So, I suppose I'll be the one to start.
But don't mistake me for the protagonist.
I believe I don't deserve that title.
You'll meet him later… His name is Cain, and he is my best friend.
He was the kind of person whose stories struggle to describe. Maybe that's why I had to tell you myself.
He wasn't perfect. But he always chose the harder path—the one that hurt more, the one that helped more.
He once told me something that stuck with me for months.
Even saving a drowning snake—when you know it'll bite you—you're still a hero.
And me? I was just someone trying to keep up with my own dream.
But what if I am wrong about all that? Maybe the real protagonist… is whoever you believe in most.
That would be fair.
You never know, you might think other characters deserve the title.
But before we begin, let me ask you something:
What would you do if you were given strange supernatural abilities you never asked for?
I know the question might sound weird to some.
But I had to ask. I wanted to catch your attention.
And also to see if you'd stick around.
The story you're about to hear…
It isn't just a story.
It's a truth buried in fiction.
One, I hope you carry with you long after it ends.
And about that question earlier…
People are different.
Different hearts. Different minds. Different choices.
Different pain. Different purposes.
Different in everything.
Should I tell you what my answer would be? You'll probably figure it out later anyway.
So there's no need to hide it.
If I had been given supernatural abilities… I'd become a hero.
Why?
Because I believe I was given these supernatural abilities to protect the ones who need me.
Others will gain them too, but not all of them will use them for good.
Some will bring chaos, pain, and destruction.
And when they do…
I'll be the one to stop them.
To protect the innocent ones.
I know you've probably heard a hundred stories like that—
Ordinary people getting extraordinary gifts. Fighting for justice. For peace. For the people they love.
Man, I really, really like those kinds of stories. Their bravery. Their sacrifice. How they stood tall for the weak, no matter the cost.
They gave me something to believe in when the world didn't make any sense to me.
But hold on—
I'm not done asking questions.
Here's the last one just to make sure what kind of audience i am narration to:
Do you believe in heroes?
Do you love them? Feel for them? Care what happens to them? Do you?
If you do, then keep listening.
Because if you stay till the end…
You might just find your favorite.
Just like I found mine.
The Apex Pair were not just heroes. Not just legends.
They were proof that light could still exist in a world forged by shadows.
This might not just be Cain's story. Or mine. It might end up being yours too.
Before you meet me—or anyone else—there's something you need to understand. The world wasn't always like this. It changed. And it began… with a strange light. Light no one knew where it came from.
The world we are about to dive into isn't normal, you think, and after all, we can't just jump into a story without knowing how things are going.
All stories begin with an introduction.
Just like the ones my grandfather used to tell me when I was a kid.
He had that kind of old man's magic—
where every word held weight,
and every pause felt sacred.
For real…
Grandparents are the best storytellers in the world.
They didn't live all those years for nothing.
So now, if you'll let me be that voice for you, I'd like to explore this world together.
His stories always started with a quiet moment—something simple. Mine starts the same way.
It all began when I wasn't born yet. But my grandparents and my parents saw it.
And it changed them forever.
Changed the world forever.
Fifty years ago, the world blinked—and woke up differently.
The sun rose like it always did—quiet, steady, warm— spilling golden light across a world still rubbing the sleep from its eyes.
It was a normal morning.
Calm. Predictable.
Birds chirped. People rushed to work.
Children laughed on their way to school in crisp uniforms and flashing sneakers.
Markets opened with the clatter of crates, the ping of barcode scanners, and the hiss of auto-doors.
Smart windows adjusted to daylight.
Billboards lit up above the streets with shimmering ads— whispering sales, eyes blinking in endless loops.
Screens flickered alive—news anchors with too-white teeth, morning talk shows, streaming dramas, algorithmic playlists, static.
Just life. Ordinary. Familiar.
But everything was about to change.
And ... the world paused.
I don't know how to describe it exactly.
Time didn't stop, but it felt like it did.
Drones froze mid-air.
Trains glided to a silent halt.
Birds hung motionless, like someone had hit pause.
Even our hearts seemed to skip a beat.
Then came the light.
At first, it was just a speck in the sky.
A shimmer. Small. Distant.
Easy to miss—unless you were looking.
It grew.
And then… erupted, like a cosmic curtain tearing across the sky.
It wasn't a star.
Not lightning. Not divine. Not scientific.
It was something else entirely.
A presence. A force.
A whisper from a world not ours.
Something that had never happened before.
It fell from the heavens in perfect silence.
No thunder. No heat. No impact.
Just a wave of pure, blinding brilliance.
It swept across the earth.
It touched everything.
Everyone.
And for a moment—just one—
people in villages, cities, desert outposts, atop icy peaks, beneath ocean waves, in deep forests, crowded markets, and quiet temples all looked up,
eyes wide, faces glowing in that strange, silent radiance
And then…
It vanished.
No smoke. No crater. No sound. No shockwave.
Nothing left behind—
except the memory of something none of us could explain.
People paused—mid-step, mid-sentence, mid-breath.
Time didn't stop—but something deeper did.
The moment the light brushed their skin,
they felt it—not on the surface,
but deep beneath everything they'd ever known.
It was warm without heat.
Weight without pressure.
Sound without noise.
A presence that threaded itself through the very air and wrapped around the soul like a forgotten memory.
Some gasped.
Some wept.
Some dropped to their knees without knowing why.
It wasn't painful.
It wasn't joy.
It was everything.
Raw. Real. Reverent.
They felt seen.
As if the universe had turned its eye to them—
not to judge, but to remember.
For a few heartbeats, there were no doubts, no questions, no fear.
Only stillness.
And the impossible truth that something greater had touched them,
and left something behind.
Of course, the world reacted the way it always does.
Every lens caught it.
Dashcams. Security feeds. Smartglasses. Wristchips.
Social media collapsed under the weight.
#Lightfall
#Skyburst
#AMiracle
#SimulationBreak
#TheShimmerEvent
Everyone saw it.
But no one—not the scientists at Virex Core, not the spiritual orders of the Temple of Flow,
The archivists in the Iron Libraries could explain it.
So they gave it a name:
The Lightfall.
Theories bloomed like weeds.
Was it a gift? A curse? A warning?
A message from something beyond?
A glitch in the simulation?
A cosmic reset?
A doorway?
They didn't know.
They still don't.
But weeks after the Lightfall, something strange started happening.
Not to all.
But enough.
Ordinary men. Women. Children. Teens…
Suddenly, they weren't ordinary anymore.
They became something else—
like characters torn from the pages of a comic book.
Doing the unimaginable.
They began to discover things.
Abilities.
Supernatural powers that defied every law we thought we understood—
strange, terrifying, breathtaking things.
No one knew why it happened to them.
No one knew how.
But knowing our world?
Some saw a gift.
Others, a curse.
And the worst of them—only opportunity.
"When power lands in the wrong hands, they'll build thrones, not sanctuaries."
The old world—the one we thought we knew—
began to crack.
Chaos.
Fear.
Greed.
Power.
Desperation.
Madness.
Corruption.
They spread across the grid like wildfire.
Markets crashed. Cloud currencies dissolved.
The skyways above Citadel-9 burned.
Cities fell—some in hours.
Some were swallowed by silence. Others by screams.
Millions died.
Millions lost their loved ones.
Some forgot who they were.
Some became the very destruction they once feared.
But not all of them.
Some… stood.
Some became symbols of hope.
They rose when the world almost fell.
They fought when everything seemed lost.
They tried—really tried—to build something better.
And that question I asked you earlier?
"What would you do if you were given supernatural abilities you never asked for?"
This—
This is what I meant.
This is the world we inherited.
A world born in light.
Reforged in fear.
Carved by power.
New religions rose like phoenixes from the ashes:
The Church of Resonance. The Children of Lightfall. The Cult of Echoes.
Ruined cities became fortresses.
New ones rose—vertical, floating, buried deep underground.
Power shifted. Ideals mutated.
Secret factions warred over what the Lightfall meant.
A hundred ideologies.
A hundred definitions of truth.
All were born from one moment.
And still, no one knows what the Lightfall was.
Where did it come from?
Or if it's ever coming back.
Some believe it had a will.
A consciousness.
A purpose.
And if that's true…
Then maybe it's still out there.
Somewhere.
Watching.
Waiting.
This isn't just Cain's story. Or mine. It might end up being yours too.
So with that… let our story begin
To be continued.
End of chapter.