The night was still, and the city lay wrapped in an eerie silence.Haruto sat on the rooftop, as he always did, gazing at the sky, searching for the stars that brought him a sense of comfort. Below, the laughter of his family drifted from the living room—familiar, warm sounds that made the world feel safe.
But something changed.The stars began to tremble, and the air grew heavier, as if the sky were preparing for something beyond explanation.Suddenly, a black light appeared—a blazing mass plunging toward the earth at an insane speed.
There was no time to escape.The mass struck the house, and the entire place erupted with a sound like the end of the world.Fire devoured the walls, glass shattered like knives, and the screams were silenced in a single instant.
Darkness shattered across everything… then silence.
There was no sound.No screams, no fire, not even breath.
Haruto slowly opened his eyes. At first, he felt no pain—only something far stranger… an unnatural lightness, as if his body no longer had any weight. He tried to move and found himself standing—or at least he thought he was—within an endless gray void.
Where was the house?Where was the rooftop?Where was… everything?
"Am I… alive?" he whispered, his voice sounding unfamiliar to him, as if it came not from his mouth but from somewhere deeper.
Suddenly, that light appeared again.Not as a mass this time… but as a form.A dark shape glowing from within, twisting slowly, as if it were watching him.
Haruto stepped back, but the void did not change. No ground beneath his feet, no sky above him. Only that entity… drawing closer.
Then he heard it.
"You have seen us."
The voice was not a voice, but a thought planted directly into his mind.Cold… devoid of any feeling.
Haruto trembled. "Who… are you?"
The entity stopped before him.The black light expanded, as if it contained dead stars spinning endlessly within.
"You are those who look at the sky… without understanding."
Haruto felt something being pulled from inside him—his memories, his images, the laughter of his family just moments ago… everything began to fade.
"Stop!" he shouted, but his voice did not reach.
"Awareness has begun. And it cannot be stopped."
And suddenly—
The voice returned.
But this time… it wasn't only in his head.It was everywhere… and it was watching.
Haruto felt a terror unlike anything he had ever known, yet something inside him pushed him forward.The void around him offered no protection, but he began to move—or at least he thought he was moving—toward the dark entity. Every step felt like crossing millions of years in absolute silence.
The entity did not speak, yet it kept watching him.Then another voice came, this time not just a thought in his head, but emerging from all directions:"You have seen the sky… and now the sky sees you."
Haruto closed his eyes, trying to retreat, but the void offered no refuge.Something began to coil around him—a black light writhing like snakes—but it did not harm him physically… instead, it was pulling something greater: his memories, his feelings, even his sense of existence.
Suddenly, he remembered the laughter of his family, the smell of his home, the warmth of the night… the feeling that he was never truly alone.He clutched these memories with all his might and shouted:"I am Haruto! You will not consume me!"
The entity paused for a moment, as if his voice and defiance had stirred something within it.
But Haruto felt something different this time.He was no longer just a victim…He was aware, more than ever before, and perhaps this awareness was the first step to confronting the entity—or maybe it was the beginning of a war no one had ever witnessed.
On the gray horizon, lines of light appeared, sparkling like stars, yet they shifted and moved as if they were living beings.Haruto took a deep breath and realized that the journey was not over… it had only just begun.
Then, as if the entity had never existed, the black light dissolved into the gray void and vanished completely.Haruto wavered, his knees giving out, and a wave of dizziness washed over him… he collapsed unconscious, swallowed entirely by the void.