It was a calm Saturday evening in the city of Sapa. Elias, finally enjoying a rare day off from work, had just finished a lighthearted conversation with his fiancée and was drifting toward sleep. The stillness of the night, however, shattered in an instant.
A blinding light burst through his window, so brilliant that it nearly seared his eyes. It was nothing like the dim, familiar glow of his apartment lamps—this light was alive, sharp, and unrelenting. Startled, Relos stumbled to the edge of his bed, pulling his blanket over his head in a desperate attempt to shield himself. But the light only grew stronger, accompanied by a low hum that filled the room. The sound vibrated in his chest, rattling the air as if it came from another world.
His heartbeat raced. Terror clawed at him as his consciousness began to slip. He fought to stay awake, clinging to awareness with every ounce of willpower. But the strange energy smothered him like an invisible tide. His eyelids grew heavy, and before he could resist any further—darkness claimed him.
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When Elias opened his eyes again, he was no longer in his apartment. He stood inside a vast hall bathed in emerald light. Crystals floated freely in the air, pulsing softly as though alive. The floor beneath him shimmered like polished metal, carved with glowing emerald lines that crisscrossed in complex circuits. All of it seemed to radiate from a massive throne at the far end of the hall.
Symbols—alien and incomprehensible—hovered around the throne. They appeared and dissolved like drifting sparks of dust, vanishing the moment he tried to focus on them.
The throne itself was colossal, built for something far larger than any human. It stood empty, but its scale hinted that whoever sat there must be a giant. Elias pinched himself, hoping this was just a dream. Pain shot through his arm. His stomach sank—this was real.
He tried to retrace his steps, to remember how he got here. All he could recall was the blinding light invading his room, the hum that shook his bones, and the overwhelming weight of sleep. Now, in this place, the silence was suffocating.
He stood frozen for minutes, torn between fear and curiosity, until finally he called out. His voice echoed across the hall, swallowed by the void. No reply came.
Fear pressed down on him like a heavy cloak. His thoughts darted back to his family, his fiancée—by now, they would be worried sick, searching for him, never imagining where he had gone. Desperate to escape, he began searching for a door, a passage, anything. But the hall had no walls, no boundaries; it was like standing on a vast platform suspended in endless darkness.
Then, movement.
Beside the throne, emerald light flared into existence. Lines of energy stretched into the outline of a towering door. Its frame was covered with glowing symbols, etched in circles and triangles, shifting like a hologram. The light pulsed in rhythm, casting eerie shadows.
Elias held his breath as the door rippled. Something was coming through.
A massive figure emerged. Taller than the throne itself, it stepped forward, its body sheathed in what looked like a robotic exosuit. Elias braced himself for a monster—but what he saw was even stranger.
The being's form was humanoid, but its head was avian, sharp and regal like a bird of prey. Emerald symbols glowed across its armor, while circuit-like lines traced patterns down its arms and legs, converging at its chest in a radiant core. Crystals floated around its body in a deliberate, synchronized dance. Behind it, an emerald halo blazed, inscribed with unreadable glyphs that spun slowly like a wheel of power.
The giant approached with silent authority, then lowered itself onto the throne. Its glowing eyes fixed on Elias.
The silence stretched.
Elias could feel the weight of its gaze pressing down on him, its presence alone enough to crush his voice. His body trembled, every instinct screaming at him to run. His heart thundered like a war drum in his chest, but his legs refused to move. He was trapped—caught in the unblinking stare of something far beyond human.