Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Silas groggily slammed his hand into his pesky alarm clock. "What time is it?" he muttered, his voice thick with sleep.
He squinted at the clock's glowing red numbers. "Okay, 7:00. That's not too bad." He sighed, letting his head sink back into his pillow. "Just a few more minutes."
When he finally opened his eyes again, a harsh light was streaming through his window. He winced, shielding his face as he reached for his phone. The moment he unlocked it, missed calls and angry texts filled his screen, all from his manager.
"Crap, not again." His stomach dropped as he saw the time: 12:00. He was supposed to be at work hours ago. His last lateness had cost him nearly all his hours; another might mean the end of the job altogether.
He dragged himself out of bed and trudged downstairs, knowing exactly what was coming. The quiet house felt heavy, like the walls themselves had grown tired of him.
In the kitchen, his mother stood at the sink, hands submerged in soapy water. She didn't even glance up as he walked in; her silence spoke louder than any scolding could. Silas's throat tightened as he watched her, her figure hunched slightly, her face pale and worn. A life lived in constant worry. And so much of it, he knew, was because of him.
"Mom, I—" he started, his voice barely above a whisper.
Without turning, she shut off the faucet, set the dish aside, and left the room without a word, her footsteps soft but deliberate. Her absence left a cold emptiness in the air, a reminder of the growing distance between them. Silas stood there, alone, surrounded by half-cleaned dishes and the faint scent of soap.
I can't keep doing this to her. The thought lingered, heavy and unrelenting. Clenching his fists, he took a deep breath and whispered, "I promise I'll make this right, Mom. Somehow, I'll make it right."
As he turned to go back upstairs, something unusual caught his eye. Just at the edge of his vision, a figure stood in the dim hallway — a man with long white hair, dressed in a pine green suit that seemed to shimmer faintly in the low light. His gaze was sharp, intense, almost as if he'd been waiting for Silas. The man's expression held an air of expectancy, as though he had heard every word of Silas's vow.
Silas blinked, and the man vanished, leaving only an empty hallway. He rubbed his eyes, his heart pounding. "Am I… seeing things?" he muttered to himself, the ghostly image lingering in his mind.
Shaking off the strange encounter, he headed back to his room and dialed his best friend, James. They spent the night unwinding, the familiar escape of video games distracting him for a while. But even as they laughed and joked, the weight of the morning and that strange vision stayed with him.
"Hey, James," he said suddenly, his voice heavy with doubt. "What am I gonna do with my life, man? I can't keep a job. I flunked out of high school. I need… I don't know. I need a miracle."
James hesitated before responding. "Dude, it'll work out. It always does. I mean, your parents could've left you out on the street when you lost your dorm room, but they didn't, right? Just get some sleep. We'll go job hunting tomorrow."
Silas sighed. "Yeah. Thanks, James. Goodnight."
After hanging up, Silas sank into his bed, the day's weight slowly fading as sleep began to take him.
CRACK.
A sharp, echoing sound shattered the silence, jerking him awake. He blinked, his room still cloaked in darkness.
CRACK.
The noise reverberated through the walls, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Silas sat up, his heart pounding, and walked toward the window.
CRACK.
Outside, the night sky was black as ink, but veins of bright blue light threaded through the darkness, illuminating the world with an otherworldly glow. The air felt charged, humming with a strange energy that prickled his skin.
Then, a voice — smooth, airy, and somehow ancient — echoed through the room. "Do not be alarmed," it said, soft but commanding, filling the room with a presence both powerful and unsettling.
Silas's breath caught. The voice felt like it came from somewhere beyond the world he knew, each word wrapping around him like a spell.
"Your world is on the verge of change. In five of your years, it will become a part of a place far greater than you can imagine, a realm known as Asdar. This process, the 'Collision,' will unite your world with others. It happens to all worlds eventually."
The voice paused, as if considering its next words.
"You and your kind will be safe… but Asdar is not like your world. It is a land steeped in forces you would call magic. Forces that will soon seep into your world as well. As it draws near, some will begin to feel the change. Powers will awaken."
The room grew still, every sound fading as the voice continued, each word heavy with significance.
"To ease this transition, we will gather those among you who hold promise. Your youth, who will one day lead, will be taken to prepare. Your world will shrink, as a piece of it is grafted onto Asdar's land. More will be revealed to you soon… but for now, know that the Collision has begun."
Silas stood frozen, the words still echoing in his mind. The blue light outside his window faded, leaving only darkness behind, but his room felt different somehow — infused with a strange energy, as if something otherworldly had brushed against it and left a mark.
A shiver ran down his spine, and his mind flashed back to the man in the pine green suit, who had appeared only after he'd made his promise. The weight of his words felt far heavier now, as though they had somehow bound him to a fate he didn't yet understand.
Whatever had just happened, Silas knew his life — his world — would never be the same