"Hmm... hmm."
Zia hummed to herself, circling a date on the calendar.
'Christmas Break.'
She passed by White, clearly in a good mood.
A television murmured in the background.
"...once again, the so-called 'Mystic Fortune Teller' has repeated the same claim-"
White didn't look up. His eyes stayed on the book.
"The world will supposedly end before the year concludes-" His dad scoffed. "Yeah, right."
Laughter followed.
It was everywhere.
On the news, on phones, on radios.
In conversations that never lasted long.
Most people treated it like a joke. Something to laugh at, then forget.
White turned a page. Uninterested.
"...experts continue to dismiss the prediction as speculation-"
Static cut through the broadcast. Someone changed the channel. Life moved on.
Classes resumed.
Games continued.
Days passed like they always did.
Normal. Everything felt normal.
White paused. Just for a moment.
His gaze drifted. "...Something's off..."
The thought slipped through. Quiet, fleeting, then gone.
He continued reading.
• • •
The days passed quietly. White kept the same routine.
School. Home. Silence.
After classes, he stayed a little longer than most. The classroom would empty as the noise faded. Only then would he move.
Sometimes, he read. Other times, he stayed on his phone.
Scrolling, playing, passing time without thinking much about it.
At home, it wasn't much different.
Dinner, short conversations, Zia complaining about something.
Then back to his room.
Most days, he just trained. Nothing intense. Just enough to maintain what he already had.
People still talked about him.
Top rank.
Captain.
Offers he kept turning down.
He didn't care. He never cared since everything stayed the same.
Too same.
White sat by the window, staring at the night sky. "Why does this feel so... wrong?" The thought returned.
Again.
It didn't make sense. Nothing had changed. Everything was the same.
And yet-
he felt it.
That quiet discomfort.
Like something was waiting.
Like someone was watching.
He instinctively looked away, then went back to what he was doing.
• • •
The house felt different that day. It was brighter, livelier than usual.
The voices filled the space. Laughter, footsteps, plates clanging in the kitchen.
"Hey!" Zia smacked White's hand away before he could grab anything from the table.
"Don't touch that yet!"
"Good lord..." he muttered, shaking his hand.
"It's not even ready."
"I was just checking."
"You were about to eat it."
White didn't argue.
He noticed their mother moving between the kitchen and dining area, carrying dishes.
"Zia, help out for a bit."
"I'm not your assistant."
"Zia."
"...Fine."
Their father leaned against the wall, smiling.
• • •
The house wasn't usually this noisy. But it was Christmas.
Yet "...This feels different."
He brushed the thought aside since outside, the street was just as alive.
Christmas lights blinked across houses. Children ran past, laughing, shouting, some already holding torotot.
"Oi, White!" Blaster waved from across the street." Are you coming later?"
White shook his head. "Got stuff to do."
"Lame." Blaster laughed and ran off.
Zia stepped out after placing a tray on the table.
"You're just going to stand there?"
"Looks like you've got it handled."
"Wow. Very helpful."
• • •
Their dinner passed quickly. Sharing stories, genuine laughter, the familiar noise.
For once, White felt normal...again.
He quickly glanced outside where the sky was clear.
"Huh?" White froze when the stars moved.
Zia snapped her fingers in front of him. "Oi. Earth to White."
He blinked. "What?"
"You've been spacing out."
"I'm not."
Zia held a mirror up to his face. "You are."
White looked away. "...It's nothing." But it didn't feel like nothing.
"Dad's looking for you," Zia added.
• • •
Their night settled slowly as the noise from earlier faded into the distance.
Lights still flickered across houses, but the streets grew quieter as fewer voices remained.
White walked alone to get some air.
Away from the noise, away from everyone.
As he walked, he glanced up the sky, then he noticed it.
The ambience felt wrong.
No sound, no wind, not even the leaves moved.
"...What..." A faint distortion rippled across the sky.
White narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of it.
It was brief, almost unnoticeable.
Something moved where nothing should.
"I..." He rubbed his temple. "I'm just tired..." He exhaled and kept walking.
A dog barked somewhere in the distance.
Another followed.
Then another.
The sound spread.
Uneven.
Restless.
"...What is going on..." White slowed again.
A sudden chill ran down his spine as the wind finally moved-
sharp.
Wrong.
He looked up once more and the sky flickered.
Cracking-
like a mirror on the verge of breaking.
For the first time-
he didn't doubt.
He knew.
Something was coming.
• • •
New Year was around the corner.
Voices returned to the streets. Karaoke blasted across the neighborhood, food being shared from house to house.
People gathered outside their homes. Fireworks sparked, firecrackers popping in quick bursts, while others counted time without looking at a clock.
"Kuya! Come out na!" Zia called from the doorway. White stepped outside where the street was vibrant.
Lights flashed across homes, neighbors spoke over one another and children dashed by, yelling.
Normal.
Too normal.
White looked up instinctively. The sky was clear.
"...Huh." He couldn't explain it, but the stars-
"...bl-"
"Hoy!" Blaster yelled. "You called me?"
"Huh?"
"Thought I heard my name or something." He shrugged. "Whatever, man."
Blaster went back to lighting fireworks in front of the house.
"...Zia." She glanced at him. "What now?"
"Have you noticed anything... strange?"
She frowned. "You've been saying that a lot."
"I mean it."
Zia stepped closer.
Then reached up, tiptoed, and lightly tapped his forehead. "You're overthinking again."
"I'm not-"
"You've been busy lately, right?" She crossed her arms. "School, training, whatever else you do."
White stayed silent.
"You're just tired."
"...Maybe." But it didn't feel like that.
White glanced above, where he subtly noticed it, something shifted.
A thin crack traced across the sky-
barely visible then gone in an instant.
"Hey!" Zia snapped her fingers in front of him.
"You're looking up again?"
White blinked. "...It's nothing."
She sighed. "You've been weird all week."
"I'm fine."
"Yeah, sure." She turned away. "Maybe stop reading those myth books for a while."
White glanced at the book in his hand.
"Celebrate with us," Zia added. "Just this once."
White hesitated. He looked around him as the noise grew louder.
"Ten minutes!"
"Five!"
"Get ready!"
The countdown hadn't started but the energy kept building.
Excitement.
Anticipation.
Noise.
White didn't move.
He gazes once more on the sky.
• • •
"Ten!"
Voices rose together.
"Nine!"
The music got louder.
"Eight!"
Fireworks burst across the sky.
"Seven!"
"Six!"
White didn't join. His eyes stayed on the sky.
"Five!"
Something shifted.
"Four!"
The crack returned. This time, it didn't disappear.
"Three!"
A sound followed. Not from the fireworks.
Something deeper.
Something else.
"Two!"
The sky broke.
Not like glass.
Not like light.
Like something was forcing its way in.
"One! Happy New-"
Then, a blinding flash.
Silence-
Then-
Everything broke.
Chaos descended as a roar tore through the world.
Darkness poured through, swallowing the night sky.
Shapes followed-
twisted.
Unfamiliar.
Too large.
Too wrong.
People froze.
Then-
screamed.
"What is that?!"
"Run!"
Fireworks fell from people's hands.
The ground shook.
Windows shattered.
A shadow passed overhead-
fast.
Massive.
White didn't move. He couldn't.
He stared upward as the crack widened.
No-
It wasn't a crack anymore.
It was an opening.
And something inside it-
Moved.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then-
It came through.
A scream split the air.
And the world-
broke.