The following morning began like any other, but something in the air felt heavier—charged, like the moment before thunder. Aarav woke up with a throbbing pulse in his head and an odd sensation in his chest, like invisible strings pulling at him. The cube on his bedside table now had a crack running across its surface, glowing with faint blue light.
He rushed to the terrace. Meera and Rishi were already there. Rishi's triangle shard was glowing too, and Meera looked anxious.
"I saw something in my dreams," she said. "A city burning. And those pulses in the sky. Aarav, what's happening to this world?"
Aarav showed them the message the cube had displayed last night. "Phase 2 has started. I think we're about to find out."
Rishi turned toward the city skyline. "Do you feel it? The buildings… the ground… things are slightly off. Like we're in a painting where the brushstrokes are changing."
That day in school, even the teachers seemed out of sync. Mr. Desai, the math teacher who always wore suspenders and thick glasses, suddenly started writing in perfect calligraphy—something he had never done before. One student noticed that the school clock ticked backward for a second.
The fabric of the world was unraveling—and only they could see it.
During lunch, the trio sneaked out and headed for an abandoned metro tunnel Rishi had found earlier. Inside, echoes bounced oddly, and the lights flickered in rhythmic patterns.
"There's energy here," Aarav said. "It feels like a portal—or a node."
Meera took out a page she had printed from a website about theoretical universes. "There's a theory called membrane shifting. It says that universes are like layers, stacked closely. When one overlaps slightly, it causes 'reality bleed.' That might be what's happening."
They placed the cube and shard on the ground. Instantly, both began spinning and levitating slightly.
The air vibrated.
Then a voice, mechanical and cold, echoed through the tunnel:
Guardian Node Detected. Preparing Transmit.
Aarav looked at Meera and Rishi. "We're in the middle of something way bigger than we thought."
A glowing map appeared in midair. It showed Earth—but not as they knew it. There were red dots scattered across continents—some blinking, some faded.
Rishi pointed at a blinking dot over their city. "That's us."
Another message appeared:
Membrane stability compromised. Entities detected. Defense protocol pending.
Aarav's heart pounded. "Entities? What kind of entities?"
That night, Aarav stayed awake long after his parents went to bed. The city lights flickered in waves, and stray cats howled strangely.
He stood by the window and saw a man standing under a lamppost outside their building. Tall, cloaked, and unnaturally still.
The man looked up directly at Aarav.
Eyes glowing.
Then vanished.
Aarav gasped and stumbled back.
The cube glowed violently now, pulsing faster.
He wasn't just a boy with powers.
He was a target.