The sun hung low over the vast plains of Veloria, casting a golden hue across the endless fields of emerald grass. Aelion stood at the edge of the cliff, eyes lost in the distant horizon. His fingers lightly gripped the cool stone of the ledge beneath him, his mind far away from the simple world below. The wind whispered around him, its chill nothing compared to the emptiness inside.
Veloria, his home, had always felt small to Aelion. The simple life of a farmer, the quiet villages, the routine—none of it ever seemed to fill the void in his heart. The people around him were content, going about their lives without question, bound by tradition, purpose, and the endless cycle of day and night. But Aelion was different. He was haunted by a restless feeling, an unshakable yearning for something more.
"What is beyond this world?" Aelion muttered to himself, his voice barely rising above the whisper of the wind. He had asked this question a thousand times, but never had he found an answer that satisfied him. He had traveled far and wide across Veloria, seen the borders of the land, and yet, the feeling that there was something else, something greater, never waned.
As the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the land, Aelion felt a strange pull in his chest, a sensation that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. His pulse quickened, as though the earth itself was calling to him. He looked around, but the land remained still, quiet. Only the wind stirred, rustling the grass beneath him.
Then, he saw it.
A flicker in the air—an unnatural shimmer, like a ripple in space itself. It appeared near the center of the plains, far beyond the village, where no one dared venture. Aelion's heart skipped a beat. Something about it felt... ancient. The air seemed to hum with power. He had seen no such phenomenon in his life.
Without thinking, Aelion stepped away from the cliff's edge and began walking toward it, his legs moving with an urgency he couldn't explain. The wind picked up, the grass bending before him, as if guiding him toward the source of the strange light. With each step, the world around him seemed to blur, the colors of the landscape deepening into surreal shades, as though reality itself was shifting.
As he neared the center of the plains, the shimmer intensified, glowing with an ethereal blue light. Aelion stopped, now only a few feet away from it. The ground beneath his feet seemed to pulse, as though something vast and ancient was awakening from beneath. In the center of the light stood a formation, a massive structure made of stone, covered in runes that glowed with the same intense blue light. It was like nothing he had ever seen—a perfect circle, an archway, with an energy that hummed so loudly in his ears it felt as if it would tear him apart.
Aelion reached out cautiously, his fingers trembling as they brushed the stone of the arch. The moment he touched it, a shock ran through his body—a jolt of energy that seemed to ignite his very soul. His vision blurred, and for a brief moment, the world around him vanished. The plains, the sky, the wind—everything dissolved into pure light, and Aelion felt himself falling, spiraling, as though time and space had no meaning.
A voice, ancient and deep, echoed in his mind.
"The Gate opens. Are you ready to step into the unknown?"
Aelion gasped, his body trembling. The voice was both a question and a command. It seemed to call to something deep within him, something buried under years of doubt and curiosity. He could feel it, the undeniable pull, the desire to know what lay beyond the boundaries of his world.
"I am ready," he whispered, though he barely understood what he was agreeing to.
In an instant, the world exploded into light, and Aelion was thrown through the air. His body was weightless, suspended in the void. His mind raced, caught between fear and exhilaration. The colors around him were not like any he had ever seen, swirling and shifting like the cosmos itself. He could feel the presence of countless realms, each one existing in a different layer of existence. Each world, each possibility, waiting for him to discover.
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, everything stopped.
Aelion crashed to the ground, the hard earth beneath him feeling far too real after the overwhelming journey through light and sound. He gasped, trying to catch his breath, his heart pounding in his chest. He slowly rose to his feet, his mind reeling from the experience.
Before him stood a vast landscape unlike anything he had ever seen. The sky was a deep, swirling purple, dotted with unfamiliar constellations. Towering mountains loomed in the distance, and the air was thick with energy. Strange creatures—some like beasts, others like nothing he could name—moved across the landscape.
And then, standing before him, was a figure—a tall, imposing being dressed in flowing robes of deep crimson, their face hidden beneath a hood. The figure's presence radiated power, and Aelion instinctively knew that this being was not of Veloria.
"You have crossed the threshold," the figure intoned, their voice like a distant storm. "Welcome to the realms beyond. Welcome to your true destiny."
Aelion took a step back, his heart racing as the weight of the moment settled in. This was no mere dream. No illusion. This was real.
The Primordial Gate had opened. And with it, Aelion's journey had begun.