"Jammu Tawi Railway Station."
The announcement cut through everything, but it felt distant, like it didn't belong to the same moment anymore.
The train came to a halt with a long metallic sigh.
People moved, but slower than usual.
Bags were picked up, steps taken—but eyes kept drifting upward, like something was pulling them back.
I stepped down onto the platform.
The air felt… off.
Not heavier.
Not lighter.
Just different.
My phone rang.
"Ma."
I picked up immediately.
"Hello?"
"When will you reach?" Her voice carried that usual worry, but there was something else under it—unease she wasn't saying out loud.
"I just arrived, ma," I said, stepping aside as the crowd pushed forward.
"I'll take a taxi and be home soon. Don't worry."
"Come quickly… and safely. I'm worried."
"Oki," I said softly.
"Don't worry ma , i'll be home soon."
The call ended.
For a second, everything felt normal again.
Then—
the air vibrated.
Not sound.
Not exactly.
More like the space itself shuddered.
My eyes snapped upward.
The ground trembled beneath my feet, a low, rolling shake that made people stumble, bags slipping, voices rising all at once.
"What—?!"
The sky—
the circle— pulsed.
A deep, golden surge rippled through it, like a heartbeat.
Waves of light spilled outward, not blinding, but overwhelming—layer after layer expanding across the sky.
The transparent centre changed.
It lit up.
Not gradually but Instantly.
A radiant gold flooded the inner void, and the rings moved.
Rotating too fast now.
Shifting forward.
One after another.
Like a tunnel forming.
A path.
The air pressure dropped sharply.
My ears rang.
The world felt compressed for a split second—
and then—
something shot out.
A streak of gold and red lightning tore through the opening, too fast to track, splitting the sky like a crack of thunder given form.
It hit.
A mountain—about a kilometer away—
BOOM.
The impact wasn't just sound—it slammed into the body.
A shockwave burst outward, kicking up a massive wall of dust and debris, trees bending, loose gravel skidding across the ground.
People screamed.
Some dropped to the ground instinctively.
Others just stood frozen, staring.
The dust cloud rose, thick and choking, swallowing the mountain in seconds.
But before it could settle—
the portal shifted again.
Something else was coming out.
Slower this time.
A shape.
Barely visible at first, like light trying to take form.
The glow intensified, outlining something… humanoid.
Wings.
Faint.
White.
Not solid—more like they were made of light itself, flickering at the edges, stretching wide behind the figure.
It didn't fall.
It hovered.
Suspended in the air for a moment that felt longer than it should.
Then it moved.
Smooth.
Silent.
It flew toward the blasted mountain.
Straight into the dust cloud.
And disappeared.
----
The dust hadn't settled.
It churned, thick and restless, rising from a crater so vast it swallowed the entire mountainside—wide enough to fit something the size of a parliament complex and still leave space around it. The ground around it cracked outward in long, jagged lines, heat still radiating from the impact.
Through the haze, a faint glow descended.
The winged figure.
It didn't crash.
It landed—slow, controlled—barely disturbing the debris beneath it.
The light around its form dimmed just enough to reveal an outline, still blurred, still incomplete.
It stepped closer to the edge of the crater.
"Asterial… you shouldn't have done this."
The voice carried, not loud, but it cut through everything—the dust, the distance, the noise still echoing from the blast.
"You shouldn't have tried to change fate."
For a moment, there was nothing.
Then—
a sound from within the crater.
Rough.
Laboured.
"…ugh… cough…"
A figure shifted below, barely visible through the dust and broken stone.
"Emperion…" the voice strained, pain laced through every word.
"Y-you should know… it wasn't meant to happen like this…"
A pause.
A breath that sounded like it hurt to take.
"I won't let them die… unknowingly… in despair…"
The ground shifted slightly as the voice steadied, forcing strength back into itself.
"They don't have mana to even begin the process… they'll be nothing but lambs in a slaughterhouse."
Silence stretched for a second.
Then—
"Asterial," the winged figure spoke again, tone unchanged, almost indifferent.
"It is for the greater purpose."
A faint glow intensified around him.
"We need their souls in the underworld… to revive him."
The air felt colder.
"Only through him… will true salvation come."
A dry, broken laugh echoed from the crater.
"Salvation…?"
Asterial's voice rose, anger cutting through the pain.
"My ass."
The dust shifted.
"You're trying to resurrect that?"
His voice sharpened, disbelief turning into fury.
"The very thing we all fought to banish?!"
"Have you forgotten our brother's sacrifice?!! His sacrifice?!!"
The glow around the winged figure didn't flicker.
"No."
"I won't let you-"
Asterial's tone changed.
"I won't let you!!!"
A faint surge of energy rippled through the crater, pushing dust outward in a low wave.
"This fate is corrupted."
Another step.
Another shift.
"I'll change it."
For the first time—
the winged figure laughed.
Low.
Amused.
"Hahaha… foolish brother."
The glow around him began to fade—not disappearing, but condensing.
Revealing.
A hooded figure emerged from the light, towering—meters tall.
Three pairs of wings extended from his back, each one formed of pure radiance, edges sharp like blades of light.
Golden armour covered his entire form, intricate, flawless, reflecting the dimming glow around him.
His face remained hidden beneath the hood.
"How so?-" Emperion said, voice calm, almost curious.
The words had barely left his mouth—
when something moved.
Fast.
A blur from within the crater—
and a fist—
slammed into his chest.