The fan above creaked softly as it turned.
Morning sunlight filtered through dusty curtains. A scooter horn blared outside, and someone on the street shouted about milk delivery.
Ayush opened his eyes—not to cosmic light, or the throne of the multiverse, but to a plain ceiling, a flickering tube light, and the faint scent of dust in the air.
His head throbbed. His chest burned.
He sat up, sweating. This wasn't his body.
It was smaller. Weaker. Mortal.
He looked around. A student's room. School bag in the corner. A cracked phone charging near the bed. Light blue school uniform folded on a chair.
"So this is where I landed…"
He looked at his own hands—frail, pale, trembling slightly.
But in his chest… there it was. Faint. Broken. Flickering.
The Nexus Core.
The divine source of his power.
His heart from another life.
Damaged, but alive.
"The throne... wasn't destroyed."
He stood up slowly. His legs felt heavy. The body wasn't used to pressure.
He walked to the window and looked out.
Mumbai. 2025. The skyline was real. Rickshaws buzzed down the road. Children chased stray dogs down narrow lanes. A newspaper vendor yelled out today's headlines.
Normal.
Except it wasn't.
A few kilometers away, above an old office building, a faint purple crack shimmered in the sky—hovering like a scar.
A Gate.
Unnatural. Silent. Dangerous.
Ayush narrowed his eyes.
"This world isn't ready for what's coming."
---
Later that day – At School
"Oi, non-awakened, still breathing?"
Ayush turned his head slowly.
A tall boy blocked the corridor, surrounded by three others.
They wore casual clothes but had [Registered: Hunter Trainee] badges clipped to their bags. One of them casually flicked his wrist — a glowing screen appeared for a moment, quickly fading. They grinned.
Ayush's eyes stayed calm. Quiet. He didn't answer.
"You're still blank, right?" the boy sneered. "No awakening, no class. What're you even doing in this academy?"
The group laughed.
Ayush said nothing.
They didn't know the truth.
They couldn't scan him.
Nobody could see someone else's system screen.
And when Ayush used the Nexus Core, it mimicked system activity.
To the world — he'd just look like another Awakened.
> "You measure strength with visible numbers," he thought. "That's your first mistake."
---
That Night – Empty Playground
Ayush stood alone under a flickering streetlamp.
The city buzzed quietly in the distance. A scooter backfired. A cricket match echoed from someone's TV window.
He closed his eyes and breathed slowly.
Then —
He touched his chest.
The Nexus Core responded faintly.
His veins glowed green for a split second.
The air around him warped — pressure rippling outward like a drop in still water.
From the edge of the field, a shadow moved.
A creature stepped out.
Malformed. Glitching. Its body twitched like a corrupted file.
It wasn't from a dungeon.
It was drawn to him — by accident.
"The core leaked."
The beast snarled, then charged.
Ayush dodged left, but his body lagged. The shoulder took a scratch.
He hissed. Blood.
Then… he focused.
Not on stats.
Not on skill trees.
But on himself.
On the king he was.
The emerald light returned — barely.
A small flicker.
Enough.
He raised his palm, and willed the core to answer.
BOOM.
A ripple of green light exploded, silent but heavy.
The beast shattered. Disappeared into dust and static.
Ayush collapsed to one knee, breathing hard.
His arm was shaking.
"Too much output… this body can't hold the weight yet."
But he smiled faintly.
"Still… the throne lives."
---
To be continued..