The sun was wrong.
A man stood alone on the rooftop of a small house, staring at the sky.
The world around him was silent.
Not peaceful.
Silent.
In front of him, countless people stood on the rooftops of nearby houses. Every single one of them was looking toward the sun.
Some were crying.
Some were hugging their loved ones.
Others simply stood there, staring upward with expressions of absolute despair.
The man slowly raised his head.
The sun hung in the sky like a massive, burning eye.
And around it—
Four gigantic poles stretched into the heavens.
They were impossibly long, reaching toward the sun from four different directions. At the end of each pole was a massive hexagonal structure.
The structures slowly rotated.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
The sun flickered.
The man froze.
A strange feeling crawled through his body.
Something was about to happen.
Something that had already happened.
Something he had seen before.
But he couldn't remember when.
The people around him suddenly began screaming.
The man looked around in confusion.
Then a voice whispered from somewhere behind him.
"You failed again."
The man turned around.
There was no one there.
The four hexagonal structures suddenly began glowing.
The sky cracked.
And the sun—
Began to fall.
Aqua jolted awake.
He immediately grabbed his head and gasped for breath.
For several seconds, he remained frozen in his bed.
Then he slowly lowered his hand.
"…Another failure."
He sat up and reached for his phone.
A message from his friend, Z, was waiting for him.
Z:Did it work?
Aqua stared at the message for a moment before typing his reply.
Aqua:Another failure.
After sending the message, Aqua stood up and walked toward the kitchen.
His mother was already there.
"Oh, you woke up," she said. "How was your dream? Did it work?"
Aqua shook his head.
"No."
Then he paused.
"By the way, did you iron my uniform?"
"Yes," his mother replied. "I left it in your room."
"Okay."
Aqua turned around and left.
He brushed his teeth, took a bath, changed into his uniform, and ate his breakfast.
Not long after, his father entered the room.
"So," his father said, "what happened in the dream?"
Aqua didn't answer.
He simply looked away.
His father stared at him for a moment.
"I'll take that as a no."
Aqua soon left for school.
Aqua M.N.
Aqua M.N. was a normal high school student.
He was somewhat fit, though he wouldn't exactly be considered handsome. He knew a few martial arts techniques and was capable of defending himself if necessary.
He didn't talk to girls.
Actually, he actively avoided them.
Aqua had a few friends he would call at night. Among them were his two best friends, Zaifer and Robin.
At school, he usually spent time with Valt, Theo, Joseph, and Abu.
That day, Aqua was playing football with his friends on the school grounds.
Everything was normal.
Until suddenly—
A strange window appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
It had a single heading.
SYSTEM WINDOW
Aqua barely had time to look at it before it suddenly disappeared.
He froze.
"System window… huh?"
The moment those words left his mouth—
The window suddenly appeared directly in front of his face.
Aqua jumped backward.
"Whoa!"
He stared at the strange screen.
Then his eyes widened.
He knew this.
He had seen it before.
Not in real life.
In a story.
A story that he and Zaifer had created together.
A story where the entire class gained supernatural abilities.
One or two students from other classes were supposed to receive powers as well.
Aqua carefully examined the system.
SYSTEM WINDOW
Status
Strength: 3
Speed: 2
Dexterity: 2
Mana/Aura: 3
Abilities
Dark Manipulation
Water Manipulation
Fire Control
Skills
Weapon Mastery
Analysing Gaze
Rage
Skill Description: Weapon Mastery
This skill will automatically activate once the user comes into contact with a weapon.
Skill Description: Analysing Gaze
This skill allows the user to see different varieties of mana and identify the weaknesses of enemies.
If the user is in danger, this skill will automatically activate and alert the user of incoming danger.
Aqua stared at the screen.
His intuition had been correct.
This really was the system window.
The same system window from the story he and Zaifer had created.
However…
Something was different.
Aqua quickly looked toward the other classrooms through the windows.
He checked.
Then checked again.
The events were similar to the story.
But not exactly the same.
In the original story, Aqua was supposed to receive Lightning Manipulation.
Not Dark Manipulation.
And he was supposed to be playing football with Zaifer near Aqua's house when they received their powers.
Not at school.
Aqua frowned.
"So some things have changed…"
He looked at the system again.
"But not everything."
He took a deep breath.
"It's probably fine…"
For now.
After taking a moment to calm down, Aqua decided to test his abilities.
First, he tried using fire.
He concentrated.
Fire.
Suddenly, he felt something hot spreading through his entire right arm.
Aqua's eyes widened.
"Wait…"
His hand began to grow hotter.
Then—
WHOOSH!
His entire hand burst into flames.
"Shit!"
Aqua immediately realized his mistake.
"I forgot to concentrate my mana!"
MANA
Mana was a power and source of matter that could produce different elements depending on the physical and mental condition of a person.
Only people who possessed the System could use mana.
However, mana was not unlimited.
If a person failed to concentrate their mana into a single point, the entire body could become covered in the element they were attempting to use.
Fortunately, elemental powers such as fire would not burn the user's body.
However—
They could still burn the user's clothes.
Aqua began panicking.
He violently shook his hand back and forth.
Nothing happened.
The flames only spread further.
"Ah! Get off!"
Aqua fell to the ground and rolled around.
But instead of disappearing, the flames spread up his arm.
Then to his shoulder.
"AAAH!"
Aqua began screaming.
His friends immediately rushed toward him.
"Aqua!"
"What happened?!"
"Put it out!"
Theo quickly grabbed a handful of sand and threw it over Aqua's burning arm.
But the flames remained.
Aqua clenched his teeth.
He tried to calm himself down.
Then he realized something.
The fire wasn't burning him.
His skin wasn't damaged.
Only his clothes were being affected.
Right.
I just need to control it.
Aqua took a deep breath.
Then he concentrated.
This time, he focused his mana.
Water Manipulation.
Suddenly—
Water began forming around his entire hand.
Aqua's eyes widened.
He felt the water gathering.
Flowing.
Moving.
Then, as he concentrated the mana into his palm—
SHOOOOSH!
A powerful beam of water erupted from his hand.
The blast shot across the school grounds and slammed directly into one of the branches of the largest tree in the school.
The tree was enormous.
Nearly four stories tall.
The branch shook violently from the impact.
Everyone stared in shock.
Aqua stared at his own hand.
I actually did it…
Then—
A scream came from behind him.
"AAAAAH!"
Aqua froze.
Slowly, he turned around.
"…What?"
His friends were staring at something behind him.
Aqua's expression changed.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.