The light from Kael's phone screen glowed like a dim moon in his pitch-dark room. He lay flat on his worn-out mattress, arms tucked beneath his head, headphones plugged in but no music playing — just the soft static hum of silence. It wasn't that he didn't have songs queued up. He just didn't feel like listening anymore.
The fan creaked above him, its metallic groan blending into the background of the outside world — honking traffic, distant shouting, and the occasional bark from stray dogs. The apartment was small, suffocating, and too quiet for a boy whose mind never stopped running.
He thumbed through the notifications on his screen. Headlines, memes, viral conspiracy videos. The usual digital trash fire.
But then—
> "LIVE: Dimensional Experiment Underway. World Holds Breath As Humanity Attempts Its First Antimatter Breach."
Kael blinked.
He tapped it.
A sleek news interface loaded, broadcasting footage of a massive underground facility. Scientists in white suits moved like ghosts. Giant containment pods hummed with blue energy. Military drones hovered above the site. People had gathered outside the gates, holding up signs — some in protest, others in prayer.
"What a circus," Kael muttered, rolling his eyes.
The narrator's voice boomed from the phone:
> "Dr. Veyan's theory suggests that by breaching stabilized antimatter within a quantum shell, we may open a pathway to neighboring universes. Multiverse theory, once science fiction, now stands at the threshold of fact..."
Kael sighed and tossed the phone onto his chest.
He stared at the ceiling fan, tracing every rotation.
"Multiverse, huh?"
He reached over and tapped another video. A slick animation played:
> "What if every choice you've ever made created another universe? One where you took the other path. Where you never fell. Where you were stronger. Braver. Better."
His jaw clenched.
"Better... huh?"
He turned off the phone.
Suddenly, a sharp knock on his door jolted him.
"Kael! The milk!" his mother called. Her voice was tired, worn thin like fabric washed too many times.
"Yeah, coming," he called back without moving.
The moment lingered. He stayed still for a few more seconds, then finally stood, grabbing the warm milk packet and stepping out into the narrow hallway. The kitchen light flickered.
His mother was cooking — or trying to. The gas burner was too low. The flame barely stayed lit.
"I'll fix the stove," Kael offered quietly.
She smiled weakly. "You always say that."
He opened the fridge, placed the milk inside, and was about to head back to his room—
When the world shifted.
A deep vibration passed through the floorboards.
The windows rattled.
And then — silence.
Total silence.
No fan. No gas hiss. No city.
Kael turned toward the window.
A pulse of white light surged across the horizon.
Then—
> BOOM.
The glass shattered.
Flames erupted in the distance. A shockwave ripped through the streets. Cars lifted off the ground like toys. Kael was thrown backwards into the kitchen wall. His mother screamed.
"MOM!"
He scrambled to her — but the floor cracked open beneath his feet.
White light exploded again.
A vortex formed above the city, spiraling like the iris of a cosmic eye. In the sky, cracks tore through reality itself — like a mirror breaking in slow motion. Giant rings of black lightning looped into the breach.
> The rift had opened.
Kael screamed as the light consumed everything — the apartment, the city, the sky.
And then—
---
He woke up gasping.
The ground was metal, scorched. He coughed violently, the air thick with smoke.
He looked up.
This was not home.
Buildings twisted into unnatural shapes. Roads turned into rivers of glowing red cracks. There were no stars above — only a swirl of violent clouds and flickering lights that didn't belong to any sun.
He tried to stand.
Screams.
Not human. Not animal. Something else.
A bone-chilling screech echoed across the ruined city. Kael turned — heart hammering in his chest — and saw the sky ripple.
From the tear above, something emerged.
Tall. Pale. Grotesque.
A creature with too many limbs. Flesh that looked like stretched marble. No face, but it saw him.
And it moved.
Toward him.
Kael ran.
Through debris. Over rubble. He tripped. Crawled. Screamed.
The creature dropped from the sky, slamming into the ground with a sound like thunder tearing skin. Its claws ripped into pavement. Its maw opened sideways, revealing rows of jagged teeth. It hissed — not with breath, but with heat.
Kael backed into a wall.
Nowhere to go.
He raised his arms.
The creature lunged—
> A blinding light.
Everything froze.
Time slowed.
Then—
Darkness.
---
To be continued...
> Some universes are ruled by gods. Some are ruled by monsters. And some… are broken from the moment you arrive.