I always smiled.
Not because I was happy. Not because anything was ever okay.
I smiled because it was the only weapon I had left.
People think smiles are honest. But mine wasn't. Mine was armor. Mine was the blade I held to my throat every day and said, *"Not yet. Not until he's safe."*
I'm thirteen years old. A genius, apparently. The teachers like to say I'm "mature for my age," but they never ask why. No one ever does.
They don't see the bruises I cover with long sleeves. They don't hear the silence in my house that screams louder than any voice. They don't notice that I never eat lunch unless my little brother shares his.
But that's fine. I don't care what they see.
I only care about **Ren**.
---
He's five. Small. Fragile. Pure.
My opposite in every way.
He still believes in heroes. In light. In kindness.
And I'd burn the entire world to keep him that way.
"Rikuya, why don't we ever go to the park after school like the other kids?" Ren asked me once, tilting his head with that innocent smile of his.
I shrugged and ruffled his hair. "Because I'd rather go home and play video games with the coolest little brother in the world."
He giggled. He didn't know that going home meant hoping Dad wasn't drunk today. That Mom wasn't in one of her empty stares, surrounded by broken glass and broken memories.
He didn't know that I used to dream of stabbing them in their sleep.
He didn't need to know.
He just needed to be okay.
---
Today felt wrong from the start.
There was a heaviness in the air, like the world was holding its breath.
I noticed it when I opened my eyes and saw the crack in the ceiling above my bed had spread just a little more. I noticed it when Mom threw her coffee mug at the wall instead of my head.
And I definitely noticed it when the sky split in half like a shattered mirror.
But before that, we were walking home from school.
---
"Hey, Rikuya," Ren said, hopping on the edge of the curb. "Do you think the sky can fall?"
I blinked. "What kind of question is that?"
"I dunno." He grinned. "I saw a video where a space rock crushed a car! It was awesome."
I snorted. "If the sky falls, I'll punch it back into place."
"You can't punch the sky, dummy!" he laughed.
"I can punch anything. Watch me."
He giggled again and looked up at me with those big eyes full of trust. "You're like a superhero."
"Nah," I said, patting his head. "Just your big brother."
---
We stopped by a vending machine. I had just enough coins for one can of hot cocoa.
I gave it to him.
"You're not having any?" he asked.
"I'm not thirsty."
"You're lying."
I smiled.
"Again," he muttered, frowning, but he still sipped the cocoa like it was the best thing in the world.
Then it happened.
---
A sound — not like thunder, not like anything I'd ever heard — echoed through the sky.
People looked up.
So did I.
The sky… was cracking.
Lines of white light spread like veins across a canvas of blue, turning it into something unreal. And then, it **shattered.**
Light poured out of the sky like a tidal wave. The ground shook beneath our feet. The air went still, then screamed.
Someone shouted. Someone else screamed. I didn't hear them clearly.
Because I only heard one voice.
"Rikuya!" Ren grabbed my hand, terrified. "What's happening?!"
I didn't know. I didn't care.
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. "Hold on to me. Don't let go!"
The light consumed everything. Buildings melted into white. People vanished. The ground caved in beneath us.
And then we fell.
---
I thought I died.
Maybe I did.
---
### \[Unknown World: Aetherflame Wastes]
When I opened my eyes, I was lying in dust.
A strange sky hung above me — black-purple and swirling, like someone had spilled ink across the stars. The ground was cracked obsidian, glowing faintly from underneath.
"Ren…" I coughed, turning to the boy in my arms. "Ren!"
He stirred. His chest was rising. Alive.
Relief hit me like a punch to the gut.
Then the voice came.
> \[Soul Resonance Detected.]
> \[Trauma Index: 94.2%.]
> \[Class Awakening: ECLIPSED]
> \[Initializing Skill Set…]
> \[Welcome to the Spiral.]
"What… the hell?" I muttered.
Symbols ignited across my right arm — pitch-black, pulsing like blood.
The air shifted.
Something was watching.
I looked up — and there it was.
A beast, massive and shadowed, emerging from the ash like a demon crawling out of a nightmare. Eyes like burning glass. Claws like spears.
Ren whimpered behind me.
I stood.
Slowly. Carefully.
Placing myself between him and the monster.
My knees were shaking. My heart was racing.
But I wouldn't run.
I couldn't.
"…If you touch my brother," I said, voice steady, "I'll tear your head off."
The creature growled.
I took a breath.
I felt it then — something inside me breaking open. Something old. Something cold.
Power.
Rage.
And the same smile I wore every day stretched across my face.
Not the fake one.
The real one.
Empty. Cold. Sharp enough to cut the world in half.
---
**I wasn't afraid.**
Because I had nothing left to lose.
And everything to protect.