The sky split open.
The people of the city saw only a flash of light — and then an explosion.
Something fell from the heavens and crashed beyond the outer walls, carving a crater into the earth.
When the dust settled, a boy lay at the center of shattered stone.
He should have died.
But he breathed.
Zeno opened his eyes.
He did not recognize the sky.
The air felt foreign.
The ground beneath him was not the world he remembered.
Only the pain was real.
I. The Weakest Rank
They found him minutes later.
City guards dragged him inside.
In this world, a person's worth was measured by only one thing:
Combat Rank.
Not wealth.
Not bloodline.
Not talent.
Strength.
They placed his hand on a measuring crystal.
It dimmed.
A number appeared.
Rank 1.
Silence.
Then laughter.
"Even children rank higher."
"Useless."
Zeno said nothing.
But when his hand touched the crystal, something inside him stirred.
Something vast.
Something the crystal did not seem able to grasp.
II. Something Is Wrong
That night, he sat alone in a storage shed they had given him temporarily.
He stared at his hands.
Weak.
Yet when he focused, the air trembled slightly.
So faint he almost believed it was his imagination.
"This world… something is off."
He did not know its rules.
He did not know its gods.
He did not even know why he was here.
But he knew this:
When he breathed deeply, his heartbeat felt heavier than it should.
III. The First Crack
Near midnight, wood splintered.
A low-grade beast tore through the forest edge and into the city.
People screamed.
Zeno did not move at first.
Rank 1 do not fight.
Rank 1 die.
But when the beast lunged toward a child—
His body moved before his mind did.
He threw a punch.
At the moment of impact—
The air fractured.
Not loudly.
But undeniably.
And for the first time,
The world cracked.
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What do you think about Zeno? Is he truly weak… or something else?