Raine Halloway's footsteps echoed in the empty library. The sun had long since set, leaving the massive, book-lined hall illuminated only by a dim, flickering light from the old chandeliers above. It was supposed to be a peaceful, uneventful evening—his idea of perfect.
But something about the air tonight felt… wrong.
Sliding his fingers along the spines of dusty tomes, Raine's mind wandered, as it often did. His life wasn't particularly extraordinary—just another college student with too many responsibilities, a twin brother who excelled at everything, and a faint dream he hadn't dared put into words.
He sighed, grabbing a book at random: Myths of the Forgotten Worlds. He smirked to himself. Just the kind of escapism he needed after today's endless reminders that his brother was, as usual, better.
As he opened the book, a chill ran through him. The pages were cold to the touch, almost unnaturally so, and the words—written in looping, archaic script—seemed to shimmer faintly in the dim light.
"Beware the Gates of Dawn," the first line read, "for they do not grant a single soul entry without a cost."
"Cheery," Raine muttered, flipping to another page.
He didn't notice the faint hum that began to fill the room. Nor the way the chandeliers' lights flickered more violently, casting strange shadows on the walls.
It wasn't until the ground beneath his feet rumbled that he snapped the book shut, a wave of unease crashing over him. The library seemed to twist, its walls bending inward, the shelves towering impossibly high. The air smelled of burning paper and ozone.
Then came the voice.
"Raine Halloway."
It wasn't loud, but it reverberated inside his skull, sharp and commanding. He spun around, but the library was empty.
"Are you prepared to leave behind everything you know?"
"W-what?" he stammered, his breath hitching.
The book in his hands grew warm, the faint shimmer of its text glowing brighter. The voice came again, this time softer.
"The path is open. Step forward, or be forgotten."
Raine's instincts screamed at him to drop the book and run, but his feet refused to move. The air around him grew heavy, pressing down on his chest, and the world began to blur, the library dissolving into an abyss of light and sound.
When he opened his eyes again, Raine was no longer in the library.
He stood in the middle of a vast, open field, the sky above him painted in hues of gold and crimson as two suns dipped below the horizon. The grass beneath his feet was soft, almost unnaturally so, and the air smelled fresh, with a faint trace of something unfamiliar—magic.
"What… just happened?" he muttered, clutching the book tightly against his chest.
It was then he realized that the book had changed. The ornate script on its cover had vanished, replaced by a single glowing rune that pulsed faintly in time with his heartbeat.
Before he could process anything further, a deep, guttural growl pierced the silence.
Raine spun around, his eyes locking onto the source of the sound. A creature—large and wolf-like, but with six glowing red eyes and jagged, bone-like protrusions jutting from its back—stalked toward him from the shadows of a nearby tree line.
"Nope," Raine whispered, backing away. "This is not happening."
The beast let out a deafening roar, charging toward him with terrifying speed. Instinct kicked in, and Raine turned to run—but the moment he took a step, the book in his hands flared with light, and a burst of energy erupted from its pages, knocking him to the ground.
When he looked up, the wolf-like creature had stopped, snarling as it pawed at the air in front of him. A shimmering barrier of light had formed between them, the same rune from the book now glowing on the ground beneath him.
"What the hell is this?" Raine gasped, his hands trembling.
The barrier flickered, the creature growled, and the book pulsed again, this time with a new glow. A voice—different from the one in the library, softer but insistent—spoke in his mind.
"Take it."
"Take what?" he hissed, but as he glanced down, he saw it. A sword, faintly translucent and glowing with the same rune, appeared before him, embedded in the ground.
The creature roared again, charging at the barrier, and without thinking, Raine reached for the sword. The moment his fingers wrapped around its hilt, the weapon erupted with light, and a surge of energy coursed through him.
He didn't know how to fight. He had never even held a real sword before. But as the creature lunged at him, his body moved on its own, stepping forward with a swing that sent a shockwave through the air.
The beast howled, stumbling back before retreating into the shadows, its six glowing eyes fading into the night.
Raine collapsed to the ground, his chest heaving as the sword dissolved into sparks of light.
"This isn't real," he whispered, clutching his head. "It can't be real."
But as he glanced around the unfamiliar landscape, the truth began to sink in. Wherever he was, it wasn't home.
And as the glowing rune on the ground faded, a faint voice echoed in the back of his mind, chilling him to the core:
"You are not alone."