Helius had no idea how long he had been unconscious. The last thing he remembered was the cube sinking into his chest, tearing through him with unbearable pain until darkness swallowed everything.
Then, chaos.
He awoke to the deafening roar of explosions and the shrill cries of terrified people. Blinking rapidly, he found himself standing in front of a shattered window, jagged glass glinting all around him. Beyond it, buildings burned furiously, flames devouring rooftops and pouring black smoke into the sky.
Down below, people ran in every direction. Some screamed for loved ones, others scrambled for cover. A few tried desperately to pull survivors out of twisted, burning cars. It was a scene of pure disaster.
But what froze Helius in place was the giant column of fire rising in the distance. A mushroom cloud, glowing red and orange, expanded outward with unstoppable force. The fiery wave swept across the city, consuming everything in its path — buildings, vehicles, and people alike.
Including him.
The impact tore through his body—
Helius jolted awake, gasping for breath, sweat rolling down his forehead. His heart pounded like a hammer in his chest.
> "What… what was that dream?"
But before he could question it further, another thought rushed back to him. The cube. He had been reaching for it, then something pierced into his body — and then nothing.
"The cube…" he muttered.
He scrambled to his feet, glancing toward the crater where the strange object had fallen. But the spot was empty.
"It's missing."
His chest tightened. He remembered clearly — something had entered him before he blacked out.
Frantic, he ran his hands over himself, patting his chest, stomach, arms, searching for wounds or marks. Nothing. No cuts. No burns. No scars. He looked perfectly normal.
"Did the cube… enter my body?"
The thought made him shiver. Refusing to accept it, he climbed out of the crater and searched the area. He pushed aside bushes, scanned the trees, even returned to dig through the crater again. Nothing. Not a single trace of the cube or anything else that might have accompanied it.
After nearly an hour of searching, fatigue set in. His clothes were damp and streaked with mud, the sky already shifting from night to dawn. Frustrated and confused, he finally gave up.
"I'll deal with this later," he sighed.
---
Back home, he peeled off his dirty shirt and headed straight to the bathroom. He scrubbed himself clean, letting the warm water ease the tension in his body. But no matter how hard he tried, his mind refused to let go of the cube.
Stepping into his bedroom, still toweling himself dry, Helius froze.
The mirror reflected something impossible.
A vertical crack ran straight down the middle of his chest. It wasn't a wound, not exactly. It looked like glass shattered in a single line — but instead of blood beneath, there was only darkness. Black mist curled inside the fissure, shifting and swirling like living smoke.
His stomach dropped.
"Sh*t… what is this?"
He pressed his hand against it, half-expecting searing pain. But his fingers met smooth skin. No blood. No cut. No sensation at all. From the outside, his chest felt completely normal. Yet the image in the mirror was undeniable.
Before he could comprehend it, something surged within him. His thoughts slipped toward curiosity — what's inside me? — and instantly, the crack pulsed with light.
Energy flared. His entire body vibrated.
And then he vanished.
---
When the sensation faded, Helius found himself standing in a strange chamber. Black walls formed a perfect cube around him, while the floor and ceiling glowed stark white. The room was vast — at least two hundred and fifty cubic meters — but eerily silent, like he had stepped into another dimension.
Floating at the very center was the cube.
"The crater…" he whispered.
Drawn closer, he brushed his fingers against one of the walls. His hand was stopped abruptly by something invisible. It wasn't metal, stone, or glass — just an unseen barrier, humming faintly with restrained energy.
Confused, he muttered, "Where am I…?"
A voice answered.
"Greetings, human. You are in the subspace created by the Void Essence."
Helius spun around, eyes wide. The voice was metallic, reverberating through the room. Yet there was no one here — only him and the floating cube.
"Subspace?" he repeated, struggling to understand. "Wait… who are you? And how did I get here?"
"I do not possess a name. But you may call me Cube, as you did when you first encountered me. I am an intelligent being, forged in the deep void of space. For reasons unknown, I drifted and eventually descended into this world."
Cube's voice paused, then continued.
"This subspace is accessible only to you. It activates when the Void Essence within your chest responds to your will."
Helius placed a hand against his chest, recalling the strange crack he had seen. His mind raced.
"So… when I thought about what was inside me, it brought me here?"
"Not exactly. You need only will yourself to enter this independent space. The Void Essence will do the rest."
"Then… how do I leave?"
"By activating your spatial awareness. Visualize a location you wish to appear, then engage spatial transfer. You will be transported instantly."
Helius shook his head, overwhelmed. "I don't even… I don't understand half of what you're saying."
Still, questions clawed at him. "This thing in my chest. What is it?"
"It is the Void Seed. Born from singularity matter, it absorbs and processes energy into Void Essence."
His blood ran cold. "So… like a power generator? Could it hurt me? Radiation, poison, something that could… kill me?"
"No. The Void Seed has fused with your essence. If you die, it dies. As long as you live, the Void Essence is harmless to you. In fact, it will strengthen you — heal your body, extend your life. It is no longer separate. It is you."
Helius pressed a palm against his chest. Outwardly, nothing. Inwardly, he felt it — a faint warmth, like a heartbeat made of energy.
"This is insane…"
"Would you like to return?" the cube asked.
"Yes. Tell me how."
"I will show you."
Suddenly, symbols and diagrams flooded into Helius's mind. At first they were incomprehensible — alien markings that twisted and spun like living code. But then, the strange glyphs he had glimpsed when the cube first entered his body stirred awake. They aligned, shifted, and in moments, the language made sense.
Helius gasped. He understood.
Spatial awareness. The ability to project his mind outward, to perceive locations as if they were three-dimensional holograms. To see through walls, over distances, even into hidden places.
Spatial transfer. The ability to bend space and teleport to any chosen point — limited only by the Void Essence within him.
The weight of it nearly crushed him. He lowered himself onto the glowing floor, steadying his breath.
"All right… let's try this."
Closing his eyes, he visualized his house.
Suddenly, the world unfolded in black and white outlines. His home appeared in perfect detail — the walls, the furniture, even the trees and mountains around it. People moved in his vision, their forms like glowing silhouettes. It was as if he were watching a living hologram of reality itself, unobstructed, limitless.
His eyes widened. "I can… see everything…"
He pushed the image further, and his awareness stretched. The whole town appeared before him — buildings, streets, people going about their morning. Every detail unfolded before his eyes.
"So if I think of going to a place I can see… I'll teleport there?" he asked.
"Yes, human," Cube confirmed.
Helius inhaled deeply, then visualized his parents' house. He saw it clearly — empty inside, his brother likely gone for work.
He activated the transfer.
The world around him bent. Space rippled like water. His vision collapsed, then snapped back into focus.
He was standing in the living room.
Helius's mouth fell open. He reached out and touched the wooden table. It was real. All of it.
The sensation of bending space and reappearing in a completely different location was surreal. Unbelievable.
Then nausea hit. His stomach churned, and a cold chill ran across his body.
He looked down.
"…Oh sh*t. I forgot to dress up."
Laughing nervously, he activated spatial transfer again. In an instant, he was back in his room. The nausea lingered, but he suspected it was only because it was his first time.
"I'll get used to it," he muttered, pulling on his shirt and pants.
Morning light poured in through the window.
Helius sat down heavily on his bed. His hands trembled, not from fear — but from awe.
He could still hardly believe what he had experienced.
And he knew one thing for certain: his life would never be the same.