Aether Sky, a magnificent floating city above the clouds, shimmered with energy crystals and ancient steam engines. Towering metal spires adorned with ancient runes reached for the heavens, connected by swaying suspension bridges. In the night market, the aroma of spices and machine oil mingled with the laughter of merchants selling goods from various dimensions. But tonight, the air felt different—tense, like the crackle before a storm.
Rael, a nineteen-year-old with a worn leather jacket and an empty gaze, wandered through the market alleys. The scar on his neck throbbed faintly, a reminder of nightmares he never understood: screams, blue light, and winged shadows lurking. He avoided eye contact, used to being an unwanted shadow.
Suddenly, the sky split open. A deafening roar followed, accompanied by panicked screams. Rael looked up—a crimson dimensional rift gaped wide, unleashing obsidian-winged creatures with blazing red eyes: Arkanis.
Chaos erupted. The market burned, glass shattered, and a young girl was trapped beneath the debris of a collapsed stall. Without thinking, Rael ran. As he pulled the girl's hand, an Arkanis swooped down. His survival instincts kicked in—blue light burst from his hand, disintegrating the creature into dust. But the power was uncontrollable. Wild energy surged around him, obliterating three more Arkanis before Rael collapsed, unconscious.
He awoke in a dark underground chamber, faced by Lyra, a silver-haired woman with a scar across her cheek. Beside her stood Dax, a bespectacled technomancer, observing him with a glinting device.
"You're not an ordinary human," Lyra said coldly. "What happened in the market—that's not regular magic. You have traces of Arkanis in your blood."
Rael frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Dax projected a hologram showing Rael's energy patterns. "Look at this. Your DNA has dimensional synchronization impossible for humans. You're—"
Before he could finish, an alarm blared. A screen on the wall flashed an emergency message:
"Lumen Faction Attacking Sector 5. All Units on Alert!"
Lyra grabbed a short sword from her belt. "You can't be found by them," she whispered to Rael. "If the Lumen Faction discovers what's inside you…"
But it was too late. An explosion rocked the room. The metal door blasted open, and soldiers clad in black-and-gold uniforms stormed in—Lumen Faction, their technomagic weapons aimed at Rael.
"We're taking what rightfully belongs to our dimension," their commander declared. "The boy belongs to the Supremacy."