I didn't sleep a wink.
By 7 AM, I'd gone through the stream footage frame by frame, taking screenshots of every detail – the carvings on the spire, the way the water flowed upward, the golden eyes of the guardian beast. I saved everything to an encrypted drive I'd kept hidden under my bed for emergencies, then backed it up to a cloud server based in Iceland. If someone wanted to erase what had happened, they'd have to work for it.
I pulled on my usual college uniform – navy blazer, white shirt, gray slacks – and packed my bag with my streaming gear: a small portable camera, a lapel mic, extra batteries, and my laptop. I debated bringing a weapon but decided against it – if RiftTengu was telling the truth about being able to help me, a pocket knife wouldn't be much use against whatever lived in the realms.
Hana followed me to the door, meowing like she didn't want me to leave. I knelt down and scratched behind her ears. "I know, girl. I don't want to go either. But I need answers. I'll be back before you know it – and maybe I'll bring you something cool from… wherever I'm going."
I grabbed a onigiri from the kitchen counter and headed out into the morning rush of Tokyo. The city was already alive with people hurrying to work and school, the air filled with the sound of trains, car horns, and chatter. It felt strange – like nothing had changed, even though I'd seen a world that defied every law of physics just hours earlier.
As I rode the Yamanote Line to Ueno Station, I pulled out my phone to check social media. My stream clip had been viewed over a million times, and #RiftedRealms was now trending globally. News outlets were picking it up – some calling it a breakthrough discovery, others dismissing it as an elaborate hoax. A post from TechSakura – one of my regular viewers – had been shared thousands of times: "I've watched Rizu-kun stream for two years. He can barely edit a highlight reel, let alone create CGI like this. This is real."
I smiled to myself, then noticed a man standing across from me on the train. He was wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses, even though it was cloudy outside, and he kept glancing at my bag – specifically at the camera peeking out of the top. When our eyes met, he nodded slightly, then got off at the next stop.
Was that him? I wondered, my heart speeding up. I stayed on the train until Ueno, then made my way through the crowds toward the park.
The sakura tree behind the National Museum was easy to find – it was one of the oldest in the city, its massive trunk wide enough for three people to wrap their arms around it. Even in early spring, before the blossoms had fully opened, it was an impressive sight. A person was already waiting there – not the man from the train, but a woman in her late twenties, wearing a lab coat over casual clothes, her dark hair tied back in a ponytail. She was holding a small metal case and looking at her watch.
"Rizu-kun?" she said as I approached, her voice calm and clear. "I'm Aiko – RiftTengu. Sorry for the alias, but it's safer this way."
I stopped a few feet away, my hand instinctively moving to my bag. "You're… you're RiftTengu? I thought you were a guy."
She laughed – a warm, genuine sound. "I get that a lot. When you're dealing with things that most people think are impossible, you learn to keep your identity hidden. Please, sit down – we have a lot to talk about, and I'd rather not do it standing in the middle of a park."
We sat on a bench under the sakura tree, and she opened the metal case. Inside was a small device that looked like a cross between a compass and a smartphone, with glowing blue lights that pulsed in a steady rhythm.
"First things first – what you saw last night wasn't a one-time thing," she said, pushing the device across the bench to me. "The Rifted Realms have existed as long as our world has. They're parallel dimensions, each with its own rules – gravity that works differently, creatures that don't exist here, energy sources we can't even begin to understand."
I picked up the device, feeling it hum in my hand – the same faint vibration I'd felt from the wall the night before. "How do you know all this?"
"I work for a research organization called the Pathfinder Collective," she explained. "We've been studying the realms for over fifty years. We have teams all over the world who track rifts when they open – though most are too small or unstable to travel through. Yours was different – it was a 'stable gateway,' one that stayed open long enough for you to cross through safely."
"Safe?" I said, thinking about the guardian beast. "That thing almost crushed me."
Aiko nodded seriously. "The guardian beasts protect the realms from those who would harm them – or take their resources for profit. It only attacked because you went past the boundary line. Most first-time Pathfinders don't make it that far – they either get too scared to cross over, or the rift closes before they can explore."
She pulled out a tablet and showed me images – photos of other rifts, of creatures that looked even more incredible than the one I'd seen, of landscapes that defied description. "Pathfinders are rare – maybe one in every million people has the ability to see and travel through the rifts without getting sick or lost. The energy in the realms affects everyone differently, but for Pathfinders… it enhances our natural abilities. You said you felt stronger after drinking the water, right?"
I nodded. "My vision was sharper too. Like I could see everything more clearly."
"That's the energy adapting to you," she said. "Over time, Pathfinders develop unique abilities – some can sense when rifts are about to open, others can communicate with the creatures in the realms, a few can even manipulate the energy itself. We think it's because your DNA has a rare marker that lets you connect with the realms on a molecular level."
I stared at the device in my hand, my mind reeling. Everything she was saying sounded like science fiction, but after what I'd seen, I couldn't doubt her. "Why tell me all this? Why meet me here?"
"Because the Collective needs your help," Aiko said, leaning forward. "We've been trying to document the realms for years, but we've never been able to stream what we find – the energy interferes with our equipment, or the rifts close too quickly. But your stream last night worked perfectly. The realms didn't just let you in – they let you broadcast what you saw to the world. We think you're the key to showing people that there's more to reality than what we can see."
She paused, looking out at the park as a group of school kids ran past, chasing a stray cat. "There's another reason too. Someone else knows about your rift – a group called the Void Syndicate. They want to exploit the realms for power and profit, and they'll stop at nothing to find Pathfinders and use them to open stable gateways. The man on the train this morning – he was one of theirs. They've been following you since your stream went live."
My blood ran cold. "They know who I am? Where I live?"
"Not yet," Aiko said quickly. "We've been monitoring them, and we've already moved to protect your apartment and your family. But you can't go back to your old life – not safely. The Syndicate will keep looking for you until they find you."
I thought about my parents, who lived in Kyoto and had no idea what I'd been through. I thought about my classmates, my stream fans, Hana waiting for me at home. "What do I do then?"
Aiko opened her case again and pulled out a small black card with my name on it – Rizu Tanaka, Pathfinder, Collective Researcher. "You can join us. We'll give you a safe place to live, all the equipment you need to stream and document the realms, and training to help you control your abilities. You'll be able to keep streaming – in fact, we want you to. The more people who know about the realms, the harder it will be for the Syndicate to take them over."
I looked at the card, then at the device in my hand. My life had been simple just two days ago – go to class, stream cooking, try to build an audience. Now I was being asked to become part of something bigger than I'd ever imagined.
"I have one condition," I said, making up my mind. "I keep full control of my stream. No censorship, no hiding what we find. If the world is going to know about the realms, they need to know everything – the good and the dangerous parts."
Aiko smiled. "That's exactly what we were hoping you'd say."
She stood up and held out her hand. "Welcome to the Pathfinder Collective, Rizu-kun. Your first mission starts tomorrow – we've detected a rift opening in the mountains outside Nagano. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful realms we've ever seen. And we want you to stream every second of it."
I took her hand and stood up, feeling the weight of everything settling on my shoulders – but it wasn't a heavy weight. It was exciting. Purposeful.
As we walked out of the park, I pulled out my phone and posted a message to my stream's Twitter account: "Tonight at 8 PM JST – I'm going live again. This time, we're not just watching the realms. We're going back. #RiftedRealms"
Within seconds, thousands of replies flooded in – fans cheering me on, skeptics saying I was going to get myself killed, other streamers asking if they could join. I put my phone away and looked up at the sky, which was starting to clear, revealing patches of blue.
The world I'd known was still there – trains running on time, people going to work, sakura trees waiting to bloom. But now I knew there were other worlds out there too, full of magic and danger and possibilities I'd never dreamed of. And I was going to stream every single one of them.
Back at my apartment, I packed a small bag with clothes, my streaming gear, and Hana's favorite toys. She purred loudly as I held her, and I whispered in her ear, "You're coming with me too, girl. Who knows – maybe the realms have cats of their own."
I looked one last time at the wall where the rift had been. It was just a wall again, but I could feel it humming, waiting. Tomorrow, we'd find another door. And the day after that, another. Because I wasn't just a streamer anymore – I was a Pathfinder, and my journey had only just begun.