Rain had turned the city into a blur of silver.
It streamed from rooftops, raced along gutters, and struck the windows of the apartment buildings with a steady hiss.
Somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled between the towers.
Most people had escaped the storm hours ago.
Three children had not.
On the roof of an old apartment building, Tez stood with his feet planted wide apart, one hand extended toward his cousin.
“You’re finished!”
Sha stared at him through rain-soaked hair.
“You said that five minutes ago.”
“This time I mean it!”
Rihasa, sitting beside the water tank with a half-eaten slice of pizza, raised his head.
“You both talk too much.”
Tez turned.
“Whose side are you on?”
“The side with pizza.”
Sha laughed.
Tez tried to look offended, but a bright smile broke through.
A moment later, all three were laughing as another crack of thunder rolled overhead.
They had been playing on the rooftop for nearly an hour.
There were no special effects and no real magical attacks.
Just three ten-year-old cousins whose imagination turned a wet concrete roof into a grand battlefield.
To an adult, it was childish.
To Tez, Sha, and Rihasa, it was pure magic.
When their imaginary battle finally ended, the three settled beneath the small shelter near the stairs, sharing the rest of their pizza.
Tez watched the rain fall.
“Do you think there are other worlds? Somewhere beyond ours?”
Sha glanced at him.
“Other worlds?”
“Yeah. Maybe there’s another Earth. Maybe people there can fly. Maybe someone can control fire. Maybe dragons are real.”
“Or maybe heroes from anime are real,” Sha said.
Tez smiled.
“Exactly.”
Rihasa finally looked up.
“If another world exists, I want a four-dimensional pocket. Doraemon’s.”
Sha blinked.
“And what would you do with it?”
“Food,” Rihasa answered very seriously.
“Unlimited food is a very important dream.”
Sha shook his head.
“You’re impossible.”
The three laughed again.
None of them noticed the old man sitting near the stairwell.
He had been listening to every word.
His name was Jaff.
To the children, he was simply Grandpa—the man who always appeared when they were hungry, who told ridiculous stories with a completely straight face, and who somehow knew when they were planning trouble before they had even started.
But tonight, there was something different in his expression.
He looked almost…
nostalgic.
Jaff leaned forward.
“So,” he said, “you boys want powers?”
The three turned toward him.
“Obviously,” Sha answered.
Rihasa nodded.
“If the powers include unlimited food.”
Jaff chuckled.
“Then perhaps you’ve been thinking too small.”
Tez studied him.
“What do you mean?”
Jaff looked beyond the roof, toward the storm.
“Have you ever heard of the Powerverse?”
The name meant nothing to them.
Sha frowned.
“Is that an anime?”
“No.”
“Then a game?”
Jaff smiled.
“Neither.” He paused.
“It is a world.”
The laughter disappeared.
Tez leaned closer.
“What kind of world?”
“A world created through imagination,” Jaff’s voice had become quieter.
“Long ago, someone imagined a place where impossible things could exist. A place where ideas could become real, where creatures from stories could walk beneath the same sky, and where imagination itself could possess power.”
Rihasa stopped eating.
“So… it’s real?”
Jaff looked directly at him.
“Would you believe me if I said yes?”
Rihasa opened his mouth, then closed it.
Sha stared at Jaff.
“Can we go there?”
Tez immediately shook his head.
“Grandpa is messing with you.”
“Maybe.” Jaff’s eyes shifted to Tez.
“But what if I wasn’t?”
Tez’s smile disappeared.
Jaff’s voice remained calm.
“Suppose someone offered you the chance to enter that world. Suppose you were given power—real power. What would you do with it?”
“Fight bad people.”
“That’s easy to say.” Jaff’s gaze sharpened.
“What if the enemy was stronger than you?”
“I’d get stronger.”
“What if there were too many enemies?”
Tez hesitated for only a moment.
“Then I’d protect the people I can.”
Jaff watched him carefully.
“And if protecting them meant putting yourself in danger?”
Tez looked at the rain.
For the first time that evening, the game on the rooftop felt very far away.
Then he looked back at his grandfather.
“I’d still do it.”
Jaff said nothing.
Tez added, “If I have the power to help someone and I run away, then what’s the point of having it?”
A faint smile appeared on Jaff’s face.
“That’s the answer I wanted.”
Sha suddenly broke the silence.
“Grandpa, if you’re secretly some kind of powerful wizard, you should probably tell us now.”
Jaff laughed.
“Wizard?”
“Or superhero.”
“Neither.”
“Alien?”
“Definitely not.”
Rihasa raised his hand.
“Doraemon?”
Jaff shook his head.
“No.”
Rihasa looked disappointed.
Then Jaff stood.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“The roof.”
Tez looked at the storm.
“The roof? Again?”
Jaff simply continued walking.
The three cousins exchanged glances before following him.
The rain was heavier now.
Jaff led them to the center of the rooftop.
“Stand there.”
They did.
“Straight.”
They obeyed.
“Close your eyes.”
Sha hesitated.
“Are you sure this won’t hurt?”
Jaff smiled.
“You wanted power.”
Sha closed his eyes.
Rihasa did the same.
Tez followed.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then the wind stopped—completely.
The rain seemed to hang in the air.
Tez opened his eyes.
“Grandpa?”
Jaff was no longer smiling.
He looked toward the sky as if waiting for someone.
Far beyond the world they knew, another presence was listening.
Jaff closed his eyes.
Rarea.”
The name disappeared into the storm.
For a moment, there was no answer.
Then a voice came from somewhere beyond sight.
『You finally made your decision.』
Jaff lowered his head.
“I have.”
『You know what this means.』
“I do.”
『And if they fail?』
Jaff looked at Tez.
“Then they fail.” His voice softened.
“But if they succeed… they may become something this universe has not seen in generations.”
Silence followed.
Then Rarea answered.
『Very well.』
The clouds above the rooftop began to turn violet.
Tez felt the change before he understood it.
The air had become heavy.
The hairs on his arms rose.
Sha opened his eyes.
“What’s happening?”
Rihasa looked upward.
The storm clouds were moving in circles.
At their center, a strange violet light appeared.
Tez stared.
“Grandpa?”
Jaff looked at him.
For the first time, Tez saw something in his grandfather’s eyes that he had never seen before.
Fear—not fear for himself, but fear for them.
Jaff stepped forward.
“Tez, remember what I told you.”
Tez swallowed.
“Great power comes with responsibility.”
Jaff nodded.
“But remember something else.” He placed a hand on Tez’s shoulder.
“Your courage matters more than your strength.”
Tez didn’t understand why those words suddenly felt so important.
He only knew that he would remember them.
The violet light grew brighter.
Sha grabbed Tez’s arm.
“Maybe we should go.”
Rihasa nodded quickly.
“I agree.”
Tez looked at Jaff.
The old man gave him a small smile.
“Trust me.”
FLASH!
A flash of purple tore across the sky.
The rooftop vanished beneath the light.
For one impossible second, Tez felt as though he were falling upward.
He heard Sha shout his name.
He heard Rihasa scream.
He heard thunder.
Then he heard nothing.
When the light disappeared, the rooftop was empty.
The storm continued as though nothing had happened.
Jaff stood alone.
Three children had vanished from the world.
But he knew they had not disappeared—they had crossed a boundary that humans were never meant to cross.
Somewhere beyond reality, the Powerverse had opened its gates.
Jaff looked into the empty rain.
“I trust you, my grandchild.”
He turned away.
He did not know what the children would find.
He did not know what would find them.
And he certainly did not know whether the three ordinary boys who had climbed onto that roof would ever return as the same people.
But the choice had already been made.
The first step had already been taken.
And in a world where imagination could become power, legends did not begin with kings.
They began with children who dared to believe the impossible.
TO BE CONTINUED…..
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