(1) ONCE AGAIN.

With it — a whisper.

"WE SHALL START THEN SHALL'NT WE?"

---------------------------------------

The skies over Gaiya are clear, and the air is still. Children walk to school. Distant clocktowers tick quietly through peaceful mornings. Nothing ever seems out of place.

Except... something is.

---------------------------------------

• Noah: "Hey! Nola! Wait up!"

• Nola: "You're late again, dummy."

• Noah: "Not my fault breakfast was too good."

• Nola: "Not your fault you had three plates?"

---------------------------------------

They laugh as they walk down cracked sidewalks. It's normal. Too normal.

They go to class. Talk about dreams. About worlds they thought they imagined.

About drawing them. Writing them. Naming them.

---------------------------------------

Later that night…

---------------------------------------

• Nola: "Noah… sometimes I feel like this place isn't real."

• Noah: "...I know what you mean."

• Nola: "Like… we were meant to do something. Something else."

• Noah: "Then why does it feel like something's watching us?"

---------------------------------------

A fracture forms in the sky the next morning. At first, just a shimmer. By noon, a hole.

People don't react. No one sees it.

Except them.

---------------------------------------

In their room, on their shared desk, a scroll appears. Delicate. Golden edges.

---------------------------------------

• ??? (God): "Read it. And forget."

• Noah: "Forget… what?"

• Nola: "...Our names."

---------------------------------------

Their hands move on instinct, unrolling the scroll.

And then —

Nothing.

They float. No walls. No ground. Just the Void.

Their names, thoughts, and identities stretch thin. Like paper burned at the edges.

---------------------------------------

And then — new names appear.

---------------------------------------

CREATOR.

CREATIA.

---------------------------------------

• Creatia: "This… isn't Gaiya."

• Creator: "...Did we fall into our own minds?"

---------------------------------------

The world they'd known cracks away, peeling into ink and imagination.

They are no longer Noah and Nola.

They are something... beyond.

---------------------------------------

> This is not just a slice of life.

Not just a dream collapsing.

---------------------------------------

> "TRULY" This is IN THEIR MINDS.

---------------------------------------