The sun wasn't even trying. It peeked over the horizon like it too was done with life. Tayven Vale, dressed like someone who lost a fight with his closet, stared at the flickering tube-light on the ceiling as if it owed him money. Another day in a house that sounded more like a courtroom.
His father's voice crashed through the air like a hammer.
"Why the hell are you here? Did college ban punctuality?"
"Maybe they bannedverbal abusetoo. Should check."
Tayven muttered under his breath, grabbing his bag.
He shuffled into the kitchen. His mother didn't even look up from her phone.
"You are planning to fail out of college like your cousin? At least he had the decency to get married to cover the shame."
Tayven sighed. "Good morning to you too, Mom."
Before anyone could throw another insult wrapped as wisdom, he slipped out of the house. The streets were gray. The people were gray. Even the dogs looked like they needed therapy.
At the subway, Tayven zoned out, headphones blasting some lo-fi beat about a samurai who probably had more emotional support than him. Then, like fate's punchline, she walked in.
Her presence was calm yet strange. Familiar.
Selene Virell
No thunder. No sparkle effects. Just… Selene. Dark hair, pale eyes, and that stillness like she had seen the world collapse and simply nodded at it. But there was something else—something charged.
She sat a few rows away.
And then it happened.
The lights flickered.
Tayven's breath hitched.
Not because of her beauty — though, yeah, it didn't hurt — but because every light in the car buzzed like it was trying to whisper secrets.
He stared at her, eyes squinting. "No way…" he mumbled.
"No way what? " came a whisper. Not hers.
It was the guy again. The whisper guy.
Veydrin.
Except now he sounded like someone who had binge-watched memes and sarcasm.
"Elelectric Girl, huh? You sure know how to pick'em? Want me to play a violin in the background?"
"Yes." Tayven had just dubbed her Electric Girl. Because every time she moved, the lights responded like she was Mother Nature's backup battery. Because his gut told him she wasn't normal. And Tayven's gut, unreliable with cafeteria food, was always eerily accurate with weirdness.
Tayven blinked. "Shut up ,Veydrin."
"Oh I will. Right after I write a love poem about your static-charged destiny."
Selene stood up. Her hand accidentally brushed the metal pole.
SPARK!
A jolt. Tiny. Barely noticeable.
Except to Tayven. Who flinched like he just got slapped by Zeus.
"Yup. Confirmed. Electric Girl." he muttered, voice just a little too loud.
Selene turned her head, brow slightly raised.
"You okay?"
"perfectly...electrocuted." he said, before internally screaming at himself.
She tilted her head but said nothing, as if deciding whether he was crazy or mildly interesting. Spoiler alert: she was going with Option B.
Then the train hissed to a stop.
Selene walked away.
Veydrin: "Smooth. Like licking a battery ."
Back at home, the usual screaming match over nothing was paused when the television volume spiked.
Breaking News.
The screen showed helicopters over some remote excavation site in the mountains.
"—Scientistshave reportedly unearthed what appears to be a form of ancient technology. Preliminary scans suggest it predates any known civilization—"
Tayven leaned in.
"Oh good. Now we're playing Indiana Jones with cosmic consequences."
His father scoffed. "Probably just some marketing stunt"
But then came the footage.
One of the scientists — in a hazmat suit, no less — touched a floating shard. It reacted. Lit up like a galaxy was trying to blink.
Then chaos.
The feed cut in and out. Screaming. Lights exploding.
The news anchor, pale-faced, tried to maintain calm.
"We repeat:The artifact has emitted a form of unidentified radiation.
Government officials urge civilians to remain indoors. Do not approach the fallout zones."
Tayven's mom, for once, dropped her phone. "Is this real?"
His dad grumbled. "Scientists always pokingthings they shouldn't. First microwaves, now this."
Veydrin, amused: "Aaaand BOOM." "Humanity just pressed the 'Do not press' button. Classic."
Tayven's vision blurred for a moment. The lights in their house flickered.
"WAIT...." he whispered.
Veydrin's tone shifted: "It's starting. That feeling? Like a storm crawling under your skin? That's the Phantom."
Tayven grabbed his head.
"Why now? Why again?"
But no answer came. Only a deep, resonant hum. A sound no one else seemed to hear.
The screen buzzed again. This time, a new theory was thrown in by the experts.
"—Some speculate this could be a breach in universal boundaries. A Multiversal Echo. Even a Mega-Verse overlap..."
His father chuckled bitterly. "Bunch of nerds."
Tayven, on the other hand, stared blankly at the screen.
Because deep inside him… something cracked open.
Not loudly.
Just… enough.
"You were never meant to be normal", whispered Veydrin.
—"To Be Continued"—