I woke up on the cold tile floor to the sound of distant screams.
A flickering blue line hovered in front of my eyes, buzzing like an insect that refused to die.
For a moment, I just lay there, blinking at the ceiling, trying to piece together why I was on the floor. My apartment once an oasis of peace felt like a tomb. Every sound echoed too loudly, every shadow felt heavy. It was beautiful, expensive, and entirely mine, but it had always felt like a mausoleum.
Pulling myself upright, I staggered past the window. Nairobi stretched out below glass, steel, chaos. The air was thick with blaring horns and overlapping sirens. Helicopters roared across the skyline, their lights cutting through rising smoke. Voices shouted for help somewhere down in the streets.
I just stood there, watching, unmoving.
Then the power cut out.
The generator coughed once and died, leaving the whole world black except for the glowing text floating in front of my eyes.
"Welcome to the Galactic Trial. Please select your Class."
I blinked once. Twice. Three times.
"What the hell…" I whispered.
Hallucination. It had to be. Either my depression had finally evolved into something creative, or I really had space rabies.
My phone, still on the counter, began to spark. The screen melted into static.
"Oh my days…" I muttered, stumbling over. "I need to call Baba. I need to"
No signal. Nothing.
The TV flared to life behind me, every channel broadcasting the same message in different languages:
"Welcome to the Galactic Trial."
I turned back toward the glowing text still hanging stubbornly in the air. The letters rearranged themselves, offering three floating words that shimmered like heat haze:
Scout – Speed, perception, adaptability.
Healer – Restoration, regeneration, faith.
Sovereign of Soil – Domain growth. Power proportional to territory and followers.
A laugh escaped me sharp, joyless. "Followers? I can't even keep friends."
The floor trembled beneath my bare feet. My balcony door rattled. Out beyond the skyline, something impossible was happeningthe city's towers seemed to bend, their edges flickering between solid and translucent, as though Nairobi itself was turning into a mirage.
A woman screamed from the street below.
A car rose into the air, flipped over slowly, and crashed sideways, gravity itself shifting like it was drunk.
The sky changed colors: red, then violet, then a deep electric blue. Clouds spun in spirals, as if stirred by a cosmic hand.
The words in front of me pulsed brighter.
"Class Selection Required."
"Warning: Failure to choose may result in termination."
Termination. Lovely.
That familiar panic began to build in my chestthe tightness, the short breath, the dizzy rush of too many thoughts collapsing at once. But then… something else. Stillness.
Maybe it was exhaustion.
Maybe I was just done being scared.
"Fine," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the chaos outside. "Let's play your game."
I reached out and touched the final option: Sovereign of Soil.
The world inhaled.
The air thickened, humming like a struck chord.
Blue light flooded across the floor tiles, spreading in veins that climbed the walls and wrapped around me like roots. My body convulsed as invisible threads pierced my skinthin lines of energy sinking into my veins, fusing with blood, bone, and heartbeat.
Every nerve lit up. My vision flashed white.
I could feel everything, my pulse hammering in my ears, the shift of the earth beneath the building, the weight of the air pressing against the windows.
My home was changing.
Lines of blue energy raced across the walls, tracing the edges of my property. The air grew warm, electric. For a heartbeat, I swore I could hear the building breathe.
Then the pain hit.
It wasn't sharpit was total. My entire body caught fire and froze at once. My scream ripped through the apartment and was swallowed by the thunder outside.
And then.... silence.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the floor. The world was quiet.
A voice, calm and smooth, whispered directly into my mind:
"Class Confirmed: Sovereign of Soil."
"Power grows with claimed territory."
"Protect your Domain."
The blue veins faded, leaving faint glowing patterns on my skin that slowly sank inward. My breath came in ragged bursts.
I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled toward the balcony.
Outside, half of Nairobi had gone dark its lights snuffed out in spreading rings of shadow.
For the first time in months, maybe years, my head was clear.
No fog. No numbness. Just purpose.
The voice returned, softer this time, almost affectionate.
"Welcome, Sovereign Mercy Mwangi, to the new era."
I flinched. No one had called me that in years. I'd gotten used to being "the disappointment," "the wasted potential," "the ghost in the penthouse."
Now? The city burned below, and for the first time, I wasn't afraid.
Maybe I should have been.
But I wasn't.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn't completely numb.
I walked out onto the balcony and watched the world end beneath an ever shifting sky
and I smiled. At least this is something new.