I remember screaming. Not out loud.
Just inside my head, where the sound echoed like thunder in a hollow cave.
My hand was still clamped tightly around Ren's. His fingers were trembling inside mine. The world above us had split open like an eye awakening from a thousand-year slumber, and now it was pulling us in. No explanations. No escape. Just pure, gravitational chaos.
Then—light. Blinding, burning light. And silence.
---
I woke up to the smell of iron and moss.
My back ached, my breathing was shallow. For a moment, I thought we were dead. Maybe we'd fallen through that rift and simply ceased to exist. But the pain in my shoulder said otherwise.
And then—
"Niichan?"
Ren's voice.
I bolted upright, heart clenching as I scanned the surroundings. We were in a forest—but not like any forest I'd ever seen. The trees were towering, ancient things, with bark that shimmered faintly under the bluish sunlight. The sky above was not the soft pale blue of our world, but a deeper, richer tone—like ink mixed with stars.
Ren was sitting a few feet away, hugging his knees, his face pale. I scrambled to him, knelt, and grabbed his shoulders.
"Are you okay? Ren, look at me."
His eyes met mine. Red-rimmed, but dry. He nodded. "I'm okay. I think. Just scared."
I swallowed. That made two of us.
"We're going to be okay," I said, voice calm, though my pulse was a wildfire.
I didn't know where we were. I didn't know *what* we were.
But I had Ren. That was enough.
---
It took an hour to figure out we were truly somewhere else.
The plants didn't match anything I'd seen in books or online. The wildlife was wrong—silent, watching. Even the ground pulsed faintly with energy. Magic. I could feel it like a breath under my skin.
Then, the first encounter.
We heard it before we saw it. A low snorting sound, followed by the crack of broken branches.
I stood in front of Ren instinctively, heart thudding. Then the thing stepped out.
It looked like a boar—but scaled, twice the size of a man, with molten eyes and smoke rising from its nostrils. Its tusks shimmered like obsidian.
I didn't think. I just moved.
It charged. I grabbed Ren and rolled, narrowly missing its tusks. My body moved faster than it ever had before—reflexes sharp, precise. Like something was guiding me.
"Run!" I shouted, pulling Ren along.
But the creature was faster. Too fast.
I turned, arm up, ready to be gored—
And then someone else moved.
A blur of silver.
A sword sang.
Blood sprayed the leaves as the creature's head flew clean off.
It dropped with a thunderous *thud*.
Ren gasped.
I looked up—and met the gaze of the girl who had just saved us.
She couldn't have been more than fifteen.
Long black hair tied into a high ponytail. Eyes sharp and narrowed, the color of polished amber. A short cloak billowed behind her, stained with travel and blood.
She sheathed her blade and said, flatly, "You two aren't from here."
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know where "here" was.
---
Her name was Kuroha.
She led us out of the forest to a cliffside path overlooking a vast valley. Below lay a village surrounded by stone walls and violet flame torches. It looked like something from a medieval fantasy game—except this was no game.
Kuroha spoke as we walked. She was blunt, precise, and clearly trained in combat. She was part of something called a "Gate Corps" — those who watch for Riftfall.
"What's Riftfall?" I asked.
She looked at me like I was a toddler. "When otherworlders fall through the sky. Like you."
Otherworlders.
So this… had happened before.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Altaris. One of the Nine Shards. This is the Fourth."
Altaris. Shards.
Multiverse. My mind connected the dots quickly. This was a fragmented world—nine realms, maybe. Connected by rifts.
Why were we brought here?
---
We were taken to a man named Commander Irvas. Grizzled, blind in one eye, yet radiating a terrifying presence. He stared me down for what felt like forever.
"You're from Earth," he said. Not a question.
I nodded.
He tapped the side of his head. "You speak like us. Untrained magic—translation glyph activated on entry."
Translation magic.
He continued. "Most who fall die within the first hour. But you—you protected your sibling, avoided a Hellboar, and survived."
I said nothing.
"You'll need to awaken soon."
"Awaken?"
"Your Soulframe."
---
That night, Ren and I were given a small room in the outer barracks.
Ren was fast asleep, wrapped in a thin blanket. He looked peaceful, as if the day hadn't been chaos. I sat on the floor, staring at the stone wall.
A new world.
Magic. Monsters. War.
And something else. I could feel it.
Something ancient was watching me.
And for the first time in years—
I felt alive.
(To be continued...)