Three million years sank into the dark.
A start. Or maybe… an end.
Something huge, a frame holding the very sky up, broke. Not with a loud bang, but with a gross, wet sinking feeling that tore the world apart. In the quiet, stinking wake of the ruin, a single piece of black rock floated. It was not a dead stone.
It watched. It was hungry.
"Ahh…"
The sigh hissed through the empty space, smelling like burnt wires and old rot. Flauge stood at the edge of nowhere, staring into the heavy dark. "Maybe… I should give Optinix another chance."
A whisper came back from the void. Airy. Cold. Far away from the heart of life.
Flauge… stop waiting for Nyloxin. When he finds the perfect body, he will return.
The silence got thicker, heavy like a failed lung. Then, a softer sound came, like ice growing over a grave.
Until then… go down. Live inside a new race. Walk in their skin. Learn how weak they are. Enjoy it… if your tired soul lets you.
The presence faded into the freezing air.
Flauge stood perfectly still, like a statue of pale hate. A slow, bloody smile grew on his face.
"Fine."
He raised a hand as pale as a dead body.
"Generation Law… Act Ten."
The empty space shook. This was no small trick. It was the forbidden art of making, a secret known only to the Builders who shaped the universe out of pain. To make life out of nothing.
The price?
Twenty years.
Not of time on a clock. Of life. Every trace of him in the world, wiped away.
Flauge did not blink.
Thirty million years turned to dust. The sky gave no answer. A heavy stillness stretched across forever…
Until:
Date: 16/07/1900
A shake in the world. Small. Weak. Human.
But it was a ripple strong enough to break fate.
"Congratulations, Mr. Lor… it is a boy."
The doctor's smile was a stretching of tight skin under the sick, blinking lights of the room. The smell of blood and cleaning soap filled the air.
"You as well, Mrs. Reanie."
A thin, crying sound broke the heavy air. A poor, shivering thing entering a ruined world. No one there saw the faint, jagged twist in the corner of the room, a rip in the air that leaked invisible shadows.
Years rotted away.
A classroom. Choking noise. The scraping of chairs like nails on a board. Mindless, loud laughter.
And one boy, trapped in the cave of his own mind.
Behind his eyes: Red fire. Screaming metal. A bus moments from burning up. Skin melting on the road.
And him, Ayelen. Walking through the fire. Calm and untouched. Grabbing them from death, one by one. Twenty lives saved by his hand. A hero made of ash.
"AYELEN!"
Reality broke the dream like a hammer hitting glass. The heavy walls of the classroom slammed back into view. The chill of the old stone floor soaked through his shoes. His teacher stood over him, tall and mean.
"What is wrong with you, boy? Your grades are rotting every day. You sit there, like an empty shell."
A pause, full of anger.
"Stay in the real world before it leaves you behind."
The room broke out in noise. Like birds laughing.
"The hero is dreaming again!"
"What a loser…"
Ayelen swallowed the spit in his throat. He did not speak. He just stared at the marks on his desk, feeling the darkness pushing down on his shaking shoulders.
"Teacher… may I come in?"
The heavy wood door opened. The laughing stopped at once.
Arnold walked in. Confident. Calm. An animal walking into a cage of scared mice. He was… different.
"Come in," the teacher said, suddenly sounding small.
Arnold moved to the empty chair next to Ayelen. He sat down easily, looking over.
A single tear ran through the dirt on Ayelen's face.
Arnold said nothing.
Lunch break. A loud mess of hitting trays and chewing teeth.
"Ayelen," Lime whispered, sitting across from him. She looked fragile. "Do you want some food? I have enough to share."
Ayelen's neck made a cracking sound as he shook his head. "No… keep it."
Arnold leaned back with a mean smile, casting a long, twisted shadow.
"The boy does not eat normal food, Lime. Surely you see that."
A cold sweat ran down Ayelen's back. "Arnold. Stop."
The warning meant nothing.
"He only eats food made by his mother or his sister. Nothing else goes in his mouth."
Lime blinked, looking confused in the dark room. A soft smile grew. "Really? That is… actually kind of sweet."
Ayelen's muscles got tight, the bones in his hands hurting. "Do not call it that."
Lime moved back a little, her nervous laugh sounding empty. "Relax. I didn't mean it in a bad way."
"I said I am not hungry."
The air at their table got very cold. It felt thick with hidden anger.
Lime held up her hands. "Okay, okay… I'm sorry."
"Forget it," Ayelen hissed, the words hurting his throat. "Just... leave it."
Arnold watched him without blinking, his eyes heavy. He spoke quietly, like a knife coming out.
"Skip lunch again… and I will tell your mother."
Ayelen jumped up, his chair making a loud noise. "Shut your mouth!"
He grabbed his bag, turning away from the mean look. His mind was lost, floating in a storm he could not control.
And so, he did not see the person in his way.
Thud.
A wet, gross splash. Messy food ruined the clean, dark coat of another boy.
A slow, scary turn.
Rim.
"…Are you blind, kid?"
Ayelen could not breathe. "I… I'm sorry. I wasn't looking. I will clean it."
"Clean it?"
Rim got closer, smelling like smoke and hate.
"Yes. You will."
A rough hand grabbed Ayelen's shirt, twisting it against his throat until he could hardly breathe.
"Use your own clothes."
Ayelen's fingers shook hard, a move he could not hide. "I said I was sorry."
It came fast.
A blur.
The sound of a bone breaking.
He fell.
And just like that, the quiet came back to take him.
• END OF EPISODE 1 •