Night inside Helvorn City always felt heavier—like the darkness itself was thinking.
Arin Vassir stood alone in his room, his breath shaking. The walls around him vibrated softly, almost alive. Not because of anything physical…
…but because his thoughts were trying to take shape.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
Helunsntion.
The disease everyone feared but no one understood.
"It's starting again," Arin whispered, clenching his fists.
A faint pulse of silver light flickered in the air—his Impulse, the first stage of a Manifestation. A simple thought, but deadly if it crossed the threshold.
He shut his eyes tightly.
Don't think it. Don't let it form. Don't—
A tall shadow rose behind him.
Arin froze.
Not real… not real… not real—
The shadow dissolved as he forced his mind blank, sweat dripping down his neck.
"Impulse controlled…"
He exhaled slowly.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Down the hallway, he heard footsteps. Calm. Slow. Familiar.
Elyra Venn.
His closest friend… and the first person who suspected he had the disease.
She knocked gently.
"Arin? You awake?"
Arin swallowed. "Yeah… come in."
Elyra stepped inside, her eyes sharp as obsidian glass. On her wrist hung a metal charm— a circle carved with a vertical line crossing through a hollow eye.
The symbol of the Occultum Sensus, the cult obsessed with Helunsntion.
The cult Arin accidentally caught her researching.
"You had another episode," she said. Not a question.
Arin didn't answer.
Elyra slowly closed the door.
"I felt an Echo," she whispered.
His heart dropped.
An Echo—the second stage of Helunsntion—meant a thought had gained emotion, giving it weight, shape, intention.
"You're getting worse," she said. "Arin… we need help."
"I can control it," he said, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him.
"You can't. No one can."
Her voice softened. "My brother died from this. You know that."
Silence.
Arin looked at his hands—hands that were shaking with a power he never asked for.
**Helunsntion wasn't a gift.
It was a mind turning against its owner.**
And if it reached the final stage—Reality Bleed—the imagined became fully real, unstoppable, and permanently alive.
He'd seen the tapes.
He'd seen the horrors born from it.
He couldn't let that happen.
Suddenly—
A metallic clang echoed from the streets.
Elyra moved to the window.
"Arin… look."
Outside, a group of cloaked figures walked toward the alleyway. Each wore the same symbol carved into Elyra's charm.
Occultum Sensus.
The cult that believed Helunsntion was not a disease…
…but the next stage of human evolution.
Arin felt his pulse quicken.
"What are they doing here?"
Elyra's voice turned cold.
"They're here for someone who manifested tonight."
She turned to him with serious eyes.
"And Arin… they're looking in this direction."
His blood froze.
A whisper slithered through the room.
Not from outside.
From his own mind.
Let them come…
A faint mist formed behind him—shifting, swirling, nearly forming a shape.
Elyra stumbled back.
"Arin—STOP THINKING!"
He gasped and slammed his hand against the desk, forcing his mind blank.
The mist broke apart.
But Elyra had seen enough.
Her fear wasn't for herself.
It was for him.
"Your Impulse is too strong," she whispered.
"You're close to an Echo. If you lose control even once—"
Arin nodded shakily.
"I know."
"Then run," she said.
"Before they sense you."
A rustle in the alleyway.
Footsteps beneath the window.
A low, chanting hum.
The cult had stopped right under Arin's building.
Elyra grabbed his wrist.
"Listen to me—your manifestation type is starting to awaken."
Arin's breath hitched.
**His manifestation type—
'Vivid Reality Projection'.**
Helunsntion users who had this type were the most dangerous.
They created manifestations that were:
fully visible
fully solid
and impossible for others to dispel.
Even Arin couldn't erase them once they solidified.
And the cult wanted exactly this kind of power.
"Arin… if they find out you're a Vivid Manifestor—"
"They'll take me," he finished.
Elyra nodded.
A loud knock.
Not at the door.
At his window.
His heart stopped.
A hooded figure stared in from outside the glass, eyes glowing faint gold.
"You are awake," the figure said.
"We sensed an Impulse.
Open the window, Arin Vassir."
Arin staggered back.
Elyra whispered urgently:
"Arin… you must not think anything. Not even fear. Fear creates the strongest Echos."
But the words were too late.
In the corner of the room, the air rippled—
a shadow forming teeth
a faint outline bending into reality
a creature he imagined once…
Reality Bleed Level: 0.5
—Manifestation unstable.
The room temperature dropped.
The cultist's golden eyes widened.
"You are the one," the cultist whispered.
"The Mind that Breathes."
Arin stepped backward, trembling.
He didn't know whether the creature or the cultist was more dangerous.
But one thing was clear:
His mind was no longer just thinking.
It was waking up.
And the world was about to change with it.