Rain fell relentlessly over the city, turning busy streets into rivers of shimmering lights. Neon signs reflected off the soaked pavement as buses crawled through traffic and motorcycle riders squeezed between cars, horns echoing into the night.
Rasheed Adewale walked alone beneath the storm.
His school bag hung loosely over one shoulder, and the hood of his black jacket hid most of his face. While everyone else hurried home to escape the weather, he moved without urgency, as if the rain couldn’t touch him.
People often called him strange.
He never talked much. He never smiled unless he had a reason. Even in a crowd, he somehow looked alone.
But Rasheed noticed things other people didn’t.
A little girl almost slipped while chasing her mother across the street. Before anyone else reacted, Rasheed stepped forward and caught her arm.
“You should be more careful,” he said quietly.
The girl nodded with a shy smile before running back to her mother.
Rasheed continued walking.
His phone vibrated.
OMAR: Don’t forget tomorrow’s race.
A second message appeared almost instantly.
OMAR: Try not to embarrass yourself this time.
Rasheed couldn’t help but smirk.
He typed a reply.
RASHEED: We’ll see.
After sending it, he slipped the phone back into his pocket.
Omar Bello had been competing with him since they were children. Whether it was athletics, exams, or something as simple as climbing a staircase, Omar always found a way to turn it into a competition.
Sometimes Rasheed wondered if Omar even knew how to relax.
By the time he reached his apartment building, the rain had become even heavier.
The hallway was silent.
His mother hadn’t returned from her shift at the hospital yet.
That wasn’t unusual.
She worked long hours ever since the Chrona Core disaster two years earlier.
Everything had changed after that night.
His father had been one of the lead engineers working on the Chrona Core project.
The official report called it an industrial accident.
No body had ever been recovered.
Everyone accepted that Dr. Adewale was gone.
Everyone except Rasheed.
He entered his father’s old study.
Nothing had been moved.
A pair of cracked glasses rested beside a stack of engineering journals.
Half-finished blueprints covered the desk.
Dust coated everything.
On the wall hung a wristwatch.
The hands had stopped at exactly 8:17 p.m.
The exact time the Chrona Core exploded.
Rasheed stared at it for a long moment.
“It still doesn’t make sense,” he whispered.
As he turned to leave, every light in the apartment flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then…
Silence.
The humming refrigerator stopped.
The rain outside vanished.
Even the ticking clock in the hallway ceased.
For one impossible second, the entire world stood perfectly still.
A strange pressure filled the room.
It felt as though something invisible was watching him.
Then everything returned.
The refrigerator buzzed back to life.
Rain hammered against the windows.
A car horn sounded somewhere outside.
Rasheed stood frozen.
“What… was that?”
His heartbeat quickened.
Without thinking, he climbed the fire escape to the roof of the building.
The city stretched endlessly beneath him.
Thousands of lights glittered through the rain.
Then he saw it.
A streak of crimson lightning cut across the clouds.
It didn’t strike the ground.
It didn’t behave like ordinary lightning.
It moved.
It curved.
Almost…
Like someone was running.
Rasheed narrowed his eyes.
For a brief instant, he thought he saw the outline of a human figure racing through the storm before disappearing beyond the skyline.
His breath caught in his throat.
Far beneath the city, inside an abandoned underground research facility, a cracked computer terminal suddenly powered itself on.
Its dark screen flickered.
Ancient machinery groaned as dormant systems awakened.
One line of text slowly appeared.
CHRONAL ENERGY DETECTED.
Somewhere in the darkness, a voice whispered,
“He’s finally ready.”
The monitor went black.
Above the city, another flash of red lightning illuminated the storm.