God's blind eye stared down at the city of Lumina, and the street lights flickered endlessly as the shadows danced on the pavement. Alas, in an alley behind a run-down arcade, everything felt…different. The air felt stagnant and heavy…
A boy with dark brown hair, covered in tracks and a black jacket, stood there uneasily while he inhaled some fresh air, his eyes pointed downwards at a physical photograph of his deceased father, as he tried his best not to tear up. The air was cold as the time passed midnight. There was no noise other than the short circuitry of the street lights in his vicinity.
His phone started to vibrate vigorously.
He reached into his pants hesitantly, praying he hadn't gotten caught for sneaking out of his house.
"I really hope they don't find out about the pillows I stuffed under my blanket," he whispered under his breath.
He pulled it out; the screen was dark. He sighed in relief. As his fingers wrapped around his phone more firmly, the vibrations began once again, and it escalated more violently; it started to get warmer… as if it had a heartbeat of its own, as though something had been trying to break free. He tapped the power button in the hope it was a malfunction. The screen lit up instantly, but instead of his lock screen, a single message filled the display.
[DO YOU WISH TO CHALLENGE FATE, VIREO?]
He blinked, then rubbed his eyes just to check if he was dreaming. There was nothing else on the screen, no notification icon or app name. Just two options beneath the message.
'YES' or 'NO'
He stared in confusion at what the options could entail. Alas, curiosity nudged into his mind, and it had gotten the best of him.
"Happy Birthday to me, I guess…"
He chose 'YES.'
For a moment, nothing happened at all. Then the area lurched. The streetlights flickered violently as if they were going to explode. The air around him felt suffocating as a strange pressure hummed in the wind like a calm before a thunderstorm. The phone had burst with light, and yet it stayed intact as it clung to his hand like glue. Panic shot through his chest, his lungs stiffened, and his body froze.
"What the- help!" Vireo screamed at the top of his lungs, but all he mustered was a whisper at best.
Lines of bloodshot red light started to sprawl across the phone, as it branched out like veins beneath the skin. Circuit-like patterns pulsated and glowed beneath them with a rhythm.
The phone reacted to Vireo, as it responded to his every move, judging every action. The glow intensified as it surged throughout his hand, crawled up to his wrist, and into his arms. The display cracked, yet the fractures didn't shatter. Instead, the pieces that got broken lifted into the air from the surface as it floated upwards like weightless shards of light. Vireo stared in shock as it moved and twisted mid-air, stretching outwards, morphing, and lengthening.
Until suddenly there was weight in his hands once again, but it wasn't a phone; it was a luminescent blade. It was a long, narrow blade made of pale light that hummed softly as he gripped it as if it spoke to him. The edge shimmered with an obscure distortion that warped the air around it.
A voice echoed throughout his mind. It was cold and mechanical.
[MANIFESTATION COMPLETE]
[Weapon Type: Catalyst]
[Designation: Reality Blade]
His palm gripped his chest as his heart raced.
"What..?"
Before he could complete his thought process, footsteps echoed from the farthest end of the alleyway as they only got nearer. The flickering street light revealed a girl, silver hair glistening under the moon, eyes blue as the ocean, draped in a black dress that exposed her shoulders with a phone in hand. Her gaze immediately locked onto the weapon in Viero's hand.
"You're new…" She muttered.
"What are you rambling about? It's 3 am, cut it out, you're scaring me, miss…" Vireo replied awkwardly, almost biting his tongue, slightly stumbling back, and almost tripping on some rubbish.
She tilted her head slightly, studying his reactions. Her fingers gripped her phone until it shattered, warping around her hand.
"Oh come on-" He shouted as his body trembled.
Her device unraveled in a burst of light, as it illuminated the desolate alleyway. Shards lifted from its surface and began to rearrange themselves mid-air. A sleek one-handed crossbow emerged from the shards as she aimed at him.
Vireo's vision flickered as words appeared across the edge of his sight, as if translucent text got burnt into reality.
[PLAYER DETECTED]
[DISTANCE: 10 METERS]
The ground beneath their feet flickered while thin glowing lines spread throughout the alley walls, forming strange, irregular geometrical patterns that covered the entire area where they stood.
The air became heavy as if time had frozen; it felt… different, like reality itself had been shifted slightly out of place, outside of the bounds of rationality and physics.
The voice returned, the sound rang everywhere in his ear.
[DUAL INITIALIZED]
The girl sighed, with her finger millimeters away from the trigger, subtly aiming at him.
"Great, you're a beginner, I'm sorry for this," in a cold manner, as the apology felt like pouring acid over an open wound.
The weapon fired point blank in the narrow alleyway, a bolt of pure white light ripped through the air, sizzling with noise as if the air around it was burnt, while the ground beneath was being torn by the immense pressure it carried.
Vireo reacted instinctively without thought. His body moved on its own as his arm swung upwards. As the blade made contact with the bolt, it severed it clean in half, and sparks scattered across the alleyway like falling stars. The tension of contact drove Vireo off his feet into the center of the wall, breaking it. As he got propelled into the arcade.
The girl's eyes widened slightly as she walked over the rubble into the arcade interior, where Vireo lay on his back.
"First time?" Completely unfazed, as if she did this a thousand times, as she aimed again.
Vireo's grip tightened around his blade, "You could stay that," while he got up immediately. He dusted off the bits of concrete on his clothing, all while his gaze stayed locked onto her.
"Rule one," as she pulled the trigger, another bolt of light tore through the air again, and as it grazed his arm that he barely dodged, it exploded behind him. Fragments of the concrete flew everywhere; as a result, the arcade equipment got damaged.
"Rule 2, Don't hesitate," as she lowers her crossbow.
Vireo hid behind one of the fighting game cabinets, closest to his vicinity, while his back hugged the machine as he tried to catch his breath. He looked down at his blade, and he noticed that the light began to slowly dim. He knew that wasn't a good sign. He gritted his teeth.
"Fine," he muttered.
He rushed forward, gripping his blade tightly as in his mind it was life or death. The air warped as he swung with all his might. Vireo had no thought behind the strikes. It was clumsy but powerful. The shockwave shattered the surrounding glass. The girl stepped aside effortlessly… too effortlessly.
"You're overdoing it,"
His arm felt as if it were burning up to the point where injuries were self-inflicted with every swing. In his peripheral view, a translucent text appeared.
[SYNCHRONIZATION 21%]
"What does that even mean?" he muttered to himself.
She sighed as she dodged every swing from Viego effortlessly, as if she were dancing with her amazing footwork.
"You don't even understand your Alter yet. Why are you even here?"
As his blade collided with her crossbow, this time, she parried the attack, as fragments of the weapons chipped away, and it sparked like shards of glass. She planted her hind leg firmly into the ground as Vireo's body was unsteady. Her fist connected with his stomach, and air rushed out of his lungs, making him lose grip of the blade. Without a second's notice, she spun around, landing a devastating kick on the middle of his chest that propelled him onto the floor a few meters away, leaving a crater underneath.
"Interesting… you're unstable but dangerous. Final rule, don't be stupid," as her weapon dissolves back into light and into nothingness.
Vireo held his jacket over the spot where the kick landed, as he gasped for air. He blinked, witnessing the blade dematerialize beside him. Vireo adjusted himself, and he slowly stood up in a defensive stance covered in dust until he collapsed back down again.
She turned away with a pitied look.
"You're not ready, learn to control your alter, or the next person that finds you will kill you. Until then, don't activate it."
The duel interface flickered in his peripheral vision.
[DUAL TERMINATED]
The world began to turn back to normal. In the blink of an eye, they were back in the alleyway without any scratches or bruises, just fatigue and no translucent texts in his peripheral view. The arcade looked as if it were untouched, as if there hadn't been an all-out fight a few moments ago.
The mysterious girl disappeared into the dark street as if nothing had happened, leaving Vireo with his device in hand, flat on the ground. Only one message remained on screen.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
[IRREGULAR MANIFESTATION DETECTED]
"I really need to get back home before sunrise," as he tried to get up, panting for air. As he took one step… his head became dizzy, his body weak, and he gripped the wall for support out of desperation. His vision blurred, slowly getting more numb until he fell unconscious, landing onto the cold pavement in the desolate streets.
The phone pulsed once, then returned to its normal functionality as a device. Far above the clouds, hidden beyond the sky, and undetected by normal means of vision. Something beyond their world, Fragments of a shattered moon began to glow.
[RANK: UNREGISTERED]