MrEmperor9167

In a world where cities float above the earth and ancient beasts roam the land, truth has long since been buried beneath the clouds…

Seventeen-year-old Aryan has lived his entire life in a cursed land city — a crumbling outpost surrounded by monsters with fangs like swords and demons with human faces. His mother, a low-tier Light wielder, died from a mysterious illness when he was seven. His father? Vanished in a classified government mission years earlier, investigating the very secrets the world refuses to speak of — the beasts, the demons… and the floating cities themselves.

No one knows Aryan exists — not the ruling government, not the elite nobles who live high above in shining cities suspended 1000 feet in the sky, not even the assassin guilds and rebel warlords fighting for scraps of power on the surface.

But Aryan is about to shatter their silence.

Hidden within this fractured world lies a shattered ancient artifact — a mysterious cube once powerful enough to hold the balance between land, sky, and beyond. Split into four fragments, each held in secret corners of the world — from the heavenly Sky Government cities to the beast-infested wilds — its true purpose is unknown… but it calls to Aryan.

As he journeys across deadly lands aboard flying warships, hunted by assassins, tracked by beasts, and haunted by fragments of his parents’ forgotten legacies, Aryan begins to uncover a terrifying truth:

The cities were never meant to float...
The beasts were never meant to exist...
And he was never meant to survive.

But fate doesn’t care what the world intended. Aryan is coming — and he’s not just looking for answers.
He’s looking to break the sky open.

The Shadow in  Void

The ground trembled as the Crawler advanced—its massive, monstrous form casting a suffocating shadow over the arena's blood-stained sands. Chains still clung to its limbs, though they were now more decoration than restraint.

Its eyes, glowing like two dying suns, locked on Kat.

The air pulsed. A sickening heat filled the space.

"Hellfire...!" someone shouted, panic cracking their voice.

A sphere of molten energy erupted from the beast's maw, blazing red and black—not fire, but pure destruction.

"KAT—MOVE!" Aryan screamed, trying to push his broken body forward.

Flames swallowed the earth. The impact cracked the arena floor. Stone shattered and smoke coiled into the sky like the breath of a burning god.

His throat tore as he shouted, "KAAAT!!"

But before despair could claim him, a blur shot through the flames. A figure—a man wrapped in faint blue lightning—dashed into the blaze and pulled Kat from the epicenter a heartbeat before the fire consumed everything.

The rescuer collapsed, coughing blood, his legs scorched and trembling.

"...Damn... too close..." he muttered before fainting.

Aryan's breath caught in his throat, eyes wide as he spotted Kat—bruised, bleeding, but alive.

Relief crashed into him like a tidal wave.

"Thank god..." he muttered, slumping to his knees.

Others were moving now—warriors, mages, survivors. The real ones. The few strong enough to stand against death itself.

A healer, a young woman with glowing green palms, knelt beside Aryan."Hold still. Your ribs are broken. You shouldn't be alive, honestly."

Aryan chuckled through clenched teeth. "Get used to it."

Nearby, magic surged like a storm.

A fire mage in red robes conjured blazing dragons from her hands. A wind user raised barriers to redirect the monster's ice breath. Earth mages summoned stone pillars to trap its legs. Ice users readied their chants. Gravity mages concentrated on the monster's mass, forcing it down, down, crushing it beneath its own weight.

"GRAVITY BALL!" shouted the lead gravity mage, slamming both palms into the ground.

The very space around the Crawler distorted. Sand cracked. Bones snapped. The beast roared in defiance but couldn't rise.

"Now!" someone shouted. "Ice team—freeze it!"

Five coordinated ice mages raised their hands, sweat pouring from their brows.

"Broken Ice Formation: MINUS ZERO!"

Shards of pure white light spiraled into the sky, crashing down like meteors.The frost they summoned wasn't just cold—it was absolute. The kind of cold that froze blood in veins, that shattered time itself.

The Crawler shrieked, its body locked in place, ice crawling over its limbs, mouth, eyes.

Someone dared to laugh. Then cheer. Then more voices joined.

"The beast is frozen!"

Even Aryan sat back, exhausted, letting the healer mend what she could. Kat leaned on his sword, breathing hard but alive.

From the stands, a bandit's voice cut through the celebration like a cold knife.

"...Fools," the man muttered. "You think this is the end?"

Another bandit, older and more scarred, shook his head. "The real fight begins now."

A sound. A crack.

A hairline fracture slithered across the icy prison that bound the Crawler.

Another snap. Another creak.

Aryan's eyes locked on the ice, heart pounding.

From deep within the frozen mass… something moved.

The eyes of the beast glowed red once more.

And the celebration turned to dread.

Chapter 18: The Crack Before the Storm