The next morning, I expected everything to be a dream. The exploding lab. The robots. The glowing sword. Elira Moon resting her head on my shoulder like we weren't just dodging death an hour before.
But nope.
When I woke up, I found a glowing symbol burned into my wrist.
It looked like a star… cracking in half.
---
I stumbled into school half-asleep, hoodie up, hoping no one noticed the weird mark on my skin. The moment I stepped into homeroom, all eyes locked on me.
"Oh look, it's the hero of the cafeteria," someone joked.
"I heard he got dragged off by the hot robot girl."
I sank into my seat. Elira wasn't there. Neither was Miss Haru.
Instead, a man in a dark suit stood at the front of the room. Tall. Pale. Eyes hidden behind blue-tinted glasses.
"Good morning, students," he said smoothly. "I'm Mr. Veyne. I'll be your substitute today. Miss Haru had… an accident."
Whispers spread across the room.
Mr. Veyne smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
I had a bad feeling.
---
During lunch, I tried to find Elira. I checked everywhere—library, rooftop, even the forbidden stairwell. Nothing.
But when I opened my locker…
BOOM.
A puff of purple smoke exploded in my face. Coughing, I fell back. Inside was a tiny flying orb with bunny ears.
"Target located: Jin! Jin! Jin!" it chirped in a singsong voice.
"What the hell?!"
Then a voice crackled through it.
"Don't freak out," Elira's voice said. "This is Bunny Drone #7. Follow it."
So I did.
---
It led me to a hidden elevator behind the old vending machines. The bunny bot scanned my eye, and we descended underground.
Doors opened into a glowing tunnel—part sci-fi lab, part ancient temple. Crystal shards hovered in the air. Holograms danced between pillars. A waterfall fell sideways into nothingness.
Elira stood at the center, wearing a black school uniform with glowing runes stitched into the sleeves. She was adjusting a floating screen.
"You came," she said without looking.
"You think I was gonna ignore the flying bunny drone?" I said. "Kind of hard to pretend nothing happened yesterday."
She turned. Her expression softened when she saw me.
"You okay?" I asked, before I could stop myself.
There was a pause.
"No," she said quietly. "But I'm glad you're here."
---
She sat me down and explained everything.
"There are seven Rift worlds. Each one holds a fragment of something called the Eversoul—a source of all life, magic, and time."
"Let me guess," I said. "Someone evil wants it."
"Elira nodded. "Someone ancient. And powerful. His name is Seraxion. He's not from any world. He eats them."
I stared. "Like… devours planets?"
"Like a virus," she said. "But smarter."
"And where do I fit into this?"
She touched her finger to my wrist, tracing the symbol.
"You're not from Earth, Jin. You were born in the Rift."
---
The words hit me like thunder.
"I'm... not human?"
"You are. But not from this Earth. Your memories were sealed. Your powers too."
"I have powers?!"
"They're waking up. That mark is just the beginning."
I blinked, stunned. "So what now?"
"We need to visit the other worlds. Find the other shards of the Eversoul before Seraxion does."
She handed me a silver ring with a crystal core.
"This is your portal key. When the time comes, it'll open the way."
---
Before I could ask more, an alarm blared.
The lights went red.
Elira cursed. "He's here."
"Who?!"
"The new substitute. Mr. Veyne. He's not a teacher. He's a Rift Hunter—one of Seraxion's agents."
The walls around us shimmered.
Mr. Veyne stepped through a glowing rift, still wearing his suit—but now, his glasses were off, revealing pitch-black eyes with swirling silver pupils.
"Well, this was fun," he said. "But I'm afraid the boy comes with me."
Elira summoned her sword in a flash. "Over my dead body."
"That can be arranged."
---
What happened next was chaos.
Veyne moved like smoke—impossible to hit. Elira clashed with him in mid-air, her blade slicing reality open. I ducked behind a console as energy bolts exploded around me.
Suddenly, the mark on my wrist burned.
I cried out. My vision blurred. My hand glowed blue and white. Then—boom—a shockwave blasted outward, knocking both of them apart.
I was floating.
Hovering.
Cracks of light ran across the floor.
Then—silence.
When I landed, Elira stared at me, wide-eyed.
"You just... opened a rift," she said breathlessly. "Without a key."
Veyne hissed. "Impossible."
"You sure I'm just a normal student?" I said shakily.
---
We escaped through the rift—me and Elira—falling into another world.
It felt like falling through dreams.
---
When we landed, we were surrounded by trees with golden leaves and a sky filled with two moons.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Eltherion," she said. "The forest world."
We were in another reality.
And I had just blown up part of the school basement.
Cool.
---
That night, we camped near a lake.
Elira sat by the fire, silent.
"You okay?" I asked, sitting beside her.
She didn't answer.
"I'm not going anywhere," I added.
She looked at me. Really looked. Her usual cold expression softened.
"I've always been alone, Jin," she whispered. "Even when I was surrounded by people. They used me. Feared me."
I hesitated, then reached out and held her hand.
"You're not alone anymore."
Her fingers tightened around mine.
For the first time, she smiled.
---
Above us, the stars shifted unnaturally.
A red crack opened in the sky.
And a deep, echoing voice whispered through the wind:
> "He has awakened…"
Elira jumped to her feet. "That was Seraxion's voice."
I stood, heart racing. "He knows where we are."
She turned to me, eyes glowing. "Then we have to move. The next shard is in the City of Time. And we're not the only ones after it."