Morning did not come gently.
It arrived in fragments sirens echoing far away, dust drifting down from cracked ceilings, the low murmur of people waking in fear rather than rest.
Rei stood on the rooftop where he had spent the night.
He hadn't moved since the tremor.
The city below looked unchanged at first glance buildings still standing, streets still scarred but something fundamental had shifted. The air felt denser, heavier, as if the world itself was bracing.
Behind him, the rooftop door creaked open.
Aira stepped out quietly.
She looked exhausted. Her hair was tied back hastily, dark circles shadowing her eyes. But she didn't look afraid.
That worried Rei more than anything.
"You didn't sleep," she said.
Rei didn't turn.
"Neither did you."
She joined him at the edge, resting her hands on the cold concrete.
"For the record," she said softly, "I meant what I said last night."
Rei finally looked at her.
"If I have to choose between you and a god," she continued, "I won't hesitate."
The mark pulsed.
Rei looked away again.
"That's exactly what scares me."
Aira frowned. "Why?"
"Because gods don't like being chosen against."
Below them, the academy courtyard was already filling with movement. Survivors packing what little they could carry. Awakened children being calmed by exhausted teachers. Fear passed from person to person like a contagious breath.
Zeke emerged next, cracking his neck.
"We've got a problem," he said.
Rei turned. "Another one?"
Zeke nodded toward the city.
"Three blocks east. Sinkhole opened about twenty minutes ago. No explosion. No warning."
Aira stiffened.
"That's where the old transit tunnels run."
Kai appeared behind Zeke, eyes wide.
"And people are hearing things down there."
Rei's chest tightened.
"What kind of things?"
Kai swallowed.
"Whispers. Names."
The mark burned faintly, like a warning flare.
Rena stepped out last, her presence almost unnoticed until she spoke.
"It's calling," she said.
Everyone turned to her.
"Calling who?" Suki asked.
Rena's gaze locked on Rei.
"Him."
The decision was made without discussion.
They left the academy before the sun fully rose.
---
The streets near the sinkhole were cordoned off by panic rather than authority. People stood at a distance, staring into the massive裂 in the earth as if afraid it might stare back.
The hole was perfectly circular.
Too perfect.
Its edges were smooth, glassed, as though the ground had simply… opened.
Rei stepped closer.
The air changed instantly.
Cold.
Old.
His mark flared bright enough to bleed through his shirt.
A low hum vibrated through his bones.
Aira grabbed his arm. "Rei, stop."
He didn't.
He stood at the edge and looked down.
There was no bottom.
Just darkness.
Not empty darkness layered darkness, like overlapping shadows moving independently of one another.
And then
A voice.
Not loud.
Not threatening.
Just close.
You finally heard me.
Rei staggered back.
Zeke caught him before he fell.
"What is it?" Zeke demanded.
Rei's breath came shallow.
"It's not Azeroth."
The ground beneath them trembled.
The darkness below shifted.
And something began to rise.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
The air thickened, bending light inward. Shapes formed not bodies, not creatures, but impressions. Memories. Echoes.
Suki whispered, "That's not a villain."
Rena nodded slowly.
"That's a witness."
The presence spoke again, louder now, resonating through the streets, the buildings, the people hiding nearby.
Before gods ruled… before marks burned… before the world learned to fracture…
The mark on Rei's chest seared white-hot.
He screamed.
Aira dropped to her knees beside him, gripping his shoulders.
"Rei! Stay with me!"
Rei's vision blurred.
And then
He was no longer standing at the sinkhole.
---
He stood in a world that hadn't been broken yet.
The sky was whole.
Blue.
Clean.
Cities rose without cracks, without fear. People walked unaware, unafraid, untouched by power.
And towering above everything
Five figures.
Not monsters.
Not villains.
Guardians.
Each stood at a cardinal point of the world, holding something invisible in place.
Balance.
The voice returned.
They were not born evil.
The vision shifted.
The world aged.
Energy began to pool.
Humans reached for it.
Harnessed it.
Abused it.
And the guardians began to change.
Pain twisted them.
Responsibility warped into control.
Love curdled into domination.
They became what they were never meant to be.
Rei fell to his knees in the vision.
"So you created them?" he whispered.
The voice answered gently.
No. We failed them.
The scene shattered.
Rei was back at the sinkhole, gasping.
The presence rose higher now, the darkness forming a vast, formless silhouette stretching across the street.
People screamed and ran.
Zeke positioned himself in front of the group.
"If that thing attacks"
"It won't," Rei said hoarsely.
Everyone stared at him.
"It's not here to destroy," Rei continued. "It's here to remember."
Aira helped him stand.
"What does it want?"
Rei looked into the darkness.
"It wants to know why Azeroth broke the cycle."
The presence stilled.
Golden light flickered faintly within the shadow.
The One Who Chose Himself, it said.
The God Who Refused the Ending.
Rei's blood ran cold.
"You knew him before," Rei said.
He was not the strongest, the presence replied.
Only the most afraid.
Suki scoffed softly. "Afraid of what?"
The answer came slowly.
Of irrelevance.
The darkness began to sink back into the earth.
The hum faded.
Before it vanished completely, the presence spoke one last time directly to Rei.
He did not awaken the crucible alone.
The mark flared violently.
Rei collapsed.
---
He woke hours later in a temporary shelter, lying on a cot that smelled of antiseptic and dust.
Aira sat beside him, eyes red.
"You scared me," she said quietly.
Rei reached for her hand.
"I saw them," he murmured.
"The Five?"
She nodded.
"They weren't monsters at first."
Aira swallowed.
"Rei… while you were unconscious…"
She hesitated.
"What?"
She handed him a small device.
A communicator.
Old.
Academy-issued.
Active.
"It turned on by itself," she said. "And someone sent a message."
Rei stared at the screen.
One line of text.
> PHASE TWO INITIATED.
SUBJECT: RIFT-SUCCESSOR
STATUS: UNSTABLE
RECOMMENDED ACTION: TERMINATION
Rei's hands shook.
Zeke's voice came from the doorway.
"We're not alone in this anymore."
Kai stood behind him, pale.
"The awakenings are spreading faster. Worldwide."
Rena stepped forward.
"And the silence between cities is getting louder."
Suki crossed her arms, fire flickering anxiously.
"So let me get this straight," she said. "The gods failed, the world broke, Azeroth wants to rule the ashes… and now someone else wants Rei dead."
Rei sat up slowly.
"No," he said.
Everyone looked at him.
"They don't want me dead," Rei continued.
"They want me gone."
The mark pulsed.
Rei met each of their eyes.
"They're afraid of what answers me now."
Outside, the ground rumbled faintly.
Deep.
Distant.
Something ancient was moving again.
And this time
It wasn't waiting.
---
Chapter 15 ends.