,,
Aelion returned to his apartment with unsteady steps. Every breath felt as if it carried fragments of fear scraping against his lungs. His hands trembled, cold sweat clung to his skin, and his chest continued to resonate—matching the rhythm of the fracture he had seen in the park.
He closed the door with a soft thud and slid down to the floor. His back rested against the wood, which felt colder than usual. For a few seconds, he said nothing… only listened.
He waited for the sound.
Dum… dum… dum…
But the sound did not come.
Silence.
Too silent.
As if the world was holding its breath.
Aelion stared at his hands. "I can't keep going like this…"
He hadn't even finished his sentence when the room lights began to flicker rapidly. The white glow stretched into long streaks, bending unnaturally at the corners of the room. Aelion leapt to his feet, his body tense even though he knew there was nothing he could do.
The air in the room shifted.
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Cold.
And… dense.
Like a new layer of reality was covering the old one.
Aelion swallowed. "Don't… not again…"
But the world didn't listen.
---
A low-frequency sound burst softly into the air—almost like electrical humming, yet more organic. A thin stream of light split the room open right in front of Aelion. The tiny fracture pulsed gently.
He wanted to step back. He wanted to run. But his body wouldn't move.
Something tied him to the light—a primal instinct he had never felt before.
The fracture expanded, forming jagged lines like fragments of glass being pulled from another space. The light behind it glowed, swirling slowly, like a sleeping vortex forced awake.
Aelion whispered, "Please… stop…"
But instead, the light responded with a stronger flicker. As if it took his fear as an invitation.
The fracture—expanded.
And from within, came a sound that wasn't fully a sound… more a vibration.
A—e—li—on…
Aelion froze. "What… who…?"
The voice echoed again.
Resonance… awakened…
Energy spread from the fracture, forming a small vortex that made the objects in the room tremble. A glass fell from the table. A bookshelf rattled. A cracked mirror split further.
Aelion felt his body being pulled from the inside. The vibration started in his chest, seeped into his ribs, then into his spine.
He screamed without sound. His knees gave out.
"Stop…!"
But the light didn't stop.
The fracture shaped itself into a strange pattern—a thin circle with broken lines, like the pattern he had seen in his dream. In that empty space. The one that should have been only a dream.
Now, the dream was breaking into reality.
The energy spilling from the fracture grew stronger, forcing Aelion's hair to rise. The room spun. Aelion collapsed to the floor, clutching his chest as if it were burning from the inside.
"Ah—ah…!"
Light crawled beneath his skin, drawing thin lines along his arms, neck, and face. The light didn't burn… but felt like activation.
As if his body had long been dead and was only now waking up.
"What do you want from me…?" Aelion shouted, his voice breaking.
And for the first time—
The fracture stopped growing.
Silence.
A single point of light appeared at the center of the fracture.
The point condensed. Taking shape. Like particles being forced together from an alien space.
Then…
Something emerged.
---
A figure fell onto the floor of Aelion's room, landing with a soft sound—like a body without weight.
Aelion jerked back.
The figure didn't move.
A woman.
Long silver-black hair spilled across the floor. Pale skin with faint glowing lines beneath the surface. A calm face, almost as if in sleep.
Aelion pressed against the wall, shaking. "No… no… who are you?"
The fracture slowly sealed itself. The light dimmed. The energy dissolved like smoke absorbed into the air.
Only the woman remained—lying on the floor of Aelion's narrow apartment.
Aelion approached slowly. His heart pounded against his ribs. Every step felt like crossing a forbidden threshold. He knelt beside her.
"Hey… can you hear me?" He touched her shoulder.
The woman flinched.
Then… her eyes opened.
Her irises glowed like cracked blue crystals. Gentle light moved within them, as if another world flowed through her pupils.
She lifted her head and looked at Aelion.
Her voice was weak, raspy, but clear:
"…Akirien."
Aelion blinked. "W—what?"
The woman looked deeper into him. "The core name… you carry. Akirien… awakener…"
Aelion froze.
"That's not my name. I'm Aelion."
The woman grasped his wrist. Warm—but not human warm. Not from flesh, but from energy.
"The name given by this world… is not the first name you owned." Her lips moved slowly. "You carry the core resonance. You must… awaken fully…"
Aelion pulled his hand away, panicked. "I don't know anything! I don't even know what's happening!"
The woman closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. There was a strange softness in her expression—like someone who had found home after a thousand years.
"I am Lysara…" she whispered. "Messenger from the Primary Fracture."
The words made Aelion's blood turn cold.
The Primary Fracture.
The central entity mentioned in ancient texts of Vyndraelis Prime—the force that shaped reality paths and mapped the energy of the Axiom Pulse.
Aelion stepped back. "No. No. You're not real. This isn't real."
Lysara shook her head weakly. "If I were not real… your resonance would not have awakened."
She raised her hand. A tiny point of light appeared at her fingertip, then moved, forming a symbol Aelion had seen in his dream.
The symbol floated like an organic hologram, rotating slowly.
Aelion froze. His heartbeat stopped for a moment.
"…that… I saw that…" he whispered.
Lysara looked at him gently.
"Because it came from you."
Aelion stared at the symbol, then at her. His whole body trembled.
"I… am nobody."
Lysara shook her head.
"You are the beginning of something that will awaken all of Vyndraelis Prime."
Aelion stood still.
"I… don't want that."
Lysara gave a faint smile.
"The choice is no longer yours."
---
Before Aelion could respond, the objects in the room began vibrating again. A small fracture appeared in the ceiling—this time not from Lysara's world, but from something else.
Something chasing Aelion's resonance.
Lysara's eyes widened. For the first time… she looked afraid.
"They found you… too soon."
Aelion stood, utterly confused. "Who?!"
Lysara rose with the last of her strength, light enveloping her hand.
"Run… now!"
The fracture in the ceiling grew larger.
And from within… a low growl echoed.
---