Chapter 1: Sparks in the Concrete
The city never slept, but some nights it whispered. Kalin moved through the neon-lit streets like a shadow no one noticed. He wore a hoodie far too thin for the February chill, and his sneakers had more duct tape than sole. Yet in his chest beat a pulse the world had never seen: a power he couldn't name, a force that bent reality when he focused.
Kalin's apartment was a one-room box above a shuttered laundromat, where the smell of detergent never quite left the air. His mother slept on the floor mattress, curled tight like a question mark, while his little brother dreamed beside her. They were poor—so poor that even hope had to be rationed.
But Kalin… he had something else. Last week, a man had tried to mug him near the metro station. One flick of his wrist, one thought in his mind, and the man was pinned against a wall, frozen in time like a photograph. No one saw it happen. No one believed him when he told them.
Outside, the city glittered with wealth that was almost alien. Towering glass buildings reflected a million tiny lights. Within them lived people like Sera Valen—people who had never known hunger, pain, or fear in a way that Kalin had. Her family controlled industries that bent governments. Her presence could command armies or bankrupt rivals with a single signature.
Sera was on the roof of the Valen Corporation headquarters tonight. She wasn't looking at the skyline or the stars. She was looking at the chaos below—a street fight breaking out between two gangs. Her fists clenched. Not because she feared it, but because she knew she could end it in a heartbeat. She always did. Power ran through her veins like blood.
Two worlds, colliding but unaware. Kalin, the invisible force with a secret strength that could reshape reality. Sera, the heiress of empires who wielded her influence like a weapon.
And tonight, the first spark would ignite.
The city didn't notice when a faint ripple pulsed through the street corners. Glass trembled. Phones flickered. A stray dog yelped and ran. Only Kalin sensed it—something shifting, something waiting for him to step out of the shadows.
He didn't know her yet. He didn't know that Sera was watching. But the universe was patient, and it had already decided: their worlds would collide, and nothing would ever be ordinary again.