Episode 18:
Night settled over Alok Fanando's small, suffocating world.
His family's house was quiet, but his chest was heavy as if unseen chains weighed him down. School had drained him again; classmates whispered, teachers ignored him, and even his own shadow felt hostile.
As he lay on his thin mattress, the pendant at his neck pulsed faintly not enough for him to notice, but enough to scatter a strange mist around the room.
A whisper brushed his ear.
Not human. Not earthly.
"Alok… do not sleep… danger draws near."
He sat up, clutching his blanket. His heart hammered.
"Who's there?! " His voice cracked. He looked around, but nothing moved except the flicker of the old bulb above him.
The voice did not answer again. Only silence.
Alok shivered. A ghost…? He pulled the pendant tighter in his fist, muttering,
"…I'm losing it. Maybe I really am going crazy."
Outside, unseen by mortal eyes, a shadow moved along the rooftops a Time Watcher. Its golden eyes scanned the window, yet every time it reached for Alok's presence, the pendant repelled it with invisible force. The Watcher hissed in frustration and dissolved into the night.
Back in the room, Alok's hands trembled. A sudden spark lit his palm tiny, weak, but unmistakably magic.
A flicker of flame.
He gasped and quickly shook it out.
"No… this can't be. I'm just a nobody. I don't want this…!"
Tears welled in his eyes. Even when given something extraordinary, he couldn't believe in himself. He shoved his hand under the blanket, hating it, hating himself.
And yet, the unseen spirit the mysterious guardian from the Immortal Realm watched from the corner of the room, veiled in silence. It longed to speak, to guide, but for now, it remained nothing more than a "ghost" in Alok's mind.
The only thing Alok felt that night was fear. Fear of himself. Fear of the unseen. Fear of a destiny he could not yet imagine.