Night had fallen over the city, and with it, a strange quiet that felt unnatural. The usual hum of traffic was muted, as if reality itself had hushed in anticipation. Li Tian and Lin Yao moved through the deserted streets, alert to the smallest shifts in the air. The scar in the sky above pulsed faintly, a dark heartbeat, and Li Tian could feel the subtle tremor of reality beneath his feet.
"I can feel it," Li Tian whispered, his voice taut with tension. "The fragments… they're calling me."
Lin Yao's eyes narrowed. "Careful. They respond to emotion and power alike. They are remnants of entities older than the world you know. Every approach carries risk. Touch them recklessly, and they will take more than your energy. They will take pieces of your mind, your very existence."
Li Tian's hands itched, sparks dancing faintly across his palms. "I don't care. I have to know… I have to understand what they are."
She hesitated but did not stop him. "Then we do this together. You are not ready alone."
The city around them seemed to shift subtly as they moved. Buildings leaned at impossible angles for fleeting moments, streetlights flickered, and the shadows of the alleys seemed to stretch unnaturally. The system's warnings whispered in Li Tian's mind: Deviation detected… interference rising… containment probability increasing…
They arrived at a small, abandoned plaza near the edge of the city. The air was thick, heavy with a strange resonance. At the center, partially buried in the cracked pavement, lay a shard of black crystal, faintly glowing with red veins pulsing like a heartbeat.
Li Tian approached cautiously. Sparks flickered from his hands, reacting to the shard's presence. He reached out, and the moment his fingers touched it, the world around him shivered.
The shard vibrated, thrumming with energy that seemed to resonate with Li Tian's own power. Memories flickered before his eyes — visions of cities that no longer existed, structures that defied geometry, and the faint silhouettes of beings so massive that they could not be fully comprehended.
"This… this is real?" Li Tian whispered.
"Yes," Lin Yao replied, her voice tense. "Fragments of the Old Gods… they are dormant, but not inert. And you… you are a conduit. Every interaction changes you, and the world reacts in turn."
Li Tian swallowed, staring at the shard. He felt a tug deep in his chest, as if the fragment was reaching into him, probing the edges of his consciousness. Sparks erupted from his palms uncontrollably, crackling with energy.
"Stop!" Lin Yao shouted. She placed her hands near his, focusing her own energy. The sparks waned slightly, but the shard pulsed stronger, as though aware of the interference.
Li Tian staggered back. His head throbbed, fragments of memory evaporating — the exact shape of the plaza, the feel of the concrete beneath his feet, even fleeting images of his school from hours ago. His mind felt stretched thin, as if the shard were siphoning pieces of him to awaken itself.
"I… I can't…" he stammered, clutching his head.
"You must!" Lin Yao said firmly. "Control the interaction. Not your power, but your mind. Every loss counts. Every mistake could erase you permanently."
He focused, forcing his breathing to slow. Sparks danced in tighter patterns, responding to the fragments of thought he could retain. The shard shimmered, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. Slowly, tentatively, the interaction stabilized.
Suddenly, the air around them warped. The scar in the sky above brightened momentarily, throwing the city into shadow and then back into light. Li Tian felt a pull, stronger than before, as if the shard was trying to drag him into a parallel layer of existence.
The system's whispers grew louder, almost shouting: Containment required… probability of collapse rising… deviation too high…
Li Tian's knees buckled. He stumbled, sparks flying wildly. His mind spun — fragments of memory vanished again, faces, names, concepts, even the sensation of pain itself. He realized, with stark clarity, that the price of interacting with these shards was not just fatigue. It was existence.
Lin Yao placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You are touching the fabric of worlds, Li Tian. The Core… the system… they are reacting. You will feel it in waves, in fragments of your mind, in pieces of reality around you."
Another pulse ran through the plaza. The shard rose from the ground, hovering before Li Tian. Images of the Old Gods flashed: colossal forms made of shadow and light, eyes that seemed to see through time, hands that stretched across layers of reality. Li Tian's mind quaked under the magnitude of their presence.
"I… I can feel them," he whispered. "They're… alive."
"They are," Lin Yao confirmed. "But they are not awake. Not fully. Yet. And the more you meddle, the closer they come to consciousness."
Sparks danced violently from his palms, uncontrolled. The shard pulsed in resonance, energy snapping around them. The alleyways of the city outside flickered, shadows stretching impossibly, streetlamps bending, as if the world itself were reacting to the energy exchange.
Li Tian's mind teetered. Memory fragments evaporated faster now, entire sequences of thought vanishing in moments. He felt faint, almost weightless, as though the world was simultaneously pressing down on him and pulling him apart.
"Deviation critical… containment required… probability of collapse increasing…"
"Li Tian!" Lin Yao shouted. "Focus! Focus on the connection, not the power! You are tethered to reality through your consciousness, not the sparks! Use your mind!"
He tried, desperately, to anchor himself. Sparks tightened, forming intricate patterns as his mind held the shard's resonance. The pulsating energy slowed, then stabilized. Slowly, cautiously, Li Tian exhaled. The immediate threat waned, but the residue remained: fatigue, lingering dizziness, and the haunting awareness that fragments of his self had been lost — even if temporarily.
Lin Yao lowered her hands. "You see now," she said quietly, "this is why the Keepers are so vigilant. You are a variable, Li Tian. The system reacts to you not out of malice, but necessity. You are dangerous simply by existing. And the shards… they are awakening because of you."
Li Tian's chest heaved. "I… I didn't think it would feel like this. I thought it would be power… control… maybe even freedom. But it's… it's like losing myself."
"You are not safe," Lin Yao said. "Not yet. And the fragments will demand more. Every interaction carries consequences. Every spark, every pulse of energy… takes pieces of you. But there is no other path. If you do not engage with the fragments, the Keepers will act. And the world… will correct itself without mercy."
The scar in the sky above pulsed once more, stronger, brighter, as if marking the gravity of the choice Li Tian had just made. Sparks still danced from his hands, smaller now, tentative. But he knew it would not end here.
The fragments of the Old Gods were awake, watching. The Keepers were observing, waiting. And the system, vast and indifferent, was preparing to punish the smallest misstep.
Li Tian clenched his fists. The cost was high, perhaps higher than he could endure. But he would continue.
Because survival, understanding, and mastery were the only options left.
And the first reckoning had only just begun.