The night dragged on like a weight Samir couldn't shake. He sat by the window in his chamber, chin resting against the cold frame, staring out at the lanterns of the city below. They flickered like tiny stars caught in glass, swaying with the breeze. Yet all he could see was that broken screen and lines of glitching text crawling behind his eyelids every time he blinked.
[System Error]
[Future Event Detected: Rajin Dharva betrays the Dharva Clan.]
The words burned in him more than his father's scolding. The System had rejected him, branded him broken. But in that rejection it had given him something else or something no one else had. A glimpse into what could come.
He rubbed at his eyes. Sleep didn't come, not even in scraps. His chest felt restless and heavy. Eventually when the first light crept past the horizon then he gave up trying. He pulled on his tunic and boots again and slipped quietly out of his room.
The mansion was already stirring. Servants lit lanterns and opened curtains and their movements stiff when Samir passed. None dared to look him in the eye. Whispers moved in their wake. though they thought he couldn't hear.
"Poor boy."
"Cursed by the Pillar itself."
"Best to stay away."
Samir clenched his fists but kept walking. Every word pressed down like another stone added to his shoulders. By the time he reached the back hall his chest allready ached with the weight of it.
At the far end the voices are carried from behind a half-closed door. He froze. His father's voice, sharp and commanding, cut through the murmur of others.
"…The boy is a risk. The Dharvas already mocking us and if the nobles believe he's unstable then the Veyra name will crumble."
Another voice with deeper and oily with false sympathy answered, "Perhaps it would be wise to send him away. A monastery maybe. Somewhere he cannot cause more… accidents."
Samir's stomach turned. He edged closer to pressing against the stone wall with careful not to make a sound.
Lord Varun spoke again. "Do you think I haven't considered that? But sending him away would be an admission of weakness. The other houses would pounce. No. For now, we will keep him under watch. If he slips, if he proves dangerous, then—"
The words ended in a low murmur. Samir didn't need to hear the rest. The message was clear.
He backed away, heart pounding. To them, he wasn't just broken. He was a threat.
---
By midday, he had managed to slip out of the estate. Hood drawn low, he blended into the crowd, though it didn't stop the stares. No matter how many people filled the streets, Samir always felt eyes digging into him.
He turned a corner into the market square, the same place he'd stopped the pickpocket the day before. Vendors shouted, their voices clashing in the air. Spices, breads, silks, trinkets—everything was louder, brighter, as if the city itself was trying to drown out his thoughts.
"Samir."
The voice was soft, careful. He turned to see Priya standing a few paces away, her healer's robes light against the dust and noise of the square. Her eyes flicked nervously around before settling on him.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered. "Your father—"
"I don't care what my father says." His tone was sharper than he meant. He sighed and lowered his voice. "Why are you here?"
Priya hesitated, twisting her fingers together. "I… I wanted to ask you something. Back at the hall, during the ceremony. When the ceiling cracked—you shouted before it happened. It was like you knew."
Samir stiffened. His first instinct was to deny it, to brush her off like he had the day before. But the worry in her eyes wasn't cruel, wasn't mocking.
"Just luck," he said finally.
Her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn't believe him. But instead of pushing, she gave a small nod. "Be careful, Samir. People already fear what they don't understand. Don't give them more reason."
Before he could reply, she turned and disappeared back into the crowd, her steps quick and quiet.
Samir stared after her with frustration and something else, something softer or tight in his chest.
---
The world flickered.
It came sudden something like a curtain being torn open. One heartbeat he was in the market and the next he saw a street cloaked in smoke with people screaming as flames burst from a cart of oil jars. Guards rushing through and children are crying, merchants scrambling as fire swallowed stalls.
Then the vision was gone and leaving only the busy square and the smell of fresh bread.
Samir's breath caught. He spun in the direction of the alley he'd seen in the vision.
And then the shouting began.
"Fire! Fire!"
Panic rippled through the crowd. Smoke curled up from the edge of the square, just where Samir had seen it. People shoved and started raining knocking over baskets and dropping goods in their rush. The air filled with the sharp bite of burning oil.
Samir didn't think twice. He pushed through the crowd and his body was moving faster than his mind. He reached the alley as flames licked up the side of a wooden stall with spreading fast. A child was sobbed in tears and trapped between two fallen carts.
The world flickered again then he saw the roof above groaning and ready to collapse.
Samir's chest clenched. He darted forward then grabbing the boy and yanking him out just as the roof gave way through crashing into the street where the child had been. Sparks flew. Heat seared his skin.
The boy clung to him with trembling. "T-t-thank you!"
Samir shoved him toward the open square and shouted "Go! Run!"
The child bolted. Samir turned back with his chest heaving. The flames roared higher and merchants are trying desperately to beat them back with cloth and water. Guards shouted orders but chaos drowned them.
And in the heart of it, Samir felt it again—that broken hum inside him. Chaos, wild and untamed, pulsing in time with the fire.
The fire screamed as it ate through wood and cloth and started throwing sparks into the air like angry stars. Smoke wrapped the square in a choking haze. Samir coughed with squinting against the sting in his eyes but he didn't step back.
He could feel it again there was the pull and there was a broken hum under his skin. It felt like the System had left a piece of itself inside him with raw and jagged whispering in flashes. He didn't understand it but right now it was the only thing keeping him alive.
The flicker came. A cart wheel loosened by the heat it was about to roll downhill toward the packed crowd. He allready saw it in his mind before it happened. Samir darted forward with slamming his shoulder against the cart just as the wheel snapped free. Wood splintered. The cart tilted but didn't crash into the people fleeing below.
Gasps rippled around him.
"That boy—"
"He knew it would fall—"
"How did he—?"
Samir ignored the voices. Another flicker burned through his skull. A merchant who was panicked and about to throw a bucket of water on burning oil. He saw the explosion and the wave of flame engulfing three stalls.
"No!" Samir shouted. He lunged then grabbing the man's wrist before the water fell. "Not water! Sand—use sand!"
The merchant froze, stunned. Then he realized what he meant,he dropped the bucket and scrambled to kick dirt and sand over the flames. Others followed him and for a moment, the fire bent back under the desperate effort.
But the whispers didn't stop. They circled like vultures above the smoke.
"How did he know?"
"Is he cursed?"
"Or blessed?"
Samir's chest tightened. Every time he acted there was eyes who latched onto him. with Fear, awe, suspicion—it all tangled together in their stares.
And then he heard a voice he knew too well.
"Well, well. The broken Dharva's dog thinks he's a hero now."
Rajin stepped into the smoke with flanked by two of his hangers-on. His robes were too clean and his smirk too sharp for someone who claimed to care about the city's safety.
Samir's jaw tightened. "Not now, Rajin."
"Oh, but now it is perfect," Rajin said, raising his voice so others could hear. "Look at him pretending to be saving other people, but did anyone notice how the fire started right after he arrived? Almost as if that …" His eyes gleamed or "…he wanted it."
The crowd shifted uneasily.The fear made people stupid and Rajin knew exactly which strings to pull.
"That's not true!" Samir snapped. "I'm trying to help!"
Rajin spread his arms. "Or maybe you're using your… little error… to create chaos. Isn't that what the Pillar rejected you for? Chaos?"
Murmurs spread like wildfire. Samir's fists clenched. Heat from the flames pressed against his skin. but the heat within his chest burned worse.
Another flicker who was quick and sharp stabbed behind his eyes. The beam above Rajin cracked and ready to fall.
"Move!" Samir shouted.
Rajin sneered. "Trying to scare me again, broken one?"
The beam gave way. Samir didn't think. He tackled Rajin hard and shoving him out of the way as the beam smashed into the ground where Rajin had been standing. Splinters flew. Dust and ash clouded the air.
The square went silent.
Rajin staggered up and started coughing his eyes was wide. For the first time that his smirk was gone. He looked at Samir and the smashed beam, then at the people watching.
Samir rose slowly with chest heaving. His eyes met the crowd's. "I don't know why this is happening to me. I don't know why I see things before they happen. But if it means to saving the lives then I'll keep doing it."
Silence stretched. The smoke hung thick and the fire had weakened. Guards and merchants stamped out the last of the flames but their faces caught between relief and unease.
Rajin glared at him but he didn't speak. He couldn't—not when Samir had just saved him in front of everyone.
Samir turned and walked away, the whispers chasing after him. Some were fearful and others are curious. But for the first time that a few people sounded almost… hopeful.
---
By the time he slipped back into the estate, the weight of exhaustion dragged on his bones. His body ached and his throat burned from smoke, but his mind buzzed too loudly to rest.
He collapsed into his chair by the window, staring out at the city lights once again. The same lights as last night, but feels different now.
The visions weren't just accidents. They were warnings. Warnings he couldn't ignore.
that if he kept acting like this, then people would keep staring at him. The nobles would keep whispering and His father would keep plotting.
but Rajin… Rajin wouldn't stop until he broke him.
Samir rubbed his face but the taste of ash still on his tongue. "If this is chaos," he whispered to himself, "then maybe chaos is exactly what they need."
The broken hum stirred again inside him, quiet but steady.
For the first time, Samir didn't flinch from it.
---