The day was nearly over.
The sun dipped low behind the glass towers of Elaris, casting long shadows across the city's streets. School was done, and laughter filled the air as students boarded buses and walked home, free from the weight of books and lectures.
Ren Calder sat quietly in his usual seat, near the middle of the school bus. He leaned his head against the window, eyes half-closed as the city passed by. His body was here. But his mind was not.
"Why do I keep seeing those dreams?
Is there a reason?
Who was that boy? And why… why did they call him a ruler?"
His brows furrowed slightly. The questions circled his mind like fog refusing to clear. His reflection in the window showed a face stuck between childhood and something older. Something heavier.
He didn't notice the way his expression kept shifting. From confusion, to fear, to blank thought. He looked like someone stuck inside a daydream he couldn't control.
The bus rolled through the streets of Elaris.
A city of dreamers. A place once normal, now touched by something ancient. Something magical. Skyscrapers shimmered under the fading sun. Streetlamps shaped like blooming crystals flickered on one by one. Boutique shops lined the corners with strange glowing signs, selling spell-thread clothes and mana-imbued charms to tourists and locals alike.
In the seat behind him, Watson leaned forward.
"Did you know," he began, speaking to Mira, "a few decades ago, scientists discovered a new form of energy in the universe? One that interacts with everything around it. After years of research and failed experiments, they finally managed to create it artificially in labs."
He paused, eyes bright.
"They called it mana."
Watson looked around fifteen. Medium height. A clean face with calm, deep blue eyes, like they were always holding back a thought. He wore the same black blazer as the other students, lined with red angles across the sleeves and chest, a white shirt underneath, and a narrow black tie.
He sat next to Mira, relaxed, like her older brother.
Mira blinked. "You say that every time we pass the Mana Monument."
"Because it's important," Watson said. "It changed the world."
Ren listened in silence.
His eyes were open, but he wasn't seeing the streets anymore.
Mana… the start of everything.
In his mind, a thought surfaced.
Yato Ridai… one of the strongest magicians alive.
He was among the first humans chosen for experimental mana infusion. And now, decades later, the planet itself had changed. Qiyun no longer needed laboratories to generate mana. The energy attracted more of its own kind, like gravity drawing in stars. Mana was falling from the sky, pulled in from the depths of space. The world was slowly becoming something new.
A magical world.
A fantasy come to life.
But even with all that, Ren wasn't thinking about mages or monuments.
He kept seeing that shadowy chamber. The boy. The voice. The loop.
And the word that rang louder than the others.
Ruler.
He didn't even notice that Watson had been watching him closely.
"Hey, Ren," Watson said, leaning around Mira. "You look like you just walked out of a dream. Don't tell me you're thinking about some girl. If so, at least give us a name."
He grinned, playful but with a hint of concern.
Mira laughed. "Yeah. Is she taller than you? That's usually a bad sign."
They both chuckled.
Ren smiled faintly, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
He tried to shake the feeling, to focus on the normalcy around him. But something in his chest kept pressing down. Like a weight he couldn't describe.
Then came the sound.
Thud.
Followed by a sharp jolt.
"Agh… what was that?" Ren gasped, clutching the seat in front of him.
A second later, the entire bus shook. The ground trembled beneath the wheels.
From the front, someone shouted.
"What is that?! Is it a monster?!"
Another voice.
"Look! Over there!"
People screamed. Outside the windows, a wave of force rippled through the street, like the earth itself was breathing in pain.
The driver cursed and quickly pulled the bus to the side of the road. He slammed the brakes, and the bus came to a halt.
Students shouted in panic, grabbing their seats or each other.
"Is it an earthquake?!"
"No! Look up there! Something's moving!"
A few buildings ahead, something massive had landed in the center of the avenue. People on the sidewalks were already fleeing in all directions. Car alarms went off. Glass shattered. The air felt wrong.
Ren turned toward the front window.
A creature stood in the middle of the road.
It wasn't like anything he had seen in books or movies. It didn't walk. It crawled. Its body was long and thin, almost like it had too many joints. Its skin was covered in something like black mist, but it pulsed faintly with veins of violet light.
It had no eyes. No face. Just a jagged opening where a mouth should be, filled with thin, flickering light like stretched fire.
It roared.
Not loud. Not even animalistic.
But something about the sound made Ren's blood freeze.
People screamed. Students ducked under seats. Watson pulled Mira down beside him, shielding her with his arms.
Ren didn't move.
He stared at the creature.
And deep inside his mind, something cracked again.
A sound echoed in his thoughts.
The same word. Over and over.
Ruler…
Wake up.
Mira tugged on Ren's sleeve, her voice sharp with fear.
"Hey! Brother, hide under the seats! What are you doing? Why are you just staring like that? Get down!"
Ren didn't answer right away.
His eyes were still fixed on the creature outside. The bus windows shook slightly from its movements. The monster hadn't noticed them yet, but the weight of its presence pressed against the glass like a heavy fog.
"Hm… alright," he said at last, blinking slowly. "I was just lost in thought."
He ducked down beside Mira, folding his long legs under the seat. Despite the panic around them, his face was calm. Almost too calm. Like he wasn't surprised at all.
Watson glanced at him, eyes narrowed with a mix of concern and disbelief.
"Why are you so calm?" he asked, his voice low. "This isn't a movie. That thing could rip the roof off this bus. You… you've seen something like that before?"
Ren leaned his head back against the cold metal of the seat frame.
A strange light glinted in his eyes.
"Who knows," he said quietly. "I saw something like it in my dreams. Fighting it. Controlling it. Like it knew me. Or maybe… I knew it."
Watson stared at him.
Ren wasn't smiling. Not exactly. But his expression had changed. His eyes were focused now, his breathing steady. It wasn't the face of someone afraid.
It was the face of someone remembering something they didn't even know they had forgotten.
Mira looked between them, confused.
Watson shook his head.
"You're serious, aren't you…"
Ren nodded slowly.
"I think I am."
His heart was pounding not from fear, but from something else.
Excitement.
Like a door inside him had started to open.
Like whatever was happening out there wasn't the start of chaos…
…but the end of waiting.