Chapter 1: AkenEzomo
The sky was not supposed to look like that.
Eight-year old Aken Ezomo pressed his small face against the airplane window, his breath fogging the glass as the world stretched endlessly beneath him. Thick white clouds rolled like oceans in the sky, glowing softly under the afternoon sun. He had never seen anything so beautiful before.
Nigeria was already far behind them. Soon, they would arrive in South Korea. A place his father often described with pride. Tall cities, cold winters and schools filled with brilliant students.
Aken was going to one of them—Byeol High.
Even at his young age, he understood it was important. The scholarship letter had arrived months ago, printed on thick paper with shining blue ink. His father had read it again and again that night, as if afraid the words might run away. His mother had cried overwhelming tears, not of sadness but of joy.
"Aken," his father had said that evening, resting a hand on his shoulder, "this school… it will open many doors for you."
Aken hadn't fully understood what that meant, but he liked the way his parents looked at him afterward—with pride shining in their eyes.
Now, as the airplane hummed steadily through the sky, he felt excitement bubbling in his chest. A new country, new school and new life. Behind him, the cabin buzzed with quiet conversations. Passengers spoke in different languages, their voices blending into a soft, melodic noise. Some people slept while others watched movies on their phones.
The scent of airplane food drifted faintly through the air. Everything felt normal, safe even. Aken turned slightly in his seat and looked at his parents. His father sat beside him, tall and broad-shouldered, his dark hair neatly combed. Though Korean by birth, years of living abroad had softened his accent. He smiled when he noticed Aken staring. "Are you nervous?"
Aken shook his head quickly. "Of course not dad."
His mother chuckled softly from the seat beside his father. Her warm brown eyes shimmered with amusement. "You don't have to act all brave," she teased gently. "Even adults get nervous flying sometimes."
"I'm not nervous," Aken insisted, puffing his cheeks slightly.
His parents laughed together. In that moment, everything felt peaceful. Then the plane jolted, it wasn't a violent movement. Just a sudden shudder. Several passengers glanced around in confusion, the seatbelt sign flickered on above them with a soft ding.
A moment later, the captain's voice echoed through the cabin speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated and fasten your seatbelts. We are passing through some unexpected turbulence."
Aken frowned slightly. Through the window, the sky looked… different. The clouds ahead became darker, much thicker than before. It was as if a storm formed from nowhere. Lightning flickered deep within the cloud mass, but it wasn't your normal lightning. Instead of the usual white flashes, the bolts glowed with a strange violet color, splitting the sky like cracks in glass.
Murmurs began to spread through the passengers. Even an eight years old Aken could feel something was up. His father leaned forward slightly, peering out the window.
"That storm appeared too suddenly," he muttered.
Another jolt rocked the aircraft, this time several passengers gasped. The captain's voice returned, though it sounded slightly tense. "Please remain calm. Our crew is handling the situation."
But calm was already slipping away, the plane shook again, then again. Outside the window, the clouds twisted violently. The violet lightning grew brighter. Suddenly—
The sky tore open. Not like a storm, neither in form of thunder. It looked like someone had ripped the page of reality apart. A massive crack spread across the clouds, glowing with an eerie purple light. Passengers screamed, Aken's heart began pounding.
"What the hell is that?" someone shouted.
The crack widened, and something fell from it. At first it looked like they were pieces of debris, dark shapes tumbling through the air. Then one of them moved. The thing had spread enormous wings, its body twisting unnaturally as it plummeted toward the plane. It wasn't human, and definitely not an animal. It was something much worse, a monstrousity given form, creatures with blackened skin, jagged limbs, and glowing red eyes. More shapes poured from the crack, hundreds, thousands. Beings raining down from above. The entire cabin erupted into chaos, people screamed, children began to cry.
Fight attendants rushed down the aisle trying desperately to calm passengers. The plane lurched violently as it entered the storm, Aken grabbed his father's arm. "Dad…"
His voice trembled. His father's face had gone pale. "Everything's going to be okay," he said quickly, though his voice carried an edge of fear.
Another violent shake rocked the aircraft. Then something slammed against the cockpit window, a sickening crack echoed through the plane. Passengers near the front screamed in horror. Aken couldn't see clearly from his seat, but he saw movement outside the cockpit. Something crawling across the glass. Then the cockpit window exploded inward, a monstrous creature forced its way through the shattered glass.
Its body was grotesque, long limbs, clawed hands, and a gaping mouth filled with rows of needle-like teeth. The captain barely had time to scream before the creature lunged, tearing him apart, blood splattered across the cockpit controls. The co-pilot shouted in horror, then the creature tore into him as well. Immediately the plane tilted downward, passengers screamed louder as the aircraft began to fall. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, the lights flickering continuously.
Aken's mother pulled him close, wrapping her arms around him. "Don't look," she whispered desperately.
But Aken had already seen enough. The screams, the blood, the creatures outside the windows. More monsters slammed into the fuselage as the plane spiraled through the storm. His father grabbed both of them, holding them close.
"It's going to be okay," he repeated again and again, but his voice was already shaking.
The plane plummeted through the clouds, faster and faster. Aken buried his face against his mother's shoulder. He could hear people praying, crying, screaming for help that wouldn't come. The world outside the window spun wildly as the aircraft lost control.
Then—
The ground rushed up to meet them, a deafening explosion tore through the cabin. Metal screamed as glass shattered, fire erupting in every direction. Immediately, everything went dark.
Aken awoke with a sharp gasp, cold sweat soaked his body. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to breathe. For several seconds, he didn't move. The nightmare lingered in his head like a shadow that refused to fade in the light.
The horrifying screams, the blood, the smell of burning metal and flesh, the last moment he held his parents. Fifteen years had passed since that accident but the memory never left. Slowly, he sat up in his bed. Now twenty-three years old, his body was lean and strong, shaped by years of relentless training. Yet his eyes carried something far older than his age. Pain, loneliness and survivor's guilt.
He ran a hand through his dark hair and let out a quiet breath. "Another one…"
The nightmares always came. Every time he closed his eyes, every night he drifted to sleep. Outside the window, the city lights glowed faintly beneath the dark sky. A world that had never fully recovered from the day of the broken sky. The day monsters fell from the heavens, the day humanity's nightmares began. The same day Aken Ezomo became the only survivor of that flight, but the world didn't know that something else had been born.
A curse.
Aken reached toward the small glowing screen beside his bed, a faint blue window appeared in the air before him.
A system message, cold, unchanging and for a reason only God knew—relentless.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Name: Aken Ezomo
Level: 1]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
He stared at it in silence, for fifteen years…
The number had never changed.
END OF CHAPTER 1