Eternal Storm: Volume 1 – The Awakening

Aryan stood frozen, his breath shaky as he stared at the still-glowing asteroid. The energy in the air had settled, but a strange pull urged him forward, as if something inside the crater was calling to him. The heat from the impact had scorched the earth around it, yet at the very center of the rock, a faint black shimmer caught his eye.

Slowly, cautiously, he stepped closer, feeling his heartbeat in his ears. The stone had cracked open upon impact, revealing something inside. He crouched, brushing away the loose debris, and there it was—a necklace.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen. A black crystal, smooth and polished, hung from a thin, dark chain. Despite the heat from the asteroid, it looked untouched, as if it had been waiting for him. His fingers trembled as he reached out. The moment his skin touched the cold surface of the crystal, a surge of energy shot through his body.

His vision blurred.

A deafening silence swallowed the world.

Then—darkness.

The next thing Aryan knew, he was staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. His heart pounded as he shot up in bed, his breath ragged. What the hell just happened? His head ached, his limbs felt weak. Was it all a dream? The asteroid, the necklace, the strange pull he had felt—it couldn't have been real.

Still dazed, he ran a hand through his hair before getting out of bed. He trudged toward the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face. He looked at his reflection, half-expecting to see something different, something unnatural.

That's when he saw it.

Hanging around his neck was the exact same black necklace from his supposed "dream." His blood turned ice cold.

Panic set in. He grabbed the chain and tried to pull it off, but it didn't budge. He pulled harder, yanking at it with both hands, but it remained unmovable, as if it had become a part of him.

"What the hell?" he whispered, his hands shaking.

He ran back to his room, grabbing a pair of scissors from his desk. Positioning the blades around the chain, he squeezed as hard as he could. The metal didn't even get a scratch.

Growing desperate, he tried everything—pliers, a knife, even attempting to burn it off with a lighter. Nothing worked. The necklace remained firmly in place, as though it had fused to his skin.

A sharp knock on his door startled him.

"Aryan! You're getting late for school!" his mother's voice called from the other side.

He inhaled deeply, trying to push away his rising panic. He needed time to figure this out. School wasn't the place to deal with a possibly alien artifact stuck to his body.

"I'm coming!" he replied, his voice tense.

Taking one last look in the mirror, he pulled his shirt up to cover the necklace and grabbed his bag. He'd deal with this later.

As he walked into class, a strange sensation washed over him. The whispers, the taunts, the usual soul-crushing routine—it was all the same. But something felt… different.

His mind felt sharper. His senses were heightened. He could hear faint conversations across the hall, the scratch of pencils against paper, the rustling of pages turning. Everything was clearer.

He slid into his usual seat at the back, tuning out the world like always. But when Mr. Kapoor started asking questions, something unusual happened.

"Aryan," Mr. Kapoor called, his gaze neutral. "Solve this equation."

Aryan tensed. His usual response would have been silence. He had barely been able to focus on school for months. But before he could even process what was happening, the answer formed in his mind like second nature.

"X equals 14," he said.

A few students turned their heads. Mr. Kapoor raised an eyebrow before checking the board. "Correct."

Aryan blinked. What?

The class murmured.

"That was fast."

"Since when does he answer anything?"

"Must've been a lucky guess."

The teacher continued, calling on other students, but Aryan's mind was racing. How had he known that? He hadn't studied. He hadn't even been paying attention. Yet, the numbers had just… clicked.

As the lesson continued, it became clear that this wasn't a fluke. Every question asked, he knew the answer instantly. Every formula, every explanation—it all made sense, as if his brain had been unlocked.

By the time the bell rang for lunch, the whole class was staring at him.

One student muttered, "If he knows this much, how the hell did he fail?"

Another scoffed. "Probably cheating somehow. No way this loser is suddenly a genius."

Aryan ignored them. His thoughts were already elsewhere. Something had changed within him.

As he walked to the cafeteria, he felt someone step beside him.

"You're different," a voice said.

He turned his head to see a girl he didn't recognize. She was new—her uniform looked crisp, her long brown hair tied into a neat braid. Her dark eyes studied him with curiosity rather than judgment.

"I don't think we've met," Aryan said cautiously.

"That's because I just transferred last week," she said with a small smile. "Aadhya Sharma."

Aryan nodded. "Aryan."

"I know," she said. "People talk about you a lot."

His stomach sank. "Let me guess. The failure. The dumbest guy in school."

She tilted her head. "Something like that. But today, you weren't dumb at all. You were the smartest one in the room."

Aryan had no response to that.

"Was it just luck?" she asked.

"I don't know," he admitted honestly.

Aadhya studied him for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I don't really care about what they say. You don't seem as bad as they make you out to be."

Aryan stared at her, unsure if he had heard her correctly. Someone who wasn't treating him like a stain on society?

Before he could say anything, she smirked. "See you around, genius." And with that, she walked off.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Aryan felt something other than misery.

After school, he knew exactly where he needed to go.

The ruin.

He arrived as the sun began to set, the golden light casting long shadows over the broken stone. His footsteps echoed as he approached the crater where it had all begun.

There it was. The impact site. The same spot where he had found the necklace.

Except this time, the earth around it looked different. The cracks in the ground pulsed faintly, as if something beneath the surface was still alive.

A chill ran down Aryan's spine.

He swallowed hard.

"What the hell is happening to me?"

And then—just for a second—he thought he heard something. A whisper.

Not from the students.

Not from his memories.

But from the necklace itself.

END OF CHAPTER 4