a thumbs up.
"Power of laziness, baby."
⸻
But something inside him pulsed.
Something old.
Not lazy. Not soft.
He heard a voice.
Low. Mechanical. Divine.
"SYSTEM ERROR: Ascendant Resonance… stabilizing."
Then pain.
His glyph flickered violently.
Eyes wide, he dropped to his knees as data poured through his brain — ancient equations, glyphic code, divine architecture in binary form.
And then—
Darkness.
⸻
[Back to Tuma]
Tuma turned toward the sudden burst of cosmic light in the distance.
He frowned.
"Eshe…?"
No.
This wasn't her energy.
This was something… broken.