Kenji's final memory of Earth was a frantic blur: the insistent shrill of his alarm, the rapidly cooling dregs of coffee, and the usual desperate rush for his data processing role—a vocation defined by endless spreadsheets and the cold emission of a computer screen. One instant, his fingers brushed the subway's indifferent grab bar; the next, an immense, soundless force had buckled reality around him, as if the universe itself had briefly constricted, then violently unspooled with him ensnared within its fabric.
An abyss. The disorienting sense of plummeting without descent. Then, radiance – an overwhelming, nacreous luminescence that seared his vision.
When he could finally pry his eyelids apart, the familiar subway carriage had vanished. The garish advertisements, the erratically pulsing lights, the vacant stares of his fellow urbanites – all supplanted by an utterly impossible vista. He found himself sprawled upon a cool, sleek surface, intricately etched with patterns that pulsed with a subtle, inner light. Above, the firmament was neither azure nor the smog-grey of his city, but a perpetual, ethereal gloaming, a vast canvas of shifting, opalescent clouds that cast a diffuse, even illumination.
Raw terror, sharp and visceral, seized him. He lurched to his feet, his pulse thundering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. All around, others were regaining consciousness – scores, perhaps hundreds, their contemporary attire a discordant note in this alien tableau, their groans and bewildered shouts echoing in the strange stillness.
Then, an icon materialized in the upper-left quadrant of his sight.
[System Synchronization Protocol: Complete.] [Designate Kenji Takahashi, Welcome to Aethel Shard Primus!] [Basic User Profile Instantiated. Query: Status?]
Kenji blinked, his mind reeling. An intangible cerulean pane floated before his eyes, expanding as his bewildered thought – "Status?" – registered.
Designate: Kenji Takahashi Species: Human (Provisional Classification)
Tier: 1 Vocation: [Unassigned – Awaiting Aptitude Calibration]
Epithets: [None]
Vitality: 100/100 Endurance
Matrix: 100/100 Aetheric
Potential: 50/50 (Dormant)
Core Attributes: Might: 5 Celerity: 6 Resilience: 5 Cognition: 7 Intuition: 6 Presence: 5 Fortuity: ?
An involuntary murmur, "Impossible…" escaped Kenji's lips, nearly drowned by a chorus of similarly stunned exclamations. Some around him were already animatedly discussing the fidelity of an unprecedented new "full-dive system," their excitement a stark contrast to the blank, uncomprehending terror etched onto the features of others. Kenji, pushing past the initial shock, deliberately calmed his breathing and focused his senses outward.
He occupied an enormous plaza, paved with the same self-illuminating stone. In the far distance, titanic spires clawed at the twilight heavens – structures of impossible grace and crystalline perfection, their summits dissolving into the nacreous cloud cover. They radiated a frigid, internal luminescence, their design flawless to a degree that felt profoundly alien, almost antiseptic. The air was cool, still, carrying a faint, metallic tang and an almost subliminal thrum, like vast energies held in precise equilibrium.
A woman nearby murmured, her complexion ashen, "No game could evoke this… this authenticity." Another man, voice strained, countered, "Then what could this possibly be?"
Further debate ceased as a palpable shift occurred within the assembled crowd. A collective, instinctive upward tilt of heads, a mix of awe and nascent dread palpable in the sudden quiet, directed all eyes to the heavens. Kenji, caught in this shared moment, also looked to the pearlescent dome above. Three forms moved there, etching silent trajectories across the dim expanse, their passage an unnerving spectacle of alien grace. Though humanoid in silhouette, their limbs were unusually long, sheathed in what appeared to be articulated plates of some dark, lustrous metal. From their backs sprouted six colossal pinions, each feather a sharply defined shard of volcanic glass, moving with flawless, hushed coordination. Disturbingly, the tips of these sable wings were adorned with tiny, frigid cerulean lumens that methodically swept their gaze across the plaza. An almost palpable nimbus of vast, indifferent strength surrounded them, their sculpted, aesthetically perfect yet chillingly remote countenances framed by subtle coronas of glimmering, crystalline energy.
No legend of heavenly sentinels Kenji knew could have prepared him for this sight. An aura suggesting immense age and formidable power surrounded these figures, yet it held no trace of what humans might term 'feeling' or 'spirit.' Their movement through the higher air currents was not the intuitive dance of life, but rather resembled the precise, interlocking trajectories of sophisticated, unthinking fabrications. From their complex optical arrays, a detached scrutiny swept across the bewildered humans, registering their presence with the dispassionate focus of a scientist observing inert phenomena.
One of the winged entities, its cluster of optical sensors briefly lingering on their disorganized assembly, executed a fractional movement with a sharply clawed appendage. The distance was too great for clear detail, but seconds later, an intangible pressure descended upon the plaza – not a physical force, but purely noetic. It conveyed an immediate sensation of being perceived, indexed, and summarily disregarded, accompanied by a faint, cold susurrus at the edge of Kenji's awareness, not words, but an undeniable impression: Anomalies. Entropic elements. Require surveillance.
The interface in his vision pulsed anew:
[Alert: High Dominion Zone Protocol Engaged. Presence under Sky-Sovereign's Edict.] [Uncataloged Biological Signatures Identified. Local Proctor Units Notified.] [Survival Heuristic: Caution Advised. Acquire Context. Avoid Antagonistic Actions.]
"Sky-Sovereign…" Kenji breathed out, a chilling premonition constricting his chest. The very title felt imbued with an ancient, unyielding weight. His gaze shifted from the distant, perfect spires to the majestic, terrifying figures executing their silent patrol far above. This was no introductory zone for a new entertainment. This was something far more ancient, infinitely more perilous, and starkly, terrifyingly authentic. The profound quiet of this realm, he now understood, was not tranquility; it was meticulously maintained. And they, the uninvited, had just shattered it.