Chapter 1 — The Day the Sky Split
The city hummed with the quiet rhythm of mid-morning life. Cars rolled down asphalt streets glinting under the pale sun, and the occasional bicycle bell cut sharply through the hum. Students shuffled along the wide sidewalks of Harrow College, backpacks slung carelessly over one shoulder, earbuds leaking muted music into the air.
Aiden Vale walked beside Kael Draven, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. He kept his eyes on the towering campus buildings, feeling the weight of expectation pressing lightly on his shoulders. College had promised freedom, a chance to chase dreams, but already, the world felt far heavier than any syllabus.
"People are so easily distracted," Kael thought, scanning the crowd with a faint scowl.
"They move through life without noticing the cracks beneath them."
He brushed a loose strand of black hair from his face and fell into step beside Aiden. Despite his intensity, he had a way of making Aiden feel… grounded. Like the chaos of the city might just be navigable if Kael was nearby.
Aiden glanced at him and offered a small smile. "You ever think about how normal all this looks? People walking to class, grabbing coffee… oblivious."
Kael's lips twitched, almost a smirk. "Normal is a mask. I see through it."
Aiden shook his head, chuckling softly. "You make it sound so grim. Not everything needs to be a warning sign."
They passed a small park on the edge of campus, sunlight spilling through the budding branches. Students lounged on benches, laptops balanced on knees, laughter ringing out across the green. Aiden felt a flicker of warmth — the kind that made life feel bearable, even hopeful.
"Hope," Kael thought bitterly, "is just a word people use to ignore reality."
The sky began to shift. At first, it was subtle — a shimmer across the horizon, almost imperceptible. But within minutes, streaks of light, like molten silver, danced along the clouds. People stopped, craning their necks, smartphones raised in unison.
Aiden's breath caught. "Kael… do you see that?"
Kael nodded, expression unreadable. "Yeah. Something's… not right."
A low hum filled the air, almost vibrating through the asphalt beneath their feet. Streetlights flickered despite the day, and the distant church bells rang erratically. Aiden's chest tightened. Something primal stirred in him, a sense that the world was about to tilt.
From the center of the shimmering clouds, a pulse of light exploded — blinding, pure, and impossibly vast. People screamed, shielding their eyes. Cars skidded to a stop, horns blaring. The pulse washed over the city like a wave, and in that instant, Aiden and Kael felt it: a pull deep inside, as if the very fabric of themselves had been rewritten.
Aiden fell to his knees instinctively, clutching his chest. His vision blurred with radiance — warm, golden energy that seemed to respond to his panic, his awe, his excitement. He could feel it coursing through his veins, lifting him, expanding him.
"This… this feels… alive," he thought, exhilaration sparking behind his eyes. "Like I can do… anything."
Kael, meanwhile, staggered back, fists clenched as a cold, void-like sensation wrapped around him. Where Aiden's energy was light and radiant, Kael felt an absence — a void that fed on his anger, his fear, his darker thoughts.
It coiled around him, expanding, and he could sense it resonating with everything he had ever hated or feared.
"Power," Kael realized. "This… is power. And it's mine."
Aiden's gaze met Kael's, and for a fleeting second, everything was suspended. Two forces, opposing yet born from the same moment, staring at each other in disbelief.
The city erupted into chaos. Buildings shivered as energy arcs, bright and dark, crackled in the sky. People screamed, scattered, and vehicles toppled under the invisible pressure. But for Aiden and Kael, time seemed to slow — a still moment at the eye of the storm.
Aiden reached out instinctively. "Kael… we can do something with this. Together."
Kael's eyes were black with awe and something else — the shadow of something untested, uncontrollable. "Together… yes. But not like you think."
Lightning-like tendrils of dark energy leapt from Kael's fingers, not yet directed, but potent enough to tear the edge of a nearby lamppost into splinters. Aiden's golden light arced toward him, steadying, protective, radiant.
Neither of them realized it yet, but the city had already chosen its side.
Above, the clouds continued to churn, the strange silver light weaving through the heavens like threads in a tapestry. The sky split, just slightly, but enough to hint at the scale of what had been unleashed. The air smelled of ozone, electricity, and the faint tang of something alien.
For a single heartbeat, the two friends stood there, awe-struck, their new powers humming, alive. The world below was unaware — but it would not remain so for long.
Kael's gaze hardened. "This… is only the beginning."
Aiden swallowed, heart pounding, a mixture of fear and exhilaration coursing through him. "Then… we face it together," he said, voice steady despite the storm.
But deep down, even he felt the chill. He didn't know that Kael's 'together' might not include anyone else.
And somewhere in the shadows of that split sky, the first whisper of what Kael could become brushed against the city — dark, unstoppable, and almost hungry.
The day the sky split was over in minutes. But the world had already changed, forever.