Arin did not sleep.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the shattered sky from the vision — floating fragments of reality drifting in endless darkness.
And in every reflection…
He was there.
Watching himself.
Morning came slowly, the light weak and pale, as if the sun itself was unsure about rising beneath a broken sky.
Arin sat at his desk, staring at his phone.
HOST SYNCHRONIZATION: 12%
The number hadn't changed.
He hadn't touched anything.
There was no app open. No signal. No explanation.
He tapped the screen.
The text glitched.
For a split second, the screen turned completely silver.
Then—
A new message appeared.
STABILIZE THE FRACTURE.
His breath caught.
"How?" he whispered.
The phone vibrated sharply.
A map loaded.
It wasn't any map he recognized — not Google, not anything normal. The streets were distorted, stretched slightly out of proportion. But he recognized one landmark clearly.
The old radio tower near the edge of the city.
Abandoned for years.
The silver crack in the sky pulsed faintly.
The synchronization percentage flickered.
13%.
Arin stood up slowly.
"You want me to go there."
The air around him shifted, almost like a subtle nod.
He didn't understand why.
But deep inside, something else did.
And that terrified him more than anything.
By afternoon, the city felt wrong.
People were moving. Talking. Laughing.
But there was tension beneath everything.
Some stared at the sky longer than they should.
Some avoided looking up at all.
The crack was bigger now.
Thinner lines were branching from it like spiderweb fractures across glass.
Arin reached the base of the radio tower.
It loomed above him — tall, skeletal, rusted by time.
But something was different.
The metal structure shimmered faintly.
Silver veins ran through it.
Just like his hands.
The synchronization jumped.
18%.
He swallowed hard.
"This is connected to me…"
The moment he stepped inside the fenced area, the world shifted.
Sound dulled.
The air thickened.
And the crack above aligned directly with the top of the tower.
A beam of faint silver light extended downward — not fully visible, but present. Like a thread tying the sky to the ground.
Arin stepped closer.
The ground beneath him rippled.
Not physically.
Visually.
Like reality was a screen glitching.
And then—
He saw it.
At the base of the tower.
A tear.
Not in metal.
Not in concrete.
In space.
A vertical slit about the size of a door, barely visible, shimmering like heat above asphalt.
Something moved inside it.
Not coming out.
Just shifting.
Waiting.
His phone buzzed violently.
FRACTURE NODE DETECTED
SEAL REQUIRED
"I don't know how to seal anything!" he snapped.
The tear widened slightly.
The sky crack pulsed in response.
Synchronization: 21%.
Pain shot through his arms.
The silver lines beneath his skin glowed brighter, crawling upward toward his shoulders.
Memories flickered again—
A different time.
A different sky.
Him — or someone like him — placing his hand against a tear in reality.
Light pouring from his body.
The fracture closing.
Arin staggered forward.
"No… I can't…"
The tear began pulling at the air around it. Dust lifted from the ground, swirling slowly toward the slit.
The thing inside shifted closer.
A shape pressed against the boundary.
If it crossed—
The voice returned.
This is why you were chosen.
Synchronization: 27%.
Arin's hands burned.
But he understood now.
Not with logic.
With instinct.
He stepped toward the tear.
The pull strengthened.
His heart pounded violently.
He raised his hand.
The silver veins beneath his skin lit up like lightning.
And he pressed his palm against the fracture.
The world exploded into light.
Pain surged through him, unbearable and electric. It felt like something was tearing him apart from the inside — or stitching him back together.
The tear shrieked.
Not a sound.
But a vibration in his bones.
The shadow inside recoiled.
Light spread from his palm outward, sealing the slit inch by inch.
Synchronization: 35%.
The sky above trembled violently.
The main crack flickered.
For a moment—
It stopped widening.
And then—
The tear snapped shut.
Silence.
The silver glow faded.
Arin collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The radio tower stood still.
Normal.
Above him, the sky remained cracked.
But slightly less unstable.
His phone buzzed weakly.
NODE SEALED
PARTIAL STABILIZATION ACHIEVED
HOST SYNCHRONIZATION: 38%
Arin stared at the screen.
Breathing heavily.
"This isn't over… is it?"
The wind answered softly.
And far above—
Behind the main fracture—
Something moved again.
But this time…
It did not look patient.