Chapter 01 - The Awakening
The asphalt gleamed beneath the streetlights lining the road. Engines roared, filling the Friday night with the constant noise of traffic.
Alex accelerated his scooter, weaving between the vehicles as if he were running from someone.
Or chasing something he couldn't see.
The traffic was chaotic, but none of it mattered.
A sudden sound, far louder than the roar of the engines, exploded in his ears.
Alex flinched.
The lights along the avenue flickered.
For a moment, his body felt unnaturally light, as if gravity had vanished.
His hands lost their grip on the handlebars.
Then, right before his eyes, reality tore apart.
Beyond the rift lay a ruined field.
Deformed creatures advanced through the wreckage, emerging from the darkness like an endless horde.
A man stood alone before them.
He wielded a sword covered in a terrifying force. His eyes glowed violet, while his golden hair flickered like flames.
The man stopped.
Then he looked directly at Alex.
As if he knew exactly who he was.
Alex had no time to react.
The sword came down.
His head was severed from his body in a single strike.
Alex watched his own body collapse.
Then he heard the warrior's voice.
"Wake up. I can't hold them back much longer... Some of them have already entered the dream."
A creature tried to cross the rift.
The warrior cut it down without even looking at it.
When he turned his gaze back to Alex, the urgency in his expression had only grown.
"The Earth will be invaded."
***
Alex blinked his eyes.
A truck was coming straight toward him.
When reality returned to normal, he instinctively yanked the handlebars, narrowly avoiding a collision on the highway. His heart raced, beating violently in his chest.
Ignoring the people staring at him strangely with their phone cameras pointed in his direction, as well as the truck driver who burned with fury while cursing what had happened, Alex decided to continue at a slightly slower speed this time.
After a while, Alex reached his destination. He left his scooter in a nearby alley, but a strange feeling remained with him.
The visions of battles between the blond man and terrifying beasts had constantly haunted his dreams, but this time, he had been awake.
"Today is important. Today, everything changes."
Alex repeated the words constantly in his head as if they were a mantra.
Tonight was his two-year anniversary with Tiffany. The plan was simple: sneak past Marcão Weber's guards, surprise her, and finally become a man both in her eyes and in his own.
He easily climbed over the walls as if he had practiced the feat countless times before. Once inside, he used the codes Tiffany had previously given him.
As he walked, he noticed that the place looked different from what he was used to.
Alex wondered if changes had been made. The strangest thing was that there was not a single employee in the house.
A damp cold embraced the place, and a somber atmosphere hung over everything.
When he reached the third floor, Alex found himself standing in front of a door. He knocked three times in a previously agreed-upon rhythm, as he always did when they met under these circumstances.
The door opened from the other side.
She smiled.
Tiffany was beautiful as always, her eyes bright and her purple hair tied in a ponytail that reached her waist.
"You forgot the flowers, didn't you?"
Tiffany spoke in the sweet voice of someone who had already forgiven him.
But something seemed out of place.
Alex was not proud of this fact, but he had never offered her flowers and had not intended to bring any today. At least, the thought had never crossed his mind.
Alex entered the room, glimpsing a beauty that was both familiar and strange at the same time.
The LED lights that used to blink with a warm tone now glowed with a cold blue light. The creaking chair was still there, but in a different position.
There were small details that did not fit.
Tiffany closed the door behind him and enveloped him in a passionate hug.
Alex smiled, but a restlessness slowly gnawed at him from within. Somehow, her perfume seemed to change every time he inhaled.
Alex kissed her, and she reciprocated passionately, feeling the heat and taste of his tongue.
He slowly pulled away, wanting to tell her about what had happened to him that day: the near accident, the vision of the blond warrior.
But before he could say anything, Tiffany smiled sweetly as if everything were normal.
The LED-lit speakers began playing music in response to Tiffany snapping her fingers, drawing Alex into a dance to the song they loved so much.
"I can't believe it. It's already been two years since the day you gathered the courage to ask me out."
She whispered the words into her boyfriend's ear while making the dance more sensual.
"Love, did you bring the ring?"
As she said this, she lightly bit her boyfriend's ear.
"Of course. If I had let you, you would probably have grumbled, saying I came running here only thinking about that, along with a bunch of other nonsense."
Alex released his girlfriend's waist and reached for the ring box that had always been in his pocket.
Alex knelt, trying to look as romantic as possible, and placed the ring on his partner's finger. She laughed happily.
To celebrate the achievement, the couple shared a passionate kiss.
System Alert!
Starting the awakening process.
The User is now lucid.
Unlocking Gravity Authority.
Moving the user to the God's Dream.
Unfortunately, Alex cannot see the system window during the awakening process, and even if he could, he would most likely think he was seeing things.
---
Reality turned gray and distorted for a second. Then the world regained its color.
Tiffany violently pushed Alex away.
"Who are you? What do you think you're doing? I already told you to stop this. Help! Someone help me!"
Tiffany's scream made Alex freeze in place.
"Tiffany, it's me! What kind of joke is this? What kind of tasteless prank?"
She visibly trembled, fear and anger filling her eyes. Without realizing it, her body became enveloped in a green-colored light.
"Help! Someone help me... Stay away from me," she said in terror.
A gust of air released from her trembling hands threw Alex against the bedroom wall.
The pain arrived a second later.
Lying on the floor and groaning in pain, Alex could not understand anything.
The alarm went off, and Tiffany's scream echoed through the night. Two men entered and immobilized Alex in the blink of an eye with considerable brutality.
"Tiffany, my love! What's happening?"
"Take your hands off me! Tiffany, tell them we're dating!"
She hid behind them, ordering the men:
"Hurry. Call the police. This man tried to assault me. Quick, quick... Don't just stand there. Do something. Get rid of him!"
---
Alex woke up with his head throbbing as if he had a severe hangover.
Looking around, he saw the white lights of a police cell. His wrists were restrained with handcuffs.
His mouth was dry.
Looking around, he tried to remember what had happened. His mind was blurred. Screams echoed in his memories, along with Tiffany.
A broad-shouldered man entered the room. He seemed like a police officer, perhaps a detective or something of the sort. His voice was heavy and quite frightening.
"Alex Wellny. Age nineteen. Son of Thomas and Anastácia Wellny. Your father disappeared in a dungeon, and your mother is in a coma. You currently live with your sister, and both of you have dropped out of college."
"Officer, you're mistaken. This isn't me."
Alex tried to stand.
"I don't have a sister or a mother."
The officer, who looked more like a detective, pressed him against the wall.
"You broke into the Weber house and tried to attack their daughter. Are you going to say that is wrong too?"
Alex was having trouble breathing.
His memories seemed scrambled, as if something or someone had rewritten them.
The officer drew a gun and pointed it at Alex's forehead.
"Tell me who ordered you to kidnap Miss Tiffany Weber."
Alex then stared into the void.
He was in a daze. He didn't even know what he was doing there.
Was he going crazy?
Or was it something else?