The air was suffocating.
It felt like he was submerged underwater, lungs aching, gasping for breath that never came. Kaleem couldn't feel his limbs—only the echo of impact, like he had been struck by something ancient and unknowable. The sensation wasn't pain. It was deeper. Stranger. It felt… cosmic, as if some metaphysical force had used him as an anchor.
Time became meaningless.
There was no up or down, no before or after. He simply existed—adrift in a space outside of space.
Then, his eyes opened.
Before him stretched an infinite void, pitch black and endless, like the night sky but more raw, more primordial. Stars shimmered in distant clusters above, some pulsing with unfamiliar colors—blues, oranges, even hues Kaleem had no name for. Beneath his feet, the darkness was not solid. It flowed like ink, thick and viscous, swallowing his steps without sound.
He floated and yet walked.
He breathed yet felt breathless.
"Where… am I?" Kaleem's voice echoed into the endless dark, swallowed whole by silence.
He turned slowly, eyes scanning the realm. There was nothing but stars and the dark substance that clung to his feet like tar. Then, in the distance—movement.
Something twisted. Something alive.
A strange silhouette formed in the haze—a creature. Humanoid in shape, yet utterly wrong. Its limbs were long and frail, skin pale and slick like oil. It resembled the thing he had killed days ago in the alley, yet it didn't move. It stood motionless, head tilted and neck broken as if frozen mid-thought.
"What… is that?" he muttered.
Oddly, he didn't feel fear.
He knew he was supposed to. His cells should've screamed. But instead, a strange numbness filled his chest. Calm curiosity and.... attraction.
He stepped forward, nearing the being. Its eyes black pools with glimmers of green like a flickering spark of light staring blankly ahead. He reached out his trembling hand, almost reverently, and—
**BOOM.**
The creature burst into a thousand fragments, disintegrating into a dark green and red mist that surged toward him like a tidal wave. Kaleem tried to move, to shield himself, but the mist entered through his mouth, his pores, his eyes.
He screamed.
And in that scream came knowledge
> _Spirituality._
> _Mystery of Withering._
> _Mystery of Decaying Flesh._
> _Mystery of Living Flesh._
> _Mystery of Creeping Shadows._
> _Mystery of the Stars._
The terms blazed through his consciousness like divine fire. Too many. Too deep. And yet... they settled. Slotted into place as if his mind was meant to hold them. As if something ancient had carved room for them long ago.
Then, a pull.
A sharp tug from the base of his spine to the edge of reality.
He was yanked back into his body—hard.
---
Kaleem woke up gasping on the cold tile floor, sweat soaking his clothes, chest heaving. His heart beat like a war drum. For a moment, the air shimmered with residual starlight, and then it vanished. He blinked.
His head throbbed. His mouth was dry.
And then—
"I would advise you not to move."
The voice was calm, female, and gentle—yet firm.
He turned his head and froze.
Three figures stood in the room. One woman, two men. All clad in dark suits with a silver crescent-shaped badge pinned to their chest.
"Look at him. You've already chained him," said the woman with a sigh. She had warm hazel eyes and brown curls tied back, and her tone was like honey over sharp glass. " And it seems his attunement was successful."
"Protocol is protocol, Andrea," said the taller of the two men. He was dark-skinned, muscular, with long dreadlocks and the no-nonsense presence of a commander. His voice cut like steel.
"I know, I know, but he looks lost like seriously look at him," Andrea replied as she points at him.
Kaleem, still dazed, found his voice. "Uhm… can someone get these chains off?" His throat was parched, voice dry and cracked.
The third person—slim, pale-skinned, with long blond hair—smiled faintly. "Relax. Let me check you."
He knelt beside Kaleem, hands moving in a sequence of gestures, almost like casting ninjutsu from a show Kaleem used to watch. "Naruto?" Kaleem bewildered whispered faintly, the association giving him a small spark of levity.
Light blue energy pulsed from the man's hands. He pressed them gently to Kaleem's forehead. Silence followed.
Then: "He's clear, boss."
Kaleem's breathing slowed.
The dreadlocked man—Captain Craig Greenman—stepped forward and gestured. The silver chains binding Kaleem's limbs evaporated into dust particles.
"I apologize for the precaution. When one undergoes spontaneous attunement, we have to assume the worst. My name is Captain Craig Greenman, commander of the 3rd Squad under the Silver Cresh." His voice was strict, yet respectful.
Now on his feet, Kaleem managed a weak reply. "Kaleem. Just Kaleem. I don't have a family name... if that matters."
But the three didn't flinch. It seemed they already knew more than he did.
A ringtone interrupted them—loud and sudden. Craig stepped away, muttering as he answered the call.
The blonde man turned to him. "Any questions before we start explaining?"
Kaleem nodded hesitantly. "So what happened to me?"
Andrea's eyes lit up. She seemed excited, like a teacher about to introduce her favorite subject.
"What happened," she said, "was your Tuning. It means your body, mind and soul have aligned with a Mystery—a concept or force not meant for mortal comprehension, but that you've somehow resonated with."
Kaleem's brows furrowed. "Mystery?"
"Yes." She walked toward him. "Mystery is the unknown that underpins our reality. It's ancient knowledge, anomalous energies, impossible entities… It appears as dreams, as relics, as monsters even stories. Remember the thing you fought days ago? That was a type of Mystery—leaking through the cracks."
As she spoke, Kaleem felt his mind stir again—those phrases from the void resurfacing then his thought were harshly cut off
"Attunement," Andrea continued, "means that the Mystery didn't destroy you, it means that you survived, won and became something entirely new."
He swallowed hard, eyes flicking between the three of them. He still felt light-headed, but the fear was slowly being replaced by something else: determination
Andrea paused and gave him a once-over. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen," Kaleem replied. "College student. Biology major."
"Makes sense," she said. "I did see quite a few books on anatomy on your desk before reaching your room"
Kaleem blinked.
That was when he realized his body felt… different. Lighter and heavier all at once. He caught his reflection in a glass panel nearby—and froze.
His irises had changed.
They were no longer purely blue. A ring of 'pink' shimmered around his pupils, and a layer of 'green' danced like a liquid halo around the edges.
He touched his face in disbelief. Same soft, feminine features. Same pale skin. Same blonde hair, pink pigments at the tips—but those eyes...
They didn't look human anymore.
---