The after-party was alive with energy, the air thick with sweat, alcohol, and the undeniable thrill of victory. It wasn't every day that a high school team won the National Championship, and Leonel had been at the heart of it.
The mansion they had rented for the night pulsed with neon lights, music booming so loudly that the walls seemed to shake. Bodies moved wildly on the makeshift dance floor, laughter and drunken shouts filling the air. Bottles clinked, someone cannonballed into the pool outside, and in the distance, fireworks exploded into the night sky.
Yet, Leonel barely paid attention to any of it.
He stood alone on the balcony, his phone screen glowing in the dim light.
Aina: [No response]
His jaw tightened, his fingers gripping the railing. 521 confessions. 521 rejections.
"Damn, I need to get a new hobby," he muttered to himself.
He knew what his father would say: Respect and persistence. Those two things will carry you through life.
And he lived by those words. He had fought harder than anyone to win this championship, waking up before dawn for training, pushing his body past its limits, enduring injuries, and overcoming doubts. He had done what everyone said was impossible.
So, what was a little rejection?
Just try again tomorrow, he told himself.
Then, the sky broke.
At first, it was subtle. The full moon overhead shimmered, its edges distorting as if it were a reflection on water. The stars pulsed strangely, shifting positions in a way that made his head ache.
Then, the colors changed.
The deep blues of the night sky twisted into violent shades of red and purple, the clouds warping into spirals. The air itself trembled, a low hum vibrating through everything, making the glass in the windows shake.
Leonel straightened, his heart pounding.
Something wasn't right.
Inside the mansion, the partygoers hadn't noticed yet. They kept dancing, laughing, drinking—unaware that reality itself was beginning to unravel.
Then, the first scream shattered the night.
Leonel turned sharply.
Inside, a girl was on the ground, convulsing violently. Her eyes were rolled back, her body spasming in ways that weren't natural.
Then another scream.
And another.
People collapsed, clutching their heads, their bodies writhing in agony.
The neon lights flickered, then exploded, showering the room in sparks. The speakers burst, a horrific screeching sound erupting from them.
Leonel's breath caught in his throat.
"What the hell—"
BOOM.
The ground split open.
A jagged, glowing rift tore through the center of the mansion, stretching from one end of the room to the other. It pulsed with an eerie, otherworldly light, swirling between deep blues and shimmering golds.
Then, they emerged.
From the rift, shadows slithered out—tall, humanoid figures that moved unnaturally, their limbs bending at impossible angles. Their faces were smooth, featureless voids, swirling with an abyss deeper than the night sky itself.
Leonel couldn't move.
He watched, frozen in place, as one of the creatures reached out toward a boy nearby—Jared, one of the team's strikers.
Jared tried to scream, tried to run, but the creature's shadowy fingers sank into his chest.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, Jared's body twisted.
His limbs contorted, his spine arched back at an unnatural angle, and a horrendous shriek tore from his throat. His skin turned black, veins glowing a deep crimson, and his eyes—God, his eyes melted into darkness.
Leonel's stomach turned.
Jared wasn't Jared anymore.
He had become one of them.
The panic erupted in full force.
People shoved and screamed, tripping over themselves in a desperate attempt to flee. Some made it outside, only to stop in their tracks.
Because it wasn't just the mansion.
The entire city was changing.
Buildings flickered, their structures shifting as if caught between two realities. Cars floated inches above the ground before crashing back down. The sky rippled like liquid, the stars warping into strange, impossible shapes.
Leonel stumbled back, his breathing ragged. His chest ached—a sharp, unbearable pain spreading from his ribs to his skull.
His vision blurred.
Something was crawling into his mind.
Then, a voice—deep, ancient, echoing in his very bones.
"Evolve."
Leonel gasped, his knees buckling.
Pain. Unimaginable pain. It was as if something was tearing him apart from the inside, every cell in his body being rewritten.
Through the haze, he saw others experiencing the same thing. Some collapsed, their bodies unable to handle the transformation. Some awakened, their eyes glowing with newfound power.
And some—some turned into monsters.
Leonel gritted his teeth. No.
He wouldn't become one of them.
His father's words echoed in his mind:
"Respect and persistence."
He refused to die here.
He clenched his fists, forcing himself to stay conscious, to endure the agony tearing through him.
Then, suddenly—it stopped.
Leonel gasped, collapsing to his knees.
His vision had changed. Everything looked sharper, clearer—as if he could see beyond just three dimensions. Colors he had never noticed before swirled in the air, faint outlines of energy shifting around people and objects.
His hands trembled, his veins pulsing with an unfamiliar power.
Then, he heard it—a whisper, barely audible, resonating in his mind.
[Ability Awakened: Dimensional Shift.]
Leonel's breath caught.
Abilities?
He looked around, realization dawning. Those who survived the transformation had gained something. A boy nearby lifted his hands, and flames erupted from his palms. A girl turned invisible, flickering in and out of existence.
We're evolving…
But before Leonel could process any of it, a shadow loomed over him.
He turned sharply.
One of the creatures stood just inches away, its featureless void of a face tilting unnaturally. It reached out with long, blackened fingers—toward him.
Leonel's heartbeat thundered.
Then—
Everything shifted.
The world bent, a strange, warping force pulling at him.
And in the blink of an eye—
Leonel was gone.