The morning arrived with strange winds — not cold, not warm, but carrying the scent of ancient metal. The air felt oddly thick, as if it compacted between breaths. Kaelya was the first to sense the vibration.
— This isn't regular magic… it feels like the air has been rearranged.
Albert stood at the corner of their room's balcony, silently staring toward the gray horizon. He didn't look surprised.
— It has begun. This is only the first wave. The second… will bring the reaction.
— Reaction from who? Elion asked.
— From those who didn't want us in the tournament. Or... those who wanted us here, but not on the main stage.
At the same time, near the edge of the territory surrounding the suspended platforms of the Central Academy, a figure dressed entirely in blue walked silently. Behind them, another — wearing a silver spider mask — activated a sphere of violet energy.
— We destabilize the protection field tonight. If we don't start now, it'll be too late.
— And if we get caught?
— Then we initiate "Project Eclipse."
Meanwhile, in one of the side corridors of the academy, Kaelya unexpectedly crossed paths with Zhelenya.
— I expected more from you, Zhelenya said bluntly.
— I didn't come to impress, I came to understand, Kaelya replied.
— Have you begun to understand… or are you just starting to feel something else?
Kaelya paused for a moment, then walked past without answering.
Zhelenya remained behind, raising an eyebrow:
— She's starting to see, and that will change her. She'll have to choose… between loyalty and truth.
That evening, Albert was alone in a corner of a floating garden. Around him, the flowers had no scent. The wind made no sound.
An old man in a steel-gray robe approached.
— Are you the one from the echoes?
Albert didn't reply right away.
— Depends who's asking.
— A former champion. A future witness. And a man who once saw — long ago — what was not meant to be seen.
— Then… you know what's coming?
— No. But I recognized your gaze. It's the same look I had when I realized the world… is not ours.
That night, at the edge of the magical forest, a blast of black light shook the trees.
A circle of masked mages had triggered the first illegal summoning. Not for war. Not for conquest.
But to create a fracture in the world's structure.
Yet one of them misspoke the formula.
Something from outside... heard them.
And responded.
The black light didn't explode — it pulsed. Like an ancient heartbeat. The ground around the summoning circle turned unstable, and the runes etched into the soil began to twist, as if trying to escape their own construction.
— This… wasn't part of the plan! one of the mages shouted.
— Close the circle! NOW!
But it was too late.
From the center of the symbol, a shadow emerged — not with force, but with curiosity. It didn't resemble any demon, nor any known entity. It had no fixed form, but each of them perceived it... differently.
One saw it as a woman with iris-less eyes. Another as a silhouette made of solid smoke. A third sensed only… a thought.
> "Who called me without knowing my name?"
One of the mages tried to utter a protection spell, but his mouth sealed shut, as if pulled by an invisible thread. Another dropped to his knees, crying silently.
And outside the circle, hidden among the trees, an unknown observer was taking notes in a book that didn't seem to have pages — but layers of compressed reality.
— They touched the veil between worlds… and something answered.
In his room, Albert stood up abruptly. His eyes turned dark, then glowed faintly in a pearl gray hue.
Kaelya flinched.
— What is it?
— Someone… pierced a barrier. Not a big one. But enough to draw... something even I don't fully understand.
Elion tightened his cloak.
— Do we need a plan?
Albert closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he said:
— No. We need to observe. This isn't our fight — not yet.
That evening, in the Shadow Council — which only gathered when reality itself was threatened — the planetary-level magical shields were automatically inspected.
One of the shields — the one guarding the temporal layer of the Academies — showed a one-millimeter fracture.
But for those who understood space-time magic… that millimeter could become the end of an era.
In a magical isolation cell within Lunaris Academy, a boy with strange eyes opened a journal:
> "Albert is close. The world senses him. The world fears him. Thus begins… The Return of the Zero Point."
The next morning, without any official alert, one of the sub-academies in the Thirwen network was abruptly shut down. The reason? "Dimensional malfunction." But for those who read between the lines, it meant one thing:
> The attack has begun.
Inside the Inner Council of Ismir Academy, mentors whispered among themselves. Zhelenya was present but silent. She only listened.
— An unknown entity made contact with etheric matter at the Sub-North Gate.
— It couldn't have been an internal magical error.
— No. Someone opened the door… and something else came through.
Meanwhile, Albert and his group were led to an isolated training hall for an "optional strategic session" — in truth, a discreet opportunity to evaluate their progression.
The instructor was a massive man with a charred wooden mask and a voice like muffled thunder.
— I won't teach you anything. But I want to see how you react. Take your positions.
Albert didn't move. Elion drew two defense crystals. Kaelya extended her palms, her runes beginning to vibrate.
The instructor shook his head.
— All of you choose defensive magic. No offense?
Albert replied:
— Depends if we want to survive… or destroy.
While the training continued, in the dimensional analysis chambers, a researcher with blue-lensed glasses examined last night's signals.
— It's there. His trace is everywhere. We just can't determine if he's outside the system… or right in its center, hidden.
In a secret zone beneath the sacred grounds of Lunaris, a young girl with shimmering white hair wrote on a wall in blood:
> "The thought has been touched. He is coming. Not as hero. Not as enemy. But as reflection."
After training, Kaelya and Albert were alone in a suspended tower.
She looked at him, serious.
— You already know what's behind all these disruptions, don't you?
Albert looked up at the sky.
— Not what… who. And not yet. But very soon… we'll see their faces.
— And us?
— We'll be caught between the hammer and the anvil. But maybe... also between legend and reality.
At that moment, in the etheric archive chamber of the Central Academy, an ancient crystal cracked on its own, untouched, and the voice of a forgotten being whispered from the ether:
> "The shadows have begun to tremble. Not out of fear. But because they know… they're about to be seen."
As night fell over the suspended platforms, the magical city did not quiet down — on the contrary, it seemed more alive. Protective lights pulsed along the buildings, and in the air, minor summons sustained safety fields and watchful barriers.
But inside Eronis Academy, in a hall meant for interdimensional experiments, a group of advanced students was working on a simulation — a magical reconstruction of the previous night's event.
Something, however, wasn't working.
— I entered the exact data… and still the mana flow refuses to comply.
— It's as if the event… can't be repeated, said a trembling student.
A boy with etheric tattoos around his eyes whispered:
— Then it means the event wasn't caused by magic… but by pure will.
Everyone fell silent.
Elsewhere on the continent, in the Realm of the Undying, an entity wearing the mask of a raven touched a black pillar with its translucent hand.
— Balance was broken with a single blink. What will happen when he opens his eyes fully?
Back in Ismir, Elion wrote in his private journal:
> "I get the feeling we're not here to compete. But to witness. Or perhaps even to judge. Or… to be pawns."
At the same time, Kaelya held her fingers to an old pendant she hadn't removed since their arrival.
— I have to know… if my choice was truly mine. Or if it was written long ago.
Albert… was elsewhere.
Not physically. But his soul — or perhaps just his perception — was walking in a place where each step echoed through reality.
In the sky, there were no stars. Only closed eyes. Thousands. Tens of thousands.
One of them… opened.
And its voice spoke in silence:
> "You've awakened them. Now… they will watch."
Albert returned to the room, his expression calm but cold. Kaelya and Elion looked at him.
— What did you see? Kaelya asked.
Albert answered after a long moment:
— The future. Or maybe just… the gaze of the future.
Far away, beyond the known world, a conglomerate of beings clothed in chaos watched the sphere of reality that contained Albert.
One of them spoke:
— When the game begins, we will no longer be able to hide the pieces.
Another replied:
— Not even… him.
In the Sacred Archive of Fractured Time, where scrolls rewrote their own past and future, a fragment of chronology vanished without warning. An elderly scholar, blind but with eyes of light, flinched:
— The event line… has been compromised. Someone has stepped outside the flow.
His assistant, a mute child who communicated only through runes, wrote into the air:
> "His name doesn't appear. But all choices lead to him."
In the dark corners of the Noxidar Empire, where spells are bound by contracts with unknown entities, a pact three thousand years old spontaneously unraveled. A cultist king, his skin black as obsidian, felt the connection disappear.
— We must stop him. Or convert him. But we cannot… ignore him.
At Ismir, in the chamber where mentors gathered only in times of crisis, a secret meeting was held — one Albert knew nothing about.
— He is an anomaly.
— He is a catalyst.
— He is an inevitable element.
Zhelenya lifted her gaze:
— He is a sign that the old system no longer works.
In a parallel plane, a place where time flowed backward and reality had fluid edges, an Entity with a human face but infinite eyes observed a sphere pulsing in bluish light.
— The game will no longer be about who wins. But about who remembers the rules… as they change.
Another voice replied from the abyss:
— Or who rewrites them.
In a simple room, in the "real" world, Albert sat at a table. In front of him was a cup of tea left untouched.
Kaelya entered silently. Elion followed, visibly tense.
Albert looked up. There was neither fatigue nor fear in his eyes — but acceptance.
— They're coming.
— Who? Elion asked.
— All of them. Those who've been watching. Those who will test us. Those who want to stop me. And maybe… those who want to save me.
Kaelya sat beside him, close.
— You don't have to go through all this alone.
Albert reached out and touched her fingers.
— I'm not alone. Not anymore.
In the night sky, a new star appeared. It wasn't a star, but a fracture. One that pulsed slowly… but steadily.
And in the depths of another world, a bodiless voice spoke for the first time:
> "He's awakened. It's not his power that scares us. It's the fact that he knows exactly who he is."
Echoes in Silence
Kingdom of Northern Winds – Hall of the Recalling Moon
An old elven advisor reread a message sent by a high-ranking observer. The runes on his neck trembled against his pale skin.
— He has been found. He's no longer a possibility. He is… an active constant.
A young elven warrior in light armor bowed her head.
— And if we leave him be?
— The world won't collapse immediately. But… it will reorganize around him. And no one will understand who truly holds control.
Dragonrealm – Hall of Burning Genesis
An ancient dragon with eyes veiled in crystal scales murmured in the elder tongue:
— His blood is not of this world. But his soul… is summoned by everything that exists.
A younger dragon growled in defiance:
— Why fear him? His power can be matched!
— His power, maybe. But not his intent. He does not seek domination. Which means… he cannot be stopped.
The Council of the Masked – Neutral Zone, Unknown Location
Three figures in distinct robes discussed around a cornerless table. At its center floated a projection of Albert… smiling.
— He's the most dangerous type of existence.
— Because he's too powerful?
— No. Because he wants nothing from us. He doesn't demand. Doesn't threaten. And still, we… are afraid.
The Eternal Library – Suspended Dimension
A transdimensional scribe was recording recent events into the "Book of Quiet Change." On the page that marked Albert's name, the letters wouldn't stay in place.
— Not even the parchment can define him.
A librarian whispered:
— Then perhaps we must write his story… with him present.
Tower of Invocation – The Mages Who Summoned Albert
The woman who had once led the ritual was now old. Dressed in prayer robes, she stared through a ring of cold light.
— We brought him… but we never knew him. We thought he was a means. He was a beginning.
One of the mages who had assisted her, silent until then, asked:
— Do you think… he knows?
The woman smiled bitterly:
— Not only does he know. I believe he… remembers.
The Nameless Entity – Unknown Location
In absolute darkness, where there was no sound, no light, no form, a presence stirred.
> "It was too soon. But too late to stop him."
A second voice replied:
> "Did he see us?"
> "Worse. He recognized us."
In Albert's room, at that very moment
He stared into a mirror. But in his reflection, he saw not only himself.
He saw every possible version of himself.
And all of them… were staring back.