The wind whispered through the broken ruins, carrying with it the scent of smoldering ash. Charred remains of skyscrapers leaned like ancient trees, towering over the city that had once thrived. The streets, long abandoned, were buried under thick layers of soot and debris. A faint glow rippled through the cracks of the earth, as if something beneath the surface still pulsed with life.
Rael's eyelids fluttered, caked with dust as he stirred from unconsciousness. His body felt like it had been trapped under the weight of a thousand years, muscles stiff and foreign. His fingers twitched, flexing against the rough gravel beneath him. He gasped for air, lungs burning as though he had been submerged for too long, struggling for a breath.
The sky above was a somber gray, shrouded by clouds that never seemed to break. He lay still for a moment, senses slowly awakening to the desolation around him. No voices, no movement—only the eerie silence of the wasteland greeted him.
Rael's heart pounded in his chest as his mind raced. Where was he? How had he gotten here?
His hands fumbled over the cold ground, and something sharp brushed against his fingertips. A fragment of glass, perhaps, or metal. He grasped it, but as soon as his fingers closed around the object, a pulse of heat shot through his body, filling him with an overwhelming sense of dread and familiarity.
His vision blurred as memories that weren't his own flashed before him—cities swallowed by flame, shadows moving with inhuman speed, and a towering figure that stood at the center of the storm, eyes burning with light. The images slipped through his fingers like sand, leaving behind only echoes of their presence.
Rael's breath hitched. He tried to steady himself, his mind grasping at fragments of thought, but it felt like trying to catch the wind.
With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet. His legs trembled, barely supporting his weight. In the distance, through the haze of destruction, he saw the outline of what had once been a building—a monument to humanity's past, now barely more than rubble.
The glow from the object in his hand grew stronger. Rael's gaze shifted to it—a smooth, obsidian stone, warm to the touch, and pulsing faintly with energy. As he stared at it, the heat from the stone began to sync with the beat of his heart, as if the two were connected.
Then, out of nowhere, a whisper brushed against his mind, faint but insistent.
"Find it... before it finds you..."
Rael staggered back, his pulse quickening. His hand tightened around the stone instinctively, though his mind screamed to let it go. He turned sharply, eyes scanning the barren landscape for any sign of movement. But nothing stirred.
Yet the feeling of being watched crawled over his skin, thick as smoke. His instincts screamed at him, primal and fierce.
Without a second thought, Rael slipped the stone into his pocket and began to move, each step sending a jolt of pain through his limbs. He didn't know what he was looking for, but something deep inside him urged him forward. Away from the ruins. Away from whatever hunted him.