The sky cracked at 6:42 PM.
Aarav Mehta remembered the time because that was when the notification appeared on every phone in the city.
⚠ EMERGENCY ALERT: GATE BREACH — LEVEL RED
People had laughed at first.
They always did.
Until the sky split open like shattered glass.
The Gate wasn't like the others. It didn't shimmer. It didn't glow.
It bled.
A vertical tear across the heavens, leaking something dark and alive.
Screams followed seconds later.
Then the monsters.
They fell like rain.
—
Aarav ran.
Not away from the chaos.
Toward it.
His sister was still at tuition.
"Pick up, pick up, pick up—"
No signal.
Of course there wasn't.
Buildings were already collapsing. Sirens drowned under something deeper — a sound like reality grinding its teeth.
He turned the corner and froze.
The tuition center was gone.
Half the building had been cleaved clean off. Concrete and rebar hung in the air like broken bones.
And below it—
"Aanya!"
She was there.
Pinned under a fallen beam. Alive.
Crying.
"Aarav bhaiya!"
A shadow moved behind her.
It wasn't human.
It didn't even look stable, like its shape couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Limbs stretched too long. Eyes flickered open across its body.
It was watching her.
Waiting.
Aarav didn't think.
He grabbed the nearest metal rod from the debris and charged.
He wasn't awakened.
He wasn't special.
He wasn't strong.
But he was her brother.
The creature turned toward him.
Its eyes multiplied.
He swung.
The rod passed through it like smoke.
A cold hand pierced his chest.
Pain didn't come immediately.
Just warmth.
And the sound of his sister screaming his name.
He fell to his knees.
The world blurred.
So this is it.
He had always been average.
Average grades.
Average strength.
Rank C Rewriter candidate.
Never chosen.
And now—
Useless.
The creature lifted him by the throat.
Behind it, the sky widened further.
More things were coming.
The world was ending.
Aanya was crying.
He reached toward her with a shaking hand.
"I'm sorry…"
Darkness swallowed everything.
Silence.
Then—
[SYSTEM DETECTED ANOMALY]
Aarav's eyes snapped open.
He inhaled sharply.
Air.
Clean air.
No smoke.
No screams.
He was lying in his bed.
His room.
The fan spinning lazily above him.
His phone vibrated beside his pillow.
6:41 PM.
Date: Three years ago.
He stopped breathing.
No.
No, no, no—
The memory hit him like a truck.
The Gate.
The monsters.
His death.
Aanya—
He jumped out of bed and ran to the hallway.
"Aanya!"
She stepped out of her room, annoyed. "Why are you shouting?"
Alive.
Whole.
Confused.
He staggered backward.
Tears blurred his vision.
She frowned. "Are you okay?"
He laughed.
A broken, shaking sound.
He was back.
He was back.
His phone buzzed again.
This time, the screen didn't show a normal notification.
It flickered.
Glitched.
Then words burned into the display.
[FATE SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
You are a Variable.
The world line has been reset.
Previous timeline: TERMINATED.
Objective: Rewrite Destiny.
Warning: Excessive alterations will result in personal erasure.
His reflection in the black screen looked unfamiliar.
Older.
Colder.
Determined.
Aanya crossed her arms. "Bhaiya… you're being weird."
He looked at her.
At the sister who died in his arms.
Not this time.
Never again.
He turned back to the glowing screen.
"If you're real," he whispered, "then give me power."
The interface responded instantly.
Ability Granted: Major Event Rewrite (Locked)
Condition: Achieve Rewriter Rank B
Current Rank: Unawakened
Three years.
He had three years before the sky cracked.
This time…
He would not be average.
This time—
He would become the one who decides fate.
The phone vibrated once more.
A final line appeared.
Note: The individual who betrayed you in the previous timeline is still alive.
A name surfaced in his mind.
A face.
A smile that once felt trustworthy.
Aarav's fingers curled into a fist.
The world thought it had reset.
But he remembered everything.
And this time—
He would not die protecting others.
He would survive.
No matter what it cost.