Accidentally Became the Most Wanted Entity in the Multiverse

At precisely 3:33 AM, the Academy groaned.

Not literally… but that's what it felt like. A pulse thrummed through the walls like a heartbeat too large to belong to any one thing. The lights above flickered once. Then again. A warning. A whisper.

Dae sat up in bed.

Kio snored, face half-buried in his pillow. An lay on his back, eyes open, already watching the ceiling like he'd never been asleep to begin with.

A thin mist clung to the room now barely visible, like memory fog. The glass wall showed nothing but black ocean. No whales tonight. No fish.

Just darkness.

And then the bell rang.

Not a normal bell.

Not even a sound, really.

It was… inside them. A vibration, felt more than heard. Like something had reached inside their heads and rung a tuning fork against their bones.

Words appeared in midair above their beds.

"First Trial Initiating. Proceed to Atrium Sector-Delta."

Underneath, a countdown:

15:00

...…

Dae didn't need to ask questions.

An was already on his feet.

Kio groaned like someone waking from the dead. "This better not be another simulation. I'm still sore from the last fake forest."

"Get up," An said simply.

That was enough.

...…

The corridors of Blackridge were different at night.

Longer. Quieter. Hungrier.

Every reflective surface seemed darker than usual. Like shadows were pressing their faces to the glass from the other side.

By the time they reached Atrium Sector-Δ, half the class was already there.

Selene leaned against one of the obsidian pillars, arms folded, her cloak trailing on the ground like it didn't believe in gravity. Her eyes met Dae's then flicked away, unreadable.

Rea was floating near the ceiling, her eyes half-closed like she was dreaming midair.

Jin was already stretching. Flexing arms. Cracking his neck like he planned to punch the Trial itself.

Zane.. sharp and sarcastic as ever stood with one eye on her tablet and the other on the rest of them, like she was evaluating who'd break first.

Pix was sitting cross-legged on a glowing panel, arms folded, muttering something to himself.

Something like:

"In my day, trials didn't begin at ungodly hours. They began with ceremony. With ritual. With snacks. You children have no respect for chronology or dramatic timing—"

"Pix," zane cut in, "you've said the same thing three times in four minutes."

"I'm buffering," Pix snapped. "Unlike your generation, I take time to warm up!"

....

A low vibration shook the floor. The circular atrium's ceiling began to spiral open, like a flower blooming in reverse.

Above them: a platform descended.

On it. Instructor Sera.

She looked… tired.

But more than that annoyed.

"Welcome," she said. "To the First Trial. Congratulations. Most of you are still alive."

Pix raised a hand. "Is that sarcasm or a statistical forecast?"

She ignored him.

"This is not a test of strength," Sera continued. "Nor speed. Nor intelligence. This is a test of resonance. Of how well your ability bonds with your identity. Some of you will discover your powers. Others… will discover your limits."

She waved her hand.

A central panel in the floor shimmered. Symbols arranged themselves into a massive spiral. Ancient script crawled like vines across the glass.

"You will enter one at a time," Sera said. "Each door leads somewhere different. Your Trial will not be like anyone else's. You face yourselves. That's the rule. That's the risk."

A pause.

"Failure inside the Trial will not kill you." She looked at Kio. "Probably."

"…Probably?" he muttered.

"You'll either awaken your affinity," she said, "or you'll be reset. Emotionally. Physically. Maybe spiritually. Who knows."

Faye muttered, "So it's roulette with trauma."

"Life is roulette with trauma," Pix sighed, "and yet none of you appreciate the poetry."

Sera stepped back. "First up. Dae."

....

Silence.

All eyes turned.

Dae's feet moved before he could argue with them.

The circle at the center glowed under him.

The floor shimmered and vanished.

He dropped.

....

[TRIAL INITIATED – SUBJECT: DAE]

....

He landed on grass.

But it wasn't normal grass.

It shimmered silver, whispering like silk. The sky above was red and cracked, like a wound. The trees had no tops just branches that stretched up into black smoke.

He stood slowly.

No pain. No blood.

But something was off.

Very off.

There was… a house.

In front of him.

His house.

The old one.

Back before the city. Before the hostel.

Exactly as he remembered it cracks in the plaster, crooked numberplate, dead bougainvillea. Even the broken drainpipe that always banged in the wind.

It shouldn't be here.

But it was.

The door creaked open.

Inside: his mother.

Standing at the kitchen counter.

Chopping vegetables.

Like she always did.

But her back never turned.

And the sound… it was wrong. Too rhythmic. Too slow.

Dae stepped closer.

Her shoulders didn't rise and fall.

She wasn't breathing.

He reached out touched her shoulder.

She collapsed like paper.

Hollow. Folded. Flat.

Just an image.

Dae backed up.

Turned.

His sister was at the table. Face down. Silent.

An sat across from her.

Staring at him.

Real.

Not real.

"You left me," An whispered.

Dae choked. "No no, I tried. I tried to call, I swear…"

"You deleted me."

"I didn't want to!"

"You erased me."

"I REMEMBER YOU!" Dae screamed.

The room shook.

Walls cracked.

The world peeled.

And then..

Light.

Pure.

White.

From his chest.

No…from the ring.

It burned.

Kairoth screamed to life on his hand, a blaze of impossible geometry and sound. Symbols erupted in the air around him, spiraling into the ground like divine roots.

The false world cracked.

And broke.

Dae fell through light.

…..

[TRIAL COMPLETE – AFFINITY: CREATION (LIGHT) – SYNC: 98.7%]

...

Dae collapsed back in the atrium.

Sera was kneeling beside him.

She looked slightly… impressed.

"Interesting," she said. "You came back older than you went in."

He blinked.

He wasn't sure what that meant.

An offered him a hand silently.

Dae took it.

Their fingers brushed just briefly but something sparked in that moment.

Recognition.

Like maybe An remembered too.

…..

One by one, the others went in.

Kio's trial was fast. Violent. Walls exploded. A roar echoed across sectors. When he came out, his eyes were glowing red. He grinned like he'd just body-slammed the devil.

"Strength type," Sera said. "As expected."

Rea floated through her trial like she was dreaming. When she returned, her fingers left trails in the air like water ripples. Sera didn't explain her ability.

"Still stabilizing," was all she said.

Selene went in without a word.

Her Trial lasted the longest.

When she returned, her eyes had changed black like mirrors. Her aura made the floor frost over. Dae caught her gaze once. It felt like drowning in silence.

She looked away.

Fast.

Zanes trial resulted in zero fanfare. She walked in, came out, and muttered, "Guess I'm fire now." The scorch marks on her sleeves said more than she did.

Pix tried to delay his.

Insisted on a monologue.

Sera shoved him in.

When he came out, he looked shaken. Quiet. Almost human.

"I saw… a younger me," he whispered. "Before… everything."

"What did you learn?" Dae asked softly.

"That I've been funny for far too long to survive honesty."

Then he grinned. "Just kidding. Turns out I'm classified as a light-tech resonance hybrid. Whatever the hell that means."

An didn't speak at all after his Trial.

But Dae noticed his notebook had new symbols in it.

Ones that glowed faintly.

.....

After all was done, Sera looked over them.

"Most of you survived," she said. "A few of you awakened."

She looked directly at Dae.

"And one of you changed something."

The lights above flickered.

The dome's walls trembled faintly.

"Rest tonight," she said. "Because starting tomorrow your real training begins."

She paused.

"And someone's already watching."

...

Dae froze.

He looked up.

Beyond the dome.

There. in the shadows of the sea, a shape moved.

Large.

Wrong.

Unblinking.

Watching.

....

[To be continued in Chapter 11: "The First Trial."]