KKKKRRAAAA–KOOOOOOOM–GRAAAAAAAAK!
The sound tears through the air like the roar of a god, followed by a blinding flash that splits the heavens.
Mateo opens his eyes to a world unlike anything he has ever seen. The sky above is choked with thick, grey vapour, swirling and boiling as though alive, and through it run great jagged cracks that glow an ominous red, spilling firelight across the barren land.
He realises, with a clarity that feels almost divine, that he has been reborn — cast backwards in time to an age long before humankind, some 4.6 billion years in the past. And yet, he is no longer the fragile, anxious boy he once was. His body hums with power. Strength surges through his muscles, speed crackles in his veins, and his mind feels sharper, more focused, as though a fog has been lifted. He no longer needs to breathe, nor eat or drink; such mortal limitations have been left behind.
The heat here is merciless, the air shimmering with waves of blistering energy, but Mateo does not falter. He feels no fear. There will be no mentors now, no comforting presence to guide him. There is no shelter, no respite — only Mateo, alone against the raw, violent birth of a planet. Every searing moment will shape him. Every jolt of pain will harden him. Every step through this hostile land will forge him into something more than human.
But first, he must understand this place he now calls home.
He takes his first deliberate stride into the inferno, his eyes scanning the horizon. Rivers of molten rock twist and writhe on either side, glowing like liquid fire, illuminating the world in a hellish orange glow. Columns of ash and smoke rise into the dark sky, casting shifting shadows that dance like phantoms. The ground quakes beneath his feet, a deep, thunderous rumble that rolls through the land, as though the planet itself were aware of his presence — and was testing his resolve.
For most, this would be a vision of hell, a place to flee from in terror.
For Mateo, it is purpose. It is the crucible in which he will be re forged. It is the place where his old self dies and his new self begins.
And as the distant volcanoes roar, Mateo smiles.